[Article 8]

[Romany]

[The Rainbow Ball - the Globe]

Our address:
Nadace Tolerance
Senovazne namesti 24
116 47, Praha 1
tel.:/fax: (02) 24 10 23 14

E-mail: tolerance@ecn.cz

Bank account:
KB - 69732-111/0100

Webmaster: WEBLOTOS

"Everyone has the right to respect for private and family life, his home and correspondence"

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights

The Article 8 Project was designed to resume the Tolerance Foundation's effort to call the general public attention to the questionable Czech Citizenship law and its negative and discriminating impact on the Roma "Slovak" minority which has been resident in the Czech Republic for a long time. Nine young people - lawyers, law students, social workers, etc. - work on this project, initiated in April 1996 by Ina Zoon, a law student from Bucharest. The project is sponsored by the Open Society Institute, New York.

The Article 8 Project strives to solve the critical situation of Slovak citizens, namely Roma, who were sentenced to indefinite expulsion punishment or received prohibition of residence in the Czech Republic, although they have strong family ties or long-term links with the Czech territory.

According to the Tolerance Foundation's report 'From Exclusion to Expulsion: The Czech Republic's "New Foreigners" ', such sentences are imposed very often. It happens due to the inadequacy of the Citizenship Law as well as of the Penal Code which does not bind judges to consider the family and private background of the accused while imposing the punishment of indefinite expulsion.

Prohibition of residence, administered by the Aliens Police, is another widely used sanction. The Act on Foreigners' Stay and Residence in the Czech Republic is so unclear that an individual can receive prohibition of residence on the grounds of any offence (often, for instance, because he/she is not carrying valid travel documents), without any regard to his/her links with the Czech territory.

The Tolerance Foundation considers this to be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely its eighth article that states: "Everyone has the right to respect for private and family life, his home and correspondence".

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I. It provides free legal assistance to people who have been expelled from their homeland for minor offences and vainly argue that they feel themselves Czech and have nowhere to go in Slovakia.

II. It endeavours to alter legal practice, pointing to the violation of the basic human right to live with one's family that is granted to everybody regardless of their status.

III. It prepares various expert analyses ( 'The New Foreigners Law in the Czech Republic and the protection of basic human right to respect to family and private life', other reports are being prepared) and legal comparisons with West European legislature, it submits independent proposals and recommendations, consults experts, deals with administration officials, ...

IV. The Tolerance Foundation has documented about 190 cases where human right may have been violated. Where possible, the Article 8 Project staff help to provide necessary documents, in warranted cases they submit petitions seeking a complaint on serious violation of the law on behalf of the clients, prepare appeals to the Minister of Justice or pardon applications. They also attempt to reopen the judicial process.