PARIS -- What good are Europe's treaties aimed at ensuring the legal equality of all citizens when entire groups face systematic discrimination?
That's the question that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) faces as its Grand Chamber, consisting of 17 judges, considers an appeal of an initial ruling that rejected claims of discrimination against the Roma by the Czech Republic's education authorities.
All European states are members of the Council of Europe, all have signed the European Convention on Human Rights, 39 of the 46 member states have adopted the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and 14 have ratified Protocol 12 on the prohibition against discrimination. Nevertheless, the living conditions of many Roma remain appalling.