News

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

Analysis: When the Czech Police contribute to disseminating hatred toward Romani people

1.9.2016 17:38 Whoever publicly incites hatred of a nation, race, ethnic group, religion, class or other group of person, or incites the restriction of the rights and freedoms of the members of such a group, is supposed to be punished in the Czech Republic by up to two years in prison. That is the wording of the Criminal Code (Section 356), which also authorizes the same punishment in cases of rioting or conspiring to commit the offense of incitement to hatred.  full story

Slovak rail system issues new rules to prevent ultra-right party from abusing it for propaganda purposes

1.9.2016 7:28 The Czech daily Právo reports that the Railway Company of Slovakia has decided to prevent patrols run by the nationalist People's Party (LSNS) of Marian Kotleba from monitoring the wagons under its control. New transport regulations now ban the performance of political agitation in Slovak Rail wagons.  full story

German Chancellor says everybody must contribute to addressing asylum-seeker issue

31.8.2016 16:49 Speaking last Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized EU Member States who do not want to accept Muslim asylum-seekers. The Czech Republic is one of them.  full story

International Romani Union president calls for aid to the mother of deceased journalist

31.8.2016 15:28 On 26 August, Normunds Rudevičs, President of the International Romani Union (IRU), called on all who knew the late Romani activist and founder of Roma Virtual Network, Mr Valery Novoselsky, and who have the opportunity to send aid, to support Mr Novoselsky's mother, Klavdie Novoselsky. "During these tragic days we are calling on all who can provide aid, even the smallest possible amount, to do so and support his mother, who has been left without any other relatives in the town of Kirat Shamone in Israel and is combating cancer," Rudevičs wrote.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma commemorate 73rd anniversary of prisoner transport from Hodonín u Kunštátu to Auschwitz

31.8.2016 13:52 The weekend of 20 August saw two important anniversaries in the Czech Republic. One was the anniversary of the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army.

 full story

Czech Police investigating shots fired at Romani summer camp and local police procedure

30.8.2016 19:00 Yesterday news server Romea.cz published an interview in which we reported on an incident of a man who fired warning shots and shouted verbal abuse at Romani children participating in a summer camp with the Čhavorenge choir in the Děčín area. Regional Police are now investigating.  full story

videoUkrainian villagers collectively blame Roma for murder, destroy their homes, revoke their residency

30.8.2016 8:34 Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported yesterday that local authorities and media in Ukraine say a village there has decided to expel dozens of Romani families because of suspicions that a member of their community may have been responsible for the murder of a child. Police have arrested a 20-year-old Romani man on suspicion of murder.  full story

Czech-language hoaxes deceive online with footage from feature films and news reports

29.8.2016 12:25 A Czech-language hoax published by the Facebook page called "Evropa – Evropanům" (Europe for Europeans) was shared by 10 000 people over the course of just 23 hours on 25 August. The hoax used video footage of a brutal clash between riot police and young men and misinformed the public that it depicted an "Islamic invasion".  full story

Ida Kelarová on warning shots fired near Roma children at music camp: The Czech Police refused to help us

29.8.2016 10:46 Q: During this year's "Romano Drom" music camp for Romani children, eyewitnesses say they experienced attacks that involved "warning shots" being fired. Would you
describe precisely what happened to us?  full story

Czech court says police not responsible for death of Romani man

25.8.2016 7:37 A court in Sokolov, Czech Republic, has acquitted the police officers who arrested a Romani man, Ľudovít Kašpar, in 2012, who subsequently died. The verdict will not be appealed.  full story

Valery Novoselsky, Romani activist and founder of the Roma Virtual Network, has passed away

22.8.2016 19:17 The Roma Times news server cites a report published by the Romani editors of Swedish Radio that Romani activist Valery Novoselsky of Israel, who founded Roma Virtual Network, passed away on 20 August 2016 at the age of 46. Mr Novoselsky passed away while attending a Romani music festival in Riga, Latvia.   full story

Czech study finds publication for teachers defended status quo and opposed inclusion

20.8.2016 10:53 The EDUin organization has published a study by researcher Dušan Klapko from Masaryk University in Brno about the discourse used by the publication "Teachers News" (Učitelské noviny) when discussing the issue of inclusive education. The study finds that from 2010-2014, that publication defended the interests of the "practical" schools and opposed inclusion.  full story

Renata Berkyová: Gays, hands off the Romani flag!

19.8.2016 17:09 What some Romani people are posting on social networks these days about the topic of sexual orientation has prompted me to respond. The springboard for these heated
debates is the fact that Prague Pride, the parade celebrating people of various sexual orientations, included Romani people this year who proudly raised the Roma flag.  full story

France: Attack with firearms and Molotov cocktails against Roma over two nights - seven hospitalized, including a teenager

19.8.2016 14:58 During the late night hours of Monday and early morning hours of Tuesday a group of assailants threw Molotov cocktails into one of the biggest Romani encampments in Marseille, France. More attacks targeted the same location during Tuesday night and the early morning hours of Wednesday.  full story

European Court of Human Rights: Slovakia failed to investigate Roma youth's allegations of police brutality

19.8.2016 13:47 The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has partially ruled in favor of a complaint filed by a Romani teenager against the Slovak state authorities. The international court decided that Slovakia did not sufficiently investigate the teen's allegations six years ago that he was subjected to police brutality.  full story