Czech schools are still riddled with "systematic discrimination" against Roma children, according to an Amnesty International report.

The new report says that segregation merely reinforces the vicious circle of social exclusion, subsequent difficulty in finding decent employment and hence greater removal from mainstream society.

Amnesty International, which campaigns to end human rights abuses worldwide, says that Roma children in the Czech Republic are often sent to schools for children with mental disabilities. Despite a 2007 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that this violated the rights of Roma children to a normal education, the organisation's new report claims that  "the system essentially remains the same".

According to the BBC, Roma children who do stay in mainstream schools in the Czech Republic tend to end up in classes full of other Roma, as the parents of non-Roma will move their children elsewhere. Schools that cater only to Roma children often provide a lesser curriculum, according to Amnesty.

Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia programme director, is quoted by the BBC as saying: "Education is the way out of a vicious circle of poverty and marginalisation that affects a large part of the Roma population in the country. Unless the Czech authorities give them equal opportunities, they will be denying Romani children their chances for a better future and full participation in the life of the country."

A comprehensive copy of Amnesty International's findings on the Czech Republic's treatment of Roma can be downloaded at the Amnesty International website.