Czech Republic

City of Prague establishes National Minority Committee with seat for Roma

Prague, 31.3.2015 1:12, (ROMEA) More than 5 % of the residents of Prague are of a nationality other than Czech. The City Council has therefore fulfilled its legal obligations and established a National Minority Committee with representatives of 12 nationalities.  full story

Czech film series "Bastards" humiliates Romani people

30.3.2015 20:54 Is the "Bastards" film series a serious portrayal of the environment in the Czech "practical schools", or is it just a sampling of generalizations, prejudices and stereotypes about Romani people? Martina Šafářová, a student at the University of Pardubice, has analyzed Magnusek's series in her thesis.  full story

Promoter of status quo segregation believes the Czech state takes excellent care of Romani children

30.3.2015 2:55 Jiří Pilař, chair of the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů - ASP) is a longtime defender of the "special schools" who has been fighting with the advocates promoting what he calls "inclusion at any price". He recently published a commentary on the educational news server Česká škola (Czech School) about the current state of his fight on behalf of the "practical schools" (previously called "special schools") and the recent amendment of the Schools Act.  full story

Commentary: If I were Romani, I'd go crazy

29.3.2015 20:25 "To be Romani all too frequently means living in an excluded locality. To live in a ghetto means being close to the drug mafia, loan sharks, and speculators in social housing, to be in the sights of those who traffic in poverty. It means to experience despair, frustration , hopelessness and resignation. In such a situation, merely finding the will to escape it is a minor miracle," writes commentator Martin Vrba in an article for the Czech online magazine A2larm.cz.  full story

Karel Holomek: Segregation is a source of crime, frustration and hatred

28.3.2015 19:45 I do not want to a priori suspect Mr Čunek of endeavoring to harm Romani people, even though he is succeeding exceptionally well at exactly that. He is being applauded on an open stage and people undoubtedly ultimately sent him back as Mayor of Vsetín and even as Senator for exactly that reason.  full story

Czech Republic: Nonprofits help unemployed Roma, save the state millions

Prague, 27.3.2015 23:51, (ROMEA) Last year, within the framework of a project run by the ROMEA nonprofit (the publisher of news server Romea.cz) and the Slovo 21 NGO, 59 Romani clients in Prague succeeded in finding jobs, saving the state budget more than CZK 6 million (EUR 218 000). "We are glad that last year we succeeded in helping almost 60 Romani residents of Prague find work, and we managed to change their life situations. That is no easy task and I consider it a big success," said Jelena Silajdžić, director of Slovo 21.  full story

Czech Romani Studies scholar says that when Roma do well, so does all of society

27.3.2015 22:25 "The values held by Romani people are basically the same values as those held by the majority society," Mgr. Zbyněk Andrš, Ph.D., an ethnologist and Romani Studies scholar from the Social Sciences Department at the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Pardubice said in an interview for news server EuroZprávy.cz. Andrš says the reason that a large number of Romani people perform unskilled labor and enjoy lower standards of living is that their access to the authorities and to education is comparatively worse.  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel owner fined CZK 550 000 over shocking conditions

27.3.2015 21:31, (ROMEA) Pavel Mirga, the operator of a troubled residential hotel on Dluhonská Street in Přerov, has been fined CZK 550 00 (EUR 20 000) because his residential hotel facility was never properly registered. Kamila Navrátilová, spokesperson for the Regional Authority, told the Czech News Agency that the decision has yet to take effect and could be appealed.  full story

Czech ombud responds to critics about Romani discrimination findings: Test cases are a serious approach

27.3.2015 19:57, (ROMEA) The Czech Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová, issued a press release about discrimination against prospective Romani tenants on 22 December 2014. There was no greater response to her findings at that time.  full story

Czech News Agency produces biased, stereotyping report about Janov housing estate

25.3.2015 20:51, (ROMEA) In its 24 March report about the events around the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, the Czech News Agency, an independent public wire service, has committed some serious infractions against the "objective" reporting that is its mission under the law. The criticism levied by media analyses showing that Romani people ("inadaptables") are depicted stereotypically by the Czech media applies to this wire service to a great extent .
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Czech ministers of human rights and labor to review situation at Janov housing estate

Litvínov, 25.3.2015 19:07, (ROMEA) The situation at the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov, according to Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, will be reviewed by his fellow Social Democrats in the cabinet, Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier and Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová. The PM has written as much to the initiators of a petition who complained of their allegedly impossible coexistence at the housing estate with socially vulnerable residents, primarily Romani ones.
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Internet discussions: To delete, or not to delete?

25.3.2015 17:23, (ROMEA) The vast majority of democrats are advocates of the broadest possible freedom of speech, because no democracy can exist without it. Those who back an absolute freedom of speech, however, are most frequently recruited, paradoxically, from the ranks of those who disseminate pornography or racism, people whom it may difficult for the rest of us to consider democrats.  full story

Czech Republic: 17.5 years for two counts of attempted murder of homeless people

Prague, 24.3.2015 18:04, (ROMEA) A court has sentenced Jan Mokrý, a college student, to 17.5 years in prison for two counts of attempted murder against homeless people in Prague. The young man told the court that he admires Adolf Hitler, confessed to the crimes, and said he regretted that his victims had survived.  full story

Czech Republic: NGO director says young educated Roma must enter politics

23.3.2015 23:15, (ROMEA) The main aim of the Roma Leadership Program of the nonprofit organization Slovo 21 is for 16 chosen young Romani people to learn how to become leadership figures and eventually get involved in local or even national politics. Educated Roma people who are currently studying or who have already graduated from college have been selected to participate.  full story

Karel Holomek: We cannot reconcile ourselves to segregation

23.3.2015 19:32, (ROMEA) The term "inclusive education" (inkluzívní vzdělávání) is turning up at a high frequency now and as a matter of course in all circles in the Czech Republic, both among experts and among lay people. We have all accepted it, whether we feel negatively or positively about it, without realizing that we have much more apposite, precise words already in Czech for what we might mean when we use this phrase.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Romani charity ball raises money for children's home

Ústí nad Labem, 22.3.2015 1:25, (ROMEA) The second annual Romani Charity Ball took place on Friday, 20 March 2015 in the House of Culture in Ústí nad Labem, raising CZK 50 000 (EUR 1 820) for children living in a children's home there. Mayor Josef Zikmund gave his auspices to the ball and contributed CZK 10 000 from his own fund, while those in attendance collected the remaining CZK 40 000.  full story

Czech Republic: New book transforms views of Romani literature

21.3.2015 21:05, (ROMEA) The Czech literary monthly Host (Guest) has reviewed a collection of stories called "The Sun Sets in the Morning" (Slunce zapadá už ráno), the Romani authors of which won a 2014 Roma Spirit award. The Host review focuses on the authorial experiences to date of Eva Danišová, Irena Eliášová, Jana Hejkrlíková and Iveta Kokyová, saying that they focus on "women's" themes because their works discuss the issues of family and partner relationships, generational change, the position of Romani women in their community and outside it, or recollections of childhood.  full story

Czech Republic: Zlín Region supporting Romani integration

20.3.2015 22:49, (ROMEA) Six projects targeting Romani minority integration will be supported this year by the Zlín Region. Organizers will receive some part of the total amount of CZK 350 000 (EUR 12 750) that regional councilors have approved.  full story

Struggle over Czech social housing law begins

20.3.2015 20:13, (ROMEA) Will the law on social housing currently being drafted strike a harsh blow against ghettos, residential hotels, and "trafficking in poverty"? Will even "inadaptables" have access to social housing?  full story

Analysis: Neo-Nazi murders of homeless in Czech Republic may not even be counted as such

Prague, 19.3.2015 22:30, (ROMEA) The recent case of the murderous attacks committed by a supporter of the neo-Nazi Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS) against defenseless homeless people, which news server Romea.cz reported on here, has once again pointed out an enormous problem in Czech society which the media are either ignoring altogether or greatly neglecting. Homeless people in the Czech Republic are frequently targeted for brutal assault.  full story