European Roma Rights Centre

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is a Roma-led, international public interest law organisation engaging in a range of activities aimed at combating anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Romani people. The approach of the ERRC involves, in particular, strategic litigation, international advocacy, research and policy development, human rights focused news production, and training of Romani activists. The ERRC is a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights[1] and has consultative status with the Council of Europe,[2] as well as with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The organisation was created in 1996 in Budapest, Hungary and is now based in Brussels, Belgium.

The ERRC produced the report "Roma in an Enlarged European Union" which is one of the most influential policy documents on Roma to date, published by the Directorate General of Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission. The ERRC has influenced the European Union enlargement by pressuring candidate countries to comply with the Copenhagen criteria and ensuring that the Roma situation is a priority issue. The ERRC often reports to UN Committees such as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)[3][4][5][6][7] or the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)[8] about the situation of Roma. The ERRC has both illuminated the Roma issue to the public and help with policy development, yet one of its most important functions is educating Roma activists about what courses of action they have open and can take. The ERRC is also training Roma rights activists to exercise their rights as a tool for fighting against discrimination.

The ERRC has won cases against France, Greece, Italy and (twice) Bulgaria before the European Committee of Social Rights;[9] besides this, ERRC lawyers have represented the applicants in numerous cases before the European Court of Human Rights, including D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic and Oršuš and Others v. Croatia.

Since its inception, the ERRC has taken over 1000 cases relating to Roma Rights, and currently has over 100 pending in national and international courts.

In 2016 the ERRC became a Roma-majority organisation, and in 2018 launched its volunteer section the ERRC Roma Rights Defenders.

The ERRC is the recipient of numerous human rights awards including the 2007 Max van Der Stoel Prize, the 2009 Gruber Prize for Justice[10], the 2012 Stockholm Human Rights Prize, and the 2018 Raoul Wallenberg Award[11].