Roma people are the target of immense structural discrimination and experience serious disadvantages in education, access to health care, living conditions and job opportunities. According to EU Fundamental Rights Agency research (2014), more than 90% of Roma children are at risk of poverty; 80% of Roma families and their children live below national at risk-of-poverty thresholds; 50% of Roma children face nutritional risk, have underlying malnutrition and exhibit stunting and inadequate child growth.
In some cases, lawsuits have been initiated, reaching the European Court of Human Rights, in relation to state-level abuses of the rights of Roma people, different authorities’ efforts to remove Romani children from their families or obstruction of their access to education. This unequal access to services, including schooling, results in a vicious cycle of marginalization and extreme poverty, high illiteracy levels and a general lack of opportunities later in life for Roma children and youth.