News

Commentary: The pigs at Lety and Babiš shooting himself in the foot

8.9.2016 14:04 From 2007-2009 I served as Czech Education Minister, and together with [Human Rights Minister] Michael Kocáb we attempted, among other things, to advocate for the removal of the pig farm from the site at Lety u Písku. We were not concerned with just that location, but also with the site at Hodonín u Kunštátu, where a similar camp ran during the war, one that is remembered even less than Lety is.  full story

Czech Vice PM calls Roma "parasites" during his visit to Roma Holocaust site

8.9.2016 7:45 During the past few days we have witnessed an absolute masterwork of manipulation and the populist abuse of power in the Czech Republic. Czech Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Andrej Babiš is a political phenomenon who apparently still has a lot to say to the country.  full story

UNICEF: 28 million children worldwide are fleeing war, most are in Turkey

8.9.2016 6:54 Yesterday the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that there are 28 million children who have had to leave their homes due to wartime conflicts, while another 20 million have had to leave their homes due to criminal violence or poverty. In a document called "Uprooted", the organization states that 45 % of child refugees come from two countries, Afghanistan and Syria.  full story

Council of Europe chief says discrimination against Romani people continues to be ignored

7.9.2016 11:02 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjörn Jagland, criticized the deterioration in the situation of Roma and Sinti people in Europe today. Jagland believes discrimination against members of these minority groups is frequently ignored or overlooked.  full story

Czech Police arrest drunk giving Nazi salute and shouting "Death to Gypsies"

7.9.2016 8:22 A drunken man giving the Nazi salute and shouting racist slogans was arrested last Saturday before noon on Vodičkova Street by the Prague 1 Municipal Police. The case is being investigated by the Police of the Czech Republic.  full story

Civil society members of Czech Government's Roma advisory body outraged by Vice PM's remarks about Roma Holocaust site

7.9.2016 7:49 The Romani civil society members of the Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs are outraged by the Czech Vice Prime Minister's recent remarks about the former so-called "Gypsy camp" at Lety u Písku. Members of the council have called on Andrej Babiš, who is also Finance Minister, to keep his publicly-declared promise and arrange financing for the purchase of the pig farm now located on the site.  full story

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes populists, including Czech President

7.9.2016 6:55 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has criticized populist and ultra-right politicians, comparing their rhetoric to that of the radical movement of the so-called Islamic State. Among those he called "clever cheats" and political demagogues were the Dutch critic of Islam, Geert Wilders; the head of the French National Front, Marine Le Pen; Republican candidate for the President of the United States, Donald Trump; Czech President Miloš Zeman; and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.  full story

Czech Vice PM pays his respects at the Lety memorial to Romani Holocaust victims - but no Roma are invited

6.9.2016 12:45 Czech Vice Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the chair of the ANO movement, paid his respects today at the site of the former WWII-era concentration camp for Romani people at Lety in the Písek district and once again rejected allegations that he denied the Holocaust in remarks he made last week. He visited the site after a photojournalist for Aktuálně.cz stated last week that he overheard the Vice PM telling locals that it was a "lie" to call Lety a concentration camp.  full story

Roma in the Czech news - from the perspective of a Romani media trainee

6.9.2016 10:48 During the summer those attending the Media Training run by the ROMEA organization had the opportunity to visit the places where news and reporting are created in the Czech Republic. Under the direction of Romani journalists Richard Samko (Czech Television), Patrik Banga (iDNES.cz) and Tomáš Bystrý (Czech Radio), they got to test in practice with it means to be a journalist.  full story

Czech Republic: Owners of pig farm on Roma Holocaust site are open to selling their facility

6.9.2016 9:40 The owners of a pig farm in Lety (Písek district) do not rule out the possibility that they might sell their facility located at the site of a former WWII-era concentration camp for Romani people. The owners are willing to negotiate about exchanging their facility for another one appropriate for the raising of pigs, Jan Čech, vice-chair of the board of AGPI, which owns the farm, has told the Czech News Agency.  full story

Analysis from Bulgaria: Anti-Gypsyism is the enemy at the gates

6.9.2016 8:24 How are mobs organized? How do they gather so fast to dispense "justice"?
 full story

Czech Human Rights Minister in talks to buy pig farm on Roma Holocaust site for two years now

6.9.2016 7:40 Responding to a request from Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier, the Czech Government has decided to no longer keep secret a "Restricted" resolution from 21 March 2016 regarding the future of the remembrance site at Lety u Písku. Olga Jeřábková, spokesperson for the minister, informed news server Romea.cz of the decision on 5 September.  full story

German detectives say AfD party promotes extremism even as it places second in Merkel's home state

5.9.2016 18:01 The Berlin-based daily Tagesspiegel reports that Holger Münch, head of Germany's Federal Criminal Bureau (BKA), says the "Alternative for Germany" party (AfD) is contributing through its anti-immigration rhetoric to the bolstering of extremism throughout the country. Münch says racially motivated crime is on the rise in Germany, especially attacks on asylum-seeker accommodation.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry says Prague municipality had no way to ban ultra-right activist's event in a public space

5.9.2016 16:13 The Czech Interior Ministry has agreed with a local municipality of Prague regarding its response to a recent event convened in public by the Martin Konvička Initiative (IMK). The ministry found that while there were no legal reasons to ban the event, the announced demonstration should have drawn the attention of the local authority.  full story

Czech Vice PM to visit former concentration camp for Roma, allegedly wants to find money to move pig farm

5.9.2016 14:54 The Czech News Agency reports that Czech Vice Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has told the wire service he will visit the location in the town of Lety u Písku where a concentration camp for Roma was formerly situated. The Vice PM wants to raise money to complete the construction of the memorial there and arrange for the pig farm now on the site of the former camp to be bought.  full story

Czech PM says his Vice PM is "leeching off of" anti-Romani sentiment and crossed the line into Nazism

3.9.2016 14:32 Yesterday Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) said that his Vice PM and Finance Minister, Andrej Babiš, who heads the ANO movement, has decided to "politically leech off of" the Czech Republic's problems regarding coexistence between non-Romani and Romani people prior to the upcoming elections. Sobotka's statement was a response to remarks made by Babiš about the WWII-era concentration camp at Lety by Písek where Romani people perished and from
which they were sent to Auschwitz.  full story

Czech Republic: Man who fired weapon near Romani summer camp apologizes

3.9.2016 10:55 "I didn't want the children or Ms Ida Kelarová to be affected. I would like to deeply apologize for my words, I overdid it. The situation was an exacerbated one, problems with noise from those accommodated at that camp have been happening for years," Martin Kout, the man who threatened Romani children from Kelarová's Čhavorenge choir at a camp gathering in the town of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou, has told news server Romea.cz.  full story

Czech Gov't human rights report: Forcibly sterilized women remain uncompensated

3.9.2016 10:05 The recently-published Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic for 2015 provides an overview of key topics and measures taken last year in the context of the human rights agenda. The Government report points out the main problems in the country and related issues.  full story

Amnesty International: How are the Czech schools educating Romani children?

3.9.2016 8:20 Amnesty International Czech Republic issued the following press release on 1 September to mark the start of the new school year:  full story

Karel Holomek: Merkel vs. Putin? Outrageous

2.9.2016 7:30 I frequently marvel at the values that are apparently held by a rather large number of people in the Czech Republic who make clear their hatreds and low instincts by protesting against God only knows whom (or why). I was most recently convinced of what those values are during German Chancellor Merkel's visit here.  full story