Online Conference : Using Litigation to Protect Roma Rights and Combat Antigypsyism

The European Roma Rights Centre (“the ERRC”) is an anti-racism organization using strategic litigation to combat rights violations affecting Romani people, Europe’s largest ethnic minority. Founded on the model of American organizations such as the NAACP, the ERRC’s vision is for Romani women and men to overcome antigypsyism and its legacy, to achieve dignity, equality, and full respect for their human rights, and to use their experience to contribute to a more just and sustainable world.  Two legal managers of the ERRC will talk about how they use regional (ECHR) and international human rights instruments (UN treaty bodies) to protect Roma rights and combat antigypsyism.

Vivien Brassói – Legal Manager, ERRC, Budapest

Vivien studied in the Human Rights LLM program of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Prior to that, she graduated from the Faculty of Law at ELTE in Budapest. She has acquired a strong foundation in the field of international human rights, which she has strengthened through participation in programs such as the Minorities Fellowship Programme of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2019 and the Legislative Fellows Program on Sustaining Civic Participation in Minority Communities in the USA. Vivien currently works for the European Roma Rights Centre as a legal manager where she engages in strategic litigation to ensure that the ERRC is supporting Romani people to make cutting edge legal arguments in and out of court to achieve radical change across Europe in multiple thematic areas. Prior to joining the ERRC, Vivien worked at the Romaversitas Foundation, the Autonómia Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. She joined the ERRC in 2016.

Senada Sali – Legal Manager, ERRC, Budapest

Senada Sali holds an MA in Constitutional Law from the Law Faculty « Iustinian Primus » in Skopje and a second MA in International Relations and European Studies from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Ms. Sali has worked for the European Roma Rights Centre since July 2014 and is the first Romani woman that has held the position of lawyer in the organization. Her main work has been a combination of community organising, evidence gathering, and litigation. She has taken the lead on cutting-edge human rights litigation before domestic courts in several Western Balkan countries, before the European Court of Human Rights, and before the UN CEDAW Committee. Her case porftolio includes cases of racial profiling at borders, prison death of Roma, mistreatment of Romani children in state care, discrimination in access to water and public utilities, school segregation. She coordinated various projects, including a large-scale research project on Romani statelessness. In 2018 she was awarded with the USAID Civic Engagement Award.

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