News

American Ambassador to Czech Republic Cites Roma Causes, Russian Threat in Final Press Conference

19.1.2017 13:15 Outgoing American ambassador to the Czech Republic Andrew Schapiro said that supporting Roma causes was one of the things that has made him "most proud" during his time here and cited progress to remove the pig farm at the Roma Holocaust site in Lety as another positive development.  full story

Slovakia: More than 50 children from socially deprived families institutionalized since year began

19.1.2017 8:49 Since the beginning of this year audits have been underway of the living conditions in socially vulnerable families in Slovakia during the persistently cold weather, with social workers visiting thousands of families around the country and institutionalizing 56 children as of 17 January. "The consequence of our visits is that we discovered cases in which we had to remove the children. In some cases, our colleagues had to call ambulances for them," said the head of the Slovak Headquarters for Labor, Social Affairs and the Family, Marián Valentovič.
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Slovakia: Entrepreneur organizes food distribution to the needy

19.1.2017 7:21 The entrepreneur Marián Markovič has been organizing humanitarian aid since 9 January in the town of Komárna in southern Slovakia for homeless persons and the socially vulnerable. He reached out to local restaurants Alegra, Fiest, and Neptún, which have been providing him food, and posted to his Facebook profile asking people to give the needy warm clothing.  full story

Together We Can: David Tišer

18.1.2017 6:44 Romea.cz will be publishing interviews on a weekly basis with people who are doing interesting things to aid all of us in getting along here. When we were looking for a name for this column, the motto of this year's International Romani Day, "Together We Can", inspired me.  full story

Analysis: "Inadaptables get free apartments" - the Czech lie that kills

17.1.2017 11:50 The resistance of the ANO movement, the Christian Democrats, and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in the Czech Republic to social housing is based on fabrications that will have tangible consequences: People dying in the streets and broken families. The freezing temperatures falling to -20 C at night now form the backdrop to the coalition Government's tiffs over the planned law on social housing.  full story

Hungary: Camerawoman gets three-year probation for kicking at migrants

17.1.2017 9:56 A court in the town of Szeged has placed Petra László, the Hungarian camerawoman for the N1TV station who kicked migrants at the Hungarian-Serbian border in September 2015, on probation for three years. The public defender is appealing and asking that his client be released.  full story

Czech initiative says those in need of housing will not receive it unless law requires it

17.1.2017 8:59 The "Have a Home" (Mít svůj domov) initiative, which brings together more than 90 organizations working in the social sphere, resolutely rejects the Czech Government's proposal not to legally require municipalities to provide social housing in the Law on Social Housing now being drafted. The initiative says that if the law does not require municipalities to provide social housing for needy groups or create some other guarantee that aid will be provided by the state to those in need of housing, most of the 200 000 people now in need of housing will not be housed.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani Holocaust Memorial at Hodonín to open this summer

17.1.2017 7:49 The memorial to the Romani Holocaust at Hodonín u Kunštátu will open to visitors this summer. Trial operations should begin in July and the official opening will take place in August.  full story

Slovakia: MP for fascist party criticizes recipients of state honors because of their origins and work

16.1.2017 10:17 Stanislav Mizík, an MP with the fascist party called "Kotleba-People's Party our Slovakia" (LSNS) has criticized Slovak President Andrej Kiska for awarding high state honors to figures such as film director Juraj Jerz and the Czech musician Michael Kocáb. The MP justified his criticism by stating that those honored were of Jewish origin and by disparaging their activities.  full story

Czech broadcast regulator: Prima TV's coverage of Iraqi refugees (and itself) broke the law

16.1.2017 9:35 Last year TV Prima broke the law through its news broadcasting about the integration of refugees from Iraq into the Czech Republic, according to the Council on Radio and Television Broadcasting (Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání - RRTV). A total of four news reports broadcast in its main news program, "FTV Prima News", were found to have manipulated viewers and to have not been objective.  full story

Czech broadcast authority says public television's news reporting on the US election broke the law

16.1.2017 8:35 Public broadcaster Czech Television broke the law in its November 2016 news broadcasts about election night in the United States of America, according to the Council on Radio and Television broadcasting (RRTV). Its broadcasting was imbalanced in favor of candidate Hillary Clinton and at the expense of Donald Trump, the RRTV announced in a press release on 12 January.  full story

Czech coalition Government reaches agreement on social housing, will the law pass?

16.1.2017 7:56 The parties in the Czech governing coalition met on Thursday, 12 January and agreed that the law on social housing will not create a new central office to administer such housing, as Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) proposed before Christmas, and that municipal involvement in the system will also be voluntary. Vice-chair of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) Jan Bartošek said the law would make possible a pilot program and if municipalities do not voluntarily step up, they will be obligated to provide social housing through an amendment to the law.  full story

Czech Interior Minister and President disagree about disinformation unit

16.1.2017 6:43 Czech President Miloš Zeman and Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) met last week but were unable to find a common position on the new unit that has been focused on fighting disinformation since the beginning of the year. Zeman is convinced the staffers of the new department are incapable of detecting actual disinformation.  full story

Civil March for Aleppo in the Czech Republic receives both hate and love

15.1.2017 11:02 Many readers may have noticed in the media, or in online social networks, that the March for Aleppo is proceeding through the Czech Republic - but what is it? Last month a Polish blogger and journalist living in Berlin, Anna Alboth, made this video:  full story

Romani family files complaint against Czech investigation of death

13.1.2017 17:13 The family of Miroslav Demeter, who died on 18 October 2016 at a pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec under still-unclarified circumstances, has filed a complaint against the district State Prosecutor's Office in Louny. The bereaved are convinced, by the course of the investigation to date, that the police are not investigating the case thoroughly because the deceased was dependent on drugs.
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Human Rights Watch: Success of populists in Europe and US endangers human rights

13.1.2017 11:15 The electoral success of Donald Trump in the USA and the triumphs of populists in Europe represent a serious threat to the protection of fundamental human rights. Today the international organization for human rights protection, Human Rights Watch (HRW), presented that finding in its annual report.  full story

Hungarian PM attacks nonprofits supported by Soros, wants to close them

13.1.2017 9:24 The BBC and the Bloomberg wire service reported yesterday that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is said to be intent on taking aggressive action against NGOs financed by billionaire George Soros. The Hungarian PM has previously been criticized by the EU and the USA for his attacks on such organizations.  full story

Czech historian gets death threats after saying migration is a natural phenomenon

13.1.2017 7:35 News server Lidovky.cz reports that Charles University's Faculty of Arts issued a statement on 10 January publicly backing one of its academics, Matěj Spurný, an historian and specialist in modern nationalism and the history of modern European dictatorships. He became the target of death threats and racist abuse on online social networks after giving an interview to Týden magazine about migration at the beginning of January.  full story

Carmen Russo: The Fight For a Better Future. Battling Racism in Czech Schools

12.1.2017 12:15 A small group of American interns at The New Presence office were exploring the answer to a seemingly difficult question: Why are some Czechs so outwardly racist?  full story

Czech Deputy Ombudsman: We cannot treat people as individuals

12.1.2017 7:44 "Human rights and security are communicating vessels. A person who is not secure is not free. The degree of danger that is now being felt in Europe must have an influence on how human rights are conceived of," the lawyer and Deputy Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček has said in an interview for the Czech magazine RESPEKT.  full story