Statelessness and Roma communities in the Czech Republic: Competing theories of state compliance

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights

Volumn 13, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 341-365

  Linde, Robyn ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

POLITICAL RELATIONS; POLITICAL THEORY; STATE BUILDING;

CENTRAL EUROPE; CZECH REPUBLIC; EURASIA; EUROPE;

EID: 33847715200     PISSN: 13854879     EISSN: 15718115     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157181106779848359     Document Type: Article

References (137)

1. M. Lynch, 'Lives on Hold: The Human Cost of Statelessness' (Refugees International, Washington D.C., 2005), p. 1.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., p. 3, E. Simperingham, 'The International Protection of Stateless Individuals: A Call for Change' (University of Auckland, 2003).
4. Lynch, supra note 1, p. 5.
5. Simperingham, supra note 3.
6. Lynch, supra note 1, p. 3.
7. Due to a number of factors including a distrust of authorities, the exact number of Roma who were affected is difficult to estimate. The number varies from the low estimate of 10,000 to 25,000 according to Human Rights Watch to 100,000 according to early estimates by the Tolerance Foundation (as reported by the European Roma Rights Commission, 'Czech Government Amends Anti-Romani Citizenship Law, but the Improvements Are Cosmetic,' review of Reviewed Item, Roma Rights, no. (1996);
8. Human Rights Watch, 'Roma in the Czech Republic: Foreigners in Their Own Land', (1996). The earlier estimate of 100,000 appears to have been too high based on its rejection by more recent reports.
9. A. Hasenclever, P. Mayer, and V. Rittberger, Theories of International Regimes, 55, Cambridge Studies of International Relations (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997) p. 26.
10. Ibid., p. 25.
11. League of Nations, '1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws' (179 League of Nations Treaty Series, 1930).
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid., Permanent Court of International Justice, 'Advisory Opinion on the Tunis and Morocco Nationality Decrees' (1923).
15. A. M. Warnke, 'Vagabonds, Tinkers, and Travelers: Statelessness among the East European Roma,' 7:1 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies (1999) p. 353.
16. C. A. Batchelor, 'Statelessness and the Problem of Resolving Nationality Status', 10 International Journal of Refugee Law no. 157 (1998) p. 239.
17. Warnke, 'Vagabonds, Tinkers, and Travelers: Statelessness among the East European Roma', pp. 353-4.
18. Ibid., p. 355.
19. Ibid., pp. 352, 355.
20. J. L. Blackman, 'State Succession and Statelessness: The Emerging Right to an Effective Nationality under International Law', 19 Michigan Journal of International Law (1997-8) p. 1142.
21. See ibid. and Batchelor, 'Statelessness and the Problem of Resolving Nationality Status', for an elaboration of international and customary law regarding effective nationality.
22. Council of Europe, 'European Convention on Nationality', (1997) Article 18(2).
23. Venice Commission, 'Declaration on the Consequences of State Succession for the Nationality of Natural Persons', (Council of Europe, 1996) 8.a.
24. J. Siklova and M. Miklusakova, 'Law as an Instrument of Discrimination: Denying Citizenship to Czech Roma', 7 East European Constitutional Review (1998) p. 2.
25. Human Rights Watch, supra note 6, p. 13.
26. Siklova and Miklusakova, supra note 21, p. 3.
27. Law No. 165/1968
28. Law No. 39/1969
29. Siklova and Miklusakova, supra note 21. There is a discrepancy in the literature regarding the date for the division of Czech citizenship between the two standards, jus soli and jus sanguinis. The Commission on the Security and Cooperation in Europe put the division at the 1968-9 law while Siklova and Miklusakova date the division to 1954.
30. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 'Ex Post Facto Problems of the Czech Citizenship Law, Congress 104, Session No. 1', (1996) p. 2.
31. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, supra note 26, p. 2.
32. International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, 'Czech Republic: Annual Report 1997', (1997).
33. Government of the Czech Republic, 'Act No. 40/1993 on Gaining and Losing Citizenship of the Czech Republic Dated December 29th, 1992', (1993) Article 7 (1.c.).
34. A. Stroehlein, 'Three Vaclavs', 1 Central Europe Review (1999).
35. U.S. Department of State and Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, 'Background Note: Czech Republic', (2003).
36. J. F. Pontuso, 'Transformation Politics: The Debate between Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus on the Free Market and Civil Society', 54 Studies in East European Thought (2002) p. 156.
37. Stroehlein, supra note 30.
38. Pontuso, supra note 32, p. 167.
39. Stroehlein, supra note 30.
40. Ibid.
41. Stroehlein, supra note 30.
42. Stroehlein, supra note 30.
43. Ibid.
44. A. Stroehlein et al., 'The Czech Republic 1992 to 1999: From Unintentional Political Birth to Prolonged Political Crisis', 1 Central Europe Review (1999).
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Siklova and Miklusakova, supra note 21, p. 4.
48. The document reportedly referred to the "Romani question" and stated that, "[w]e should use the process for the purpose of departure of not-needed persons from factories, especially for the reasons of structural changes, and for the departure of people of Roma nationality to the Slovak Republic" according to Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, supra note 6).
49. The World Bank Group, 'Czech Republic at a Glance', (2004) The World Bank Group, 'Slovak Republic at a Glance', (2004).
50. Warnke, supra note 13, p. 352.
51. E. Schlager, 'Czech Citizenship Law Lightning Rod for International Criticism', 21 The Commissioner for Security and Cooperation in Europe Digest (1998) p. 32.
52. Human Rights Watch, supra note 6.
53. Ibid.
54. Michal Horak and HOST Czech Republic, 'Brief Description of the Opposition of the Civic Initiatives against the Czech Citizenship Law (1993-1996)' paper presented at the European Roma Rights Centre Conference on Personal Documents and Threats to the Exercise of Fundamental Rights among Roma in the Former Yugoslavia, Igalo, Montenegro (September 2002).
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
62. Ibid.
63. Ibid.
64. Human Rights Watch, supra note 6.
65. Commission on Security and Cooperation, supra note 26, pp. 10-11
66. Commission on Security and Cooperation, supra note 26, p. 10-11.
67. C/E 1996
68. H, O'Nions, 'Bonafide or Bogus? Roma Asylum Seekers from the Czech Republic', Web Journal of Current Legal Issues (1999) section 5.
69. Ibid.
70. Article 8 of the ECHR states that "(1) Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. (2) There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
71. O'Nions, supra note 62, section 5.
72. The former satellite states of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact signatories: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (the latter two previously known as Czechoslovakia) are considered the Visegrad states because following the fall of the Soviet Union they agreed, in Visegrad, to work together to gain membership into NATO and the EU.
73. Stroehlein et al., supra note 40.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. The Czech Republic signed the Convention in 1999 and ratified in 2004.
77. Schlager, supra note 46, p. 32.
78. Siklova and Milusakova, supra note 21.
79. P. Vermeersch, 'E.U. Enlargement and Minority Rights Policies in Central Europe: Explaining Policy Shifts in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland', 1 Journal of Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (2003) p. 8.
80. European Commission, 'Enlargement Briefing: E.U. Support for Roma Communities in Central and Eastern Europe', (1999) 3.1.
81. Ibid.
82. Ibid., 3.1.1.
83. Ibid., 3.1.2.
84. Ibid., 5.2.
85. Ibid., 2.3.
86. Vermeersch, supra note 74, p. 8.
87. Economic and Social Committee of the European Commission, 'Opinion of 9 September 1998 of the Economic and Social Committee on the Czech Republic within the Framework of Enlargement and the Strengthening of the Preaccession Strategy C.E.S. 1161-1998', (European Union, 1998).
88. Stroehlein et al., supra note 40.
89. Ibid.
90. Ibid.
91. Ibid.
92. Radio Praha, Roma and the Czech Republic: The Situation of the Roma in the Czech Republic in 1997, , visited 25 February 2006.
93. Ibid.
94. Ibid.
95. Carol L. Kline, 'EU Inconsistencies Regarding Human Rights Treatment: Can the EU Require Czech Action as a Criterion for Accession?', 23 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review (1999) p. 49.
96. Human Rights Watch, supra note 6.
97. Radio Praha, supra note 86.
98. D. Chirico, 'The Long, Hot Czech Summer', Roma Rights Quarterly (1997).
99. Ibid.
100. Ibid.
101. Radio Praha, supra note 86. Government of the Czech Republic and Pavel Bratinka, Governmental Resolution No. 686', (1997).
102. Radio Praha, supra note 86.
103. Ibid.
104. Due to regional support, however, Klaus remained the ODS leader. See Stroehlein et al., supra note 40.
105. Ibid.
106. Ibid.
107. Ibid.
108. 'Constitutional Watch, 8:1-2 East European Constitutional Review (1998).
109. Stroehlein et al., supra note 40.
110. European Parliament, 'Briefing No 4, the Czech Republic and the Enlargement of the European Union', (2000) p. 8.
111. Stroehlein et al., supra note 40.
112. D. C. Thomas, 'The Helsinki Accords and Political Change in Eastern Europe', in T. Risse, S. C. Ropp, and K. Sikkink (ed.), The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999) pp. 223-4.
113. European Commission, 'Agenda 2000-Commission Opinion on the Czech Republic's Application for Membership in the European Union, Doc/97/17' (1997) p. 14.
114. Ibid.
115. Economic and Social Committee, supra note 81. European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, 'E.C.R.I. General Policy Recommendation No. 3: Combatting Racism and Intolerance against Roma/Gypsies' (Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 1998).
116. European Commission, '1998 Regular Report: From the Commission on Czech Republic's Progress Towards Accession (1998).
117. Ibid., p. 10.
118. Ibid.
119. Ibid.
120. European Parliament, 'Briefing No 41, Public Opinion on Enlargement in the E.U. Member States and Applicant Countries' (1999).
121. Ibid.
122. A. Stroehlein, 'Let Sleeping Euro-Dogs Lie', 0:25 Central Europe Review (1999).
123. L.A. Rovna, 'The Enlargement of the European Union: The Case of the Czech Republic', 2:1 Perspectives on European Politics and Society (2001) p. 16.
124. European Parliament, supra note 104, p. 17.
125. M. Potucek, 'Havel Versus Klaus: Public Policy Making in the Czech Republic', Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice (1999) p. 166.
126. European Roma Rights Centre, 'Czech Republic Amends Anti-Romani Law', 3 Roma Rights Quarterly (1999).
127. B. A. Simmons, 'International Law and State Behavior: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary Affairs', 94:4 American Political Science Review (2000).
128. Ibid.
129. Some social benefits, such as maternity leave, were increased under Klaus. See Stroehlein et al., supra note 40.
130. Some knowledge-based theories, such as some forms of constructivism, stress the importance of domestic politics or actors in shaping policy. Although bottom-up models are drawn from theories of liberalism, knowledge-based approaches such as liberal constructivism and other actor-centred models differ from liberalism in three important ways: First, domestic actors, even those influenced by international politics, may not be powerful enough to institute change in their country. Liberal constructivists promote an alternative model that explains how these actors win international support to foster change at home. Second, liberal constructivism offers a theory for how states link up transnationally with other organizations and groups of individuals that share its goals. Finally, these organizations employ different tactics such as developing a "common frame of meaning" in order to shape the terms of the debate and persuade other actors of their position.
131. See M. E. Keck and K. Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1998) p. 8 for more information about liberal constructivism and the activities of NGOs attempting to change state policy.
132. Vermeersch, supra note 73, p. 22.
133. T. Risse, S. C. Ropp, and K. Sikkink (eds.), The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, Cambridge Studies in International Relations (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999) pp. 17-35.
134. Ibid., p. 28.
135. A. Gurowitz, 'Mobilizing International Norms: Domestic Actors, Immigrants, and the Japanese State', 51:3 World Politics (1999) p. 415.
136. Ibid., p. 445.
137. Risse et al., supra note 126, p. 8.