As it has done every year since 2005, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) is publishing its Annual Report “Discrimination and the Roma Community”, with the aim of offering some specific data and verified cases of discrimination that show that for many Roma people in this country, the right to equal treatment is not a reality.
Although this year’s edition focuses on collating and examining cases and best practice from 2021, we must mention the important news of the approval of Spanish Comprehensive Law 15/22, of 12 July, on Equal Treatment and Non-discrimination, given the impact that this will have on our work.
FSG has championed this law since its inception 12 years ago, and has played a role in developing its contents from a gender and human rights perspective, with a view to European and international standards, with the goal of making a law that contains the right measures to eradicate all forms of discrimination and antigypsyism.
I have been involved in this law since its very beginnings; first as part of the FSG team that initially developed its design in collaboration with experts hand-picked by Pedro Zerolo; and then in the various stages of development of the law in the last 12 years, by submitting a number of comments and amendments to it. Fundación Secretariado Gitano also recently championed the creation of the Equality Law Alliance to consolidate the joint working of social entities with potential victims of discrimination. The alliance has made an important contribution to the contents of the law.
The approval of this law is a major step forward for Spain to enhance its anti-discriminatory law framework to protect the right to equality, and will have a targeted impact on Roma people, as a group that faces the largest amount of discrimination. Fundación Secretariado Gitano has been documenting cases discrimination for a great many years, as this Annual Report is testament, as well as supporting and advising victims who, thanks to this new law, will now have their own reporting channels. We are delighted that the law provides for the creation of an Independent Authority that will charged with protecting and promoting equal treatment and non-discrimination. We also think it is important that one of the law’s final provisions is to include antigypsyism in the Spanish Criminal Code as an aggravating factor and standalone hate crime. One of the positive new measures to be introduced is an administrative sanctions framework for incidents of discrimination that do not constitute a crime. We are also pleased to see the inclusion and special focus on intersectional discrimination, which will be a consideration when applying measures and penalties. Lastly, we welcome the introduction of support for victims of discrimination.
Sara Giménez
President of Fundación Secretariado Gitano
