Toggle navigation menu.
Roma child at school OSCE 745x331

Documentary Screening and Briefing on Roma School Desegregation

Moderator

Erika Schlager

Counsel for International Law

Commission on Security and Cooperation

Witnesses

Costel Bercus

Chair

Roma Education Fund Board

Serban Brebenel

Embassy of Romania

Mona Nicoara

Director and Producer

Erika Schlager, Counsel for International Law at the Commission, led a discussion about a documentary on Roma school desegregation. “Our School” follows three Romani children in a rural Transylvanian village who are among the pioneer participants in an initiative to integrate the ethnically segregated Romanian schools. When their district is ordered desegregated, Alin, Benjamin, and Dana set out for the city school, optimistic for education and new friendships, even as funds earmarked for integration are questionably used to build a “Roma-only” school in their village.  Their story touches on issues ranging from institutionalized racism, public education, and the intractability of poverty, and culminates in an unexpected outcome.

Schlager was joined by Costel Bercus, Serban Brebenel, and Mona Nicoara, commented on the struggles Roma populations all over Europe continued to face, which were highlighted in the film. They discussed various organizations who work with the Roma, to overcome the education gaps that do exist between Roma children and children in the majority populations and the work that still needs to be done to close that gap.

Category
Country
Issue
Date
Filter Topics Open Close
Articles

Helsinki Commission Advances Human Rights, Demands f...

Oct 19, 2023

By Shannon Simrell, Senior Policy Advisor Between October 2-13, 11 Helsinki Commission staff joined approximately 1,400 representatives of OSCE participating States (pS) and civil society representatives in Warsaw, Poland in an annual review of the human rights records of OSCE States. U.S. leadership highlighted demands for accountability from Russia and Belarus for their human rights […]

screen-reader-text
Publications

HELSINKI COMMISSION DIGITAL DIGEST JUNE 2022

Jun 30, 2022

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Cardin, Wicker Recognition of Romani Americans Clear...

Jun 10, 2022

WASHINGTON—Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) and Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) lauded unanimous passage in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday of S. Res.124, the first official acknowledgement by Congress of the genocide of the Romani people by the Nazis. The resolution, first authored by Cardin and Wicker in 2019 and reintroduced […]

screen-reader-text
helsinki commission logo 368x331
Publications

Helsinki Commission Summer 2021 Digital Digest

Aug 02, 2021

screen-reader-text
Statements

Cardin and Wicker Discuss July 2021 Congressional De...

Jul 21, 2021

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I take this time to talk about the work of the U.S. Helsinki Commission in a recent opportunity we had to participate in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I am joined on the floor by Senator Wicker, who is the Republican chair of the Helsinki Commission. The two of us have worked […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Helsinki Commission Delegation Advances Priority Iss...

Jul 15, 2021

WASHINGTON—Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) and Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) last week led a U.S. delegation to the 2021 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Annual Session in Vienna, Austria. The assembly was the first major gathering with an in-person component since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The 2021 […]

screen-reader-text
Statements

Tribute to Erika Schlager

Jun 21, 2021

I want to acknowledge one individual who recently announced that she is retiring, Erika Schlager, after 34 years of service to the Commission and to the global community. Erika received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She […]

screen-reader-text
Logo_tile_368x331
Press Releases

Helsinki Commission Commemorates 45 Years of Advanci...

Jun 03, 2021

WASHINGTON—To commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, on June 3, Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) and commission leaders Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) and Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-02) issued the following statements: “The Helsinki Commission has played a vital role in elevating […]

screen-reader-text
Helsinki Commission Logo 1500x770
Publications

Helsinki Commission Digital Digest: April 2021

Apr 30, 2021

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Helsinki Commission Leaders Commemorate Internationa...

Apr 08, 2021

WASHINGTON—Ahead of International Roma Day on April 8, Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (MD), commission leaders the late Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (FL-20) and Sen. Roger Wicker (MS), and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY-04) introduced resolutions in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives celebrating Romani American heritage. […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Hastings Marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Jan 27, 2021

WASHINGTON—Helsinki Commission Chairman Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (FL-20) today released the following statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day: “International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a place more emblematic of the tragedy of the Holocaust than any other.  Today, we remember the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust […]

screen-reader-text
Articles

Ambassador Max Kampelman’s Contributions to the Hels...

Jan 25, 2021

By Emma Derr, Max Kampelman Fellow The Helsinki Commission’s flagship fellowship program recognizes former U.S. Ambassador Max Kampelman, who spent his life working toward comprehensive security at home and across the Atlantic. Over his career, which spanned more than half a century, Kampelman defended the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, strengthened the Helsinki process, […]

screen-reader-text