News

Analysis of Czech-language Internet finds posts about Roma worse than two years ago - 80 % negative

11.12.2016 20:19 Romani people are discussed in the Czech language online predominantly in terms of stereotypes, and the voice of the Roma themselves in the virtual space is still proportionately weak. Media attention towards Romani people as a minority was overshadowed during 2015 and 2016 by a shift of focus to Muslims and refugees, but the
emotions expressed about the Roma are, at the same time, more negative than they were before.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court upholds suspended sentence for Nazi symbol on vehicle

8.12.2016 19:33 The Czech Constitutional Court has rejected the complaint of a driver who pasted the image of the Nazi Third Reich Eagle and swastika, i.e., a symbol of Nazi Germany, across the rear windshield of his vehicle. He was convicted, given a suspended sentence, and has appealed to successively higher instances.  full story

Czech court sentences youth to four months in prison for threatening to shoot man on Facebook

8.12.2016 6:51 Yesterday the District Court in Louny sentenced 20-year-old Vladimír Kudráč to four months in prison for making a death threat. The case is connected to the October death of a Romani man at a pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec.  full story

Czech Republic: Demonstration supports 100+ families at risk of eviction in Brno

7.12.2016 19:46 More than 100 households in the apartment buildings of the Brno-Zábrdovice quarter are living in uncertainty. The buildings' owners are changing and the new owner plans repairs to the properties.  full story

Kate Lapham: School should be a place where children learn how to live in society as citizens, to treat each other with respect, and to solve problems

7.12.2016 17:30 Kate Lapham: School should be a place where children learn how to live in society as citizens, to treat each other with respect, and to solve problems
Interview with Kate Lapham, senior Program Manager, Open Society Education Support Program

First I would like to ask you about whether there are any interesting projects in Europe that we could see as successful examples of integration under challenging circumstances?
There has been a great experience in Northern Ireland around the integration of Catholic and Protestant students. The aim is to put these two groups of students, who had previously been experiencing or still are experiencing the impacts of the conflict there within their own family, into the same school environment so they can learn together and also live together again.  full story

Czech court overturns fine against attorney who objected to expert by alleging he was Jewish

7.12.2016 14:08 The attorney Petr Kočí has successfully appealed a fine against him for alleging court expert Michal Mazel was of Jewish origin. The attorney was defending a member of an ultra-right party and claimed Mazel's alleged origin would bias him against the defendant  full story

Commentary: Online social networks censor photos of Syrian war, ignore dissemination of hatred

7.12.2016 13:14 Recently Facebook covered over a couple of photographs on my profile with a grey rectangle because they were not appropriate for children. One photo, from wartime Aleppo, showed the corpse of a child with his leg bent at a right angle at the tibia and other corpses mutilated by a bomb explosion after an attack by Assad's army and the Russians.  full story

About 1 000 Romani residents of a single Slovak village have been working in Britain and now fear Brexit

7.12.2016 8:26 Reuters reports that Romani residents of Bystrany, Slovakia are concerned about the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union because most of them are working in Britain and sending remittances home. These people now are afraid the option of their working in Britain will soon end.  full story

Slovak President says education is the way to address Romani issues

7.12.2016 7:49 President of the Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska visited the Podskalka Primary School near the town of Humenné two weeks ago. "We're all aware that the Romani issue, how to best include Romani people in everyday life, is a question of education," news server aktualne.sk quoted him as saying.
 full story

Czech Education Ministry and Labor Ministry will buy school lunches for the disadvantaged next year

7.12.2016 7:10 On 22 November 2016 the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport ((MŠMT) announced that it has allocated another CZK 30 million [EUR 1.1 million] to cover the cost of providing school lunches to socially disadvantaged children free of charge, according to a press release posted to its website. The recipients of the subsidy program for 2017 will again be nonprofit organizations who will arrange for payments for school lunches for pupils at primary schools whose parents are unable for financial reasons to afford them, MŠMT said.  full story

Report on the coerced sterilization of Romani women in the Czech Republic describes last 50 years through testimony

6.12.2016 20:29 The European Roma Rights Centre in Budapest (ERRC) has published a detailed report about the coerced sterilization of Romani women in the Czech Republic. The document of more than 80 pages describes the last 50 years primarily through the testimonies of individual women.  full story

European Commission: Internet giants must combat hatred more

6.12.2016 10:00 The European Commission has warned Internet companies such as Facebook and YouTube that they must expend more effort to combat hatred online because they are too slow at removing racist posts, news server EurActiv.cz reports. If they do not improve, the Commission is prepared to adopt norms that will legally force them to change their approach, according to EurActiv.cz.  full story

Some Czech schools don't teach enough about democracy

6.12.2016 9:08 One-third of primary and one-fifth of secondary schools in the Czech Republic are neglecting the instruction of subjects that are supposed to be priorities and are crucial to involving pupils in a democratic society. Such topics include an active approach to human rights, development of a general overview and civic competencies, prevention of extremism, respect for cultural differences, and support for democratic values.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani housing estate residents sign petition complaining about conditions

5.12.2016 18:25 Dozens of occupants of the Janov housing estate in the Czech town of Litvínov have drawn up a complaint and petition about their housing conditions. They are blaming the Krušnohor Apartment Building Cooperative for the disrepair of the properties it owns there.  full story

videoCzech documentary shows illegal Nazi salute being given at concert by xenophobic Ortel band

5.12.2016 8:36 Last night as part of its "168 Hours" program, Czech Television broadcast footage from a concert by the Ortel band in the Czech town of Frýdek-Místek during which some fans give the Nazi salute and shout the Nazi greeting "Sieg heil". The footage was captured by documentary filmmaker Vít Klusák.  full story

Austria: Independent centrist candidate wins Presidential election, ultra-right populist loses

5.12.2016 6:52 Yesterday's repeat of the second round of the Austrian presidential elections was won with 51.68 % of the vote by the independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen. His rival from the populist right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Norbert Hofer, earned 48.32 % of the vote.  full story

Czech actor Roman Zach supports Romani celebrity's stance against neo-Nazi band on live tv broadcast

5.12.2016 6:29 More performers in the Czech Republic have been publicly expressing their support for the Romani singer Radek Banga. During the popular music competition "Český slavík" (Czech Nightingale), Banga took a stand against the xenophobic band Ortel when it won second place for a second year in a row.  full story

Czech trial finally reveals what launched anti-Romani demonstrations in 2013

4.12.2016 14:22 Three years ago the Czech Republic experienced an unprecedented phenomenon - for several Saturdays in a row, thousands of citizens in a particular city engaged in street battles with police. The South Bohemian metropolis of České Budějovice had never experienced anything like it.  full story

Canada: Czechoslovak Roma express support for Romani celebrity and condemn Czech support for xenophobic band

3.12.2016 11:47 The Association of Czechoslovak Roma in Canada says it is not possbile for a xenophobic band to be part of Czech show business and receive public support from Czech celebrities. Romani emigrés living Canada have taken a stand in favor of the singer Radek Banga, who left in protest during the "Czech Nightingale" awards ceremony together with several other performers after the xenophobic music group Ortel won awards.  full story

Commentary on eviction in Slovakia: A rational society does not make a profit from or save money on the poor

3.12.2016 9:48 Roughly one month ago, in the city of Žilina, Slovakia, an apartment building on Bratislavská Street was evacuated with the assistance of police and subsequently demolished. Its approximately 120 occupants, including 58 children, were moved into a nearby gym for a couple of days.  full story