News

Commentary: Corporal punishment at the "inclusive school"

4.10.2016 15:12 Recently I have been repeatedly asked to write something about inclusive education. The debate about this topic has become extremely polarized and I have not been able to figure out which end of the spectrum to start from if I want to avoid repeating arguments I have heard 100 times and adding fuel to the fire already burning around this subject.  full story

Amnesty International: Just 10 countries handle most of the world's refugees, wealthiest doing the least

4.10.2016 13:47 According to a report published today by the human rights organization Amnesty International, the burden of the global refugee crisis on various countries is disproportionately distributed, with most of the world's refugees living in just 10 states. The report called on wealthy states to increase the aid they are providing and to receive the number of refugees that corresponds to their capacity to provide protection.  full story

Czech town "celebrates" 10th anniversary of Romani evictions and creation of ghetto with fireworks

4.10.2016 12:14 Romani tenants of "container housing" in the locality of Poschlá on the outskirts of the Czech town of Vsetín would like to move away, ideally back into town. "We are from Vsetín, we want to remain living there and we would like to have the same conditions as everybody else," Marián Tulej, who administers the housing units, told journalists yesterday.  full story

Czech Police say activist's burning of Quran was neither a crime nor a misdemeanor

3.10.2016 7:49 Martin Konvička, the college instructor who used to represent the now-defunct Bloc against Islam, did not commit a criminal act when he set pages of the Quran on fire in front of a mosque in Brno this July, according to police. The situation was investigated after Brno city councilor Svatopluk Bartík filed a crime report against Konvička.  full story

Czech Republic: Islamophobes demonstrate in four towns with ultra-nationalist party

30.9.2016 14:45 Roughly 250 people, according to Czech Police estimates, assembled for a "Saint Václav demonstration" in Prague on 28 September, a state holiday officially called the Day of Czech Statehood. The event protested the alleged "Islamization" of Europe.  full story

Germany: Two bombs exploded in Dresden, one in front of a mosque, no physical injuries

29.9.2016 14:36 Reuters reports that German Police announced on 27 September that two improvised explosive devices were detonated in Dresden, in the eastern part of Germany, on the evening of 26 September. One was planted in front of a mosque and the other in front of an international conference center.  full story

videoLIVE WEBCAST: OSCE conference reviews the rights of the child today and will touch on the discrimination of Romani children in education

29.9.2016 10:13 Today the OSCE human rights conference continues in Warsaw. The morning session is dedicated to the rights of the child and will also touch on discrimination against Romani people in education. The opening remarks will be given by Beáta Oláhová of the Budapest-based Roma Education Fund. The Human Dimension Implementation Meeting - HDIM is regularly held by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE. You can follow the live webstream on Romea.cz.  full story

videoOSCE meeting on human rights includes session on Roma and Sinti

28.9.2016 12:28, (UPDATED 17:25) The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has been holding its traditional Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will focus on Roma and Sinti today. You can follow the session live on news server Romea.cz.  full story

First-ever European Roma Spirit 2016 award nominations include news server Romea.cz

28.9.2016 7:02 This year for the first time the European Roma Spirit Award (ERSA) will be given to express appreciation for activities, individuals and projects supporting the integration of Romani people in Europe and contributing effective, functional solutions to the problems the Romani community faces. The award is administered by the Association for Culture, Education and Communication (ACEC) together with the Open Society Foundation under the auspices of the Slovak Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family Ján Richter and the Slovak Government Council on the Romani Community.  full story

Germany: Racist assaults increasing

27.9.2016 10:56 The number of violent attacks with a racist subtext has increased in Germany. From January until mid-September, police recorded 507 such assaults, almost double the number for the same period last year, according to the magazine Spiegel.  full story

Czech court reopens trial of promotion of neo-Nazism, now in its sixth year

27.9.2016 10:31 Three of the eight people who face charges of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms stood in a renewed trial today before the District Court for Prague 1. They claim they are innocent.  full story

Tereza Heková: I treat others the way they treat me

27.9.2016 6:12 Tereza Heková is a Romani college student who graduated from secondary professional school in the Czech town of Most with a focus on Public Administration. Today she is focused on that same field at college and is in her third year of studying at the private CEVRO Institute.  full story

Roma Spirit Czech Republic: Deadline for nominations THIS FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER

26.9.2016 21:27 The final opportunity to nominate individuals and organizations for the 2016 Roma Spirit awards in the Czech Republic will be this Friday, 30 September. The mission of Roma Spirit, which is held by the Michael Kocáb Foundation in collaboration with the Open Society NGO (Otevřená společnost, o.p.s.) and the Museum of Romani Culture, is to appreciate and popularize the work of individuals and organizations who contribute to improving the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic.  full story

US Professor Ian Hancock on the Miss Roma competition: Romani girls do not need to sell their beauty

26.9.2016 21:21 The finale of the 16th annual competition "Miss Czechoslovak Roma", which was held on Saturday, 24 September in the Czech town of Hodonín, prompted many different reactions. In addition to commentaries on social networking sites, Petr Uhl published a critical article about the Romani beauty contest on news server Romea.cz.  full story

Miroslav Kováč: Longtime racist politician hands out matches during Czech elections

26.9.2016 12:49 Liana Janáčková is a former Senator and longtime Mayor of the Municipal Department of Mariánské Hory in the City of Ostrava who is primarily infamous for her blatantly extremist position toward the Romani minority, and she is running for the Senate again this year. This time around she is running for the INDEPENDENTS (NEZÁVISLÍ) movement in the Ostrava-město precinct, while at the same time, in the elections to the Regional Authority, she is heading the candidate list for that movement in the Moravian-Silesian Region.  full story

Czech Republic: Four concentration camps for Roma ran during WWII in Liberec

26.9.2016 7:44 This is the first of a three-part series about the concentration camps for Romani people located in the Czech town of Liberec that ran from 1939 - 1943 when the country was the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The series is based on articles by Ivan Rous in his books "Camps and Wartime Production" ("Tábory a válečná výroba") and "Blank Spaces in Holocaust Research" ("Bílá místa ve výzkumu holokaustu").  full story

Commentary: A children's playground, common dialogue, and the media

25.9.2016 20:54 In mid-September the Lidové noviny daily paper opened up an important topic by publishing a sketch of an everyday experience at a children's playground in the Czech Republic. What followed was a passionate discussion about whether the article itself was inciting racism or whether it was analyzing the causes of racism, whether a person should "speak up" in certain situations or leave them in tears.  full story

Commentary: The Miss Roma competition does more harm than good

25.9.2016 18:29 On Saturday evening the "Miss Roma 2016" competition was held at the House of Culture in the Czech town of Hodonín for the 12th year in a row. I have always had mixed feelings about this contest, but I have never before publicly discussed what bothers me about it because it was always clear to me that it involves a significant emancipatory charge for some Romani community members.  full story

Adriana Trejtnarová: Romani people are receiving support - we are studying

23.9.2016 13:41 She is studying at the Czech Agricultural University, she is interested in diplomacy and social affairs, and she isn't afraid to share her opinions with the public.
Adriana Trejtnarová (age 21) has come a long way already in her life.  full story

Czech court acquits defendant of disseminating radical Islamic book

22.9.2016 14:46 Yesterday a court in the Czech Republic acquitted the former chair of the Prague Muslim Community, Vladimír Sáňka, of disseminating a radical Islamic book. According to the Prague 1 District Court, the book promotes an ideology for which it is not possible to criminally prosecute anybody.  full story