Communicated on 18 December 2019

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 45521/19 X and Y against Albania lodged on 26 August 2019

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application relates to identical factual and legal circumstances raised in the case of X and Others v. Albania , no. 73548/17, notice of which was given to the Government on 3 April 2019. It concerns the alleged segregation (of Romani pupils) in the Naim Frasheri School in Korca . The applicants, who consist of a grandmother complaining on behalf of her minor grandchildren, are represented by the European Roma Rights Centre.

It appears that in 2016 around 99% of the students attending the school were of Roma or Egyptian origin. In 2012, the Government started to implement a pilot project which intended to promote attendance and progress among Romani and Egyptian students. This led to the school being abandoned by the other students.

On 22 September 2015 the Commissioner for the Protection against Discrimination found that the situation constituted indirect discrimination because of race and ethnicity and urged the authorities to take measures to end the segregation of the school and students. On 14 April 2017 the Ministry of Education sent a letter to the applicants ’ representative listing a number of steps to be taken in order to ensure desegregation of the school.

The applicants allege that the segregation of the school persists and that the quality of teaching is poor. They compl ain under Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 to the Convention that they have suffered discrimination due to the policies followed by the Government.

On 18 December 2019 the applicants were granted anonymity pursuant to Rule 47 § 4 of the Rules of Court.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Ha ve the applicants exhausted effective domestic remedies, as required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention?

2. Have the applicants suffered discrimination, contrary to Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 to the Convention (see muta tis mutandis D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic [GC], no. 57325/00, § 175, ECHR 2007 ‑ IV)? Furthermore, did the authorities implement the desegregation steps and reconstruction of the school as proposed in the letter of the Ministry of Education of 14 April 2017?