News

UN internal human rights oversight body says it failed to hold Kosovo mission accountable for abuses such as housing Roma on contaminated land

16.7.2016 11:53 The online news server Prishtina Insight reports that an annual report published by the United Nations' own internal human rights mechanism, the Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) has harshly criticized UN failures with respect to human rights in Kosovo. The HRAP called its efforts to achieve some sort of formal judgment regarding human rights abuses committed by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) a "total failure" and said it apologized "profusely to the complainants for its role in this sham.”  full story

Czech PM asks MP to apologize for homophobic remarks, she refuses and will no longer run for office

16.7.2016 11:06 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, head of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), has called on MP Pavlína Nytrová to apologize for her "inappropriate and offensive remarks about homosexuals". If she continues to make such statements then she will no longer be able to run on the party ticket.  full story

Czech town of Kroměříž plans to demolish Romani-occupied buildings in approach reminiscent of previous evictions

16.7.2016 9:27 The town hall of Kroměříž has been inspired by the approach taken by towns such as Holešov or Vsetín and reportedly plans to demolish buildings currently serving as social housing in the Račín settlement, where roughly 100 "socially vulnerable" residents live in the quarter called "Dolní zahrady" (Lower Gardens), most of whom are Romani. After the demolition, apartments for senior citizens are supposed to be built there, and the current residents, according to Vice-Mayor Pavel Motyčka, will be moved into other localities.  full story

Czech Social Democratic MP says "homosexuals" want to legalize sex with children, PM not yet calling for her resignation

15.7.2016 16:08 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the chair of the governing Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), says he wants to meet with Czech MP Pavlina Nytrová (also ČSSD)
to discuss her recent remarks about "homosexuals". The PM says he does not want her to continue making such comments.  full story

Czech Republic: Christian refugees from Iraq slowly find housing and jobs

15.7.2016 14:24 The 40 Iraqi Christians who were brought to the Czech Republic a couple of months ago by the Generation 21 Foundation have moved into rental housing and are learning Czech. Some of the adults are also beginning to work.  full story

Romani civil society member of advisory body to Czech Government resigns over failure to remove pig farm from genocide site

15.7.2016 9:21 Miroslav Zima, the director of Drom, a Romani Center, resigned last month from the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission on Roma Community Affairs. One of the
reasons for his resignation is the fact that the pig farm has not yet been removed from the site of the WWII era "Gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek.
 full story

Czech Police to get new powers to disperse assemblies, spontaneous demonstrations will not have legal protection

14.7.2016 9:23 The option of being able to hold a spontaneous public assembly without first announcing it to the authorities will not be enshrined in law as the Government previously
proposed. The parameters for those entitled to announce such a public gathering to local authorities will also not be expanded, but police officers will be given new powers to disperse an assembly directly.  full story

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: It is extremely inappropriate to "catch Pokémon" in our building

13.7.2016 13:14 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has called on fans of the smartphone game "Pokémon Go" to stop using their building for this new form of entertainment. The institution said it is "extremely inappropriate" for players to virtually "hunt" the virtual pokémon figures in virtual representations of a place dedicated to commemorating millions of Second World War murder victims.  full story

ROMEA releases new Czech-Norwegian documentary film about aid for victims of discrimination and hate violence

13.7.2016 8:11 A new Czech-Norwegian documentary film about the situation in those countries for victims of discrimination and hate violence has been produced by staffers of the ROMEA organization in the Czech Republic. It is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of ROMEA TV.  full story

Commentary: Czech anti-immigrant MP has a math problem

12.7.2016 8:36 The Czech politician Tomio Okamura has reported through Facebook and Twitter, as well as through his video blog, that "Muslim migrants are primarily responsible for the number of rapes in Sweden growing by a multiple of more than 1 500". Since such a claim naturally attracts our attention, let's take a look at it.  full story

Slovakia: New campaign warns of the link between online hate and real-world extremism

11.7.2016 20:13 At the end of last week the Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Slovakia launched a new campaign against hate and the sharing of hateful content online under the slogan "Saying 'but' won't hide the hate". The campaign links hatred in the online world to real-world extremism in society.  full story

USA: Protests against police violence continue, resulting in hundreds of arrests

11.7.2016 19:05 In many places throughout the entre United States, more protests were held on Sunday against the incidents last week of African-American civilians being shot dead during controversial police interventions. Demonstrators assembled again in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and St. Paul, Minnesota, the cities where the controversial police shootings took place, according to CBS News.  full story

Czech Republic: Autonomous Social Center Klinika is again open to the public, court overturns preliminary injunction

11.7.2016 14:27 The Autonomous Social Center Klinika in Prague opened to the public again on 7 July after several weeks of closure. The Municipal Court in Prague has overturned a preliminary injunction banning the center from operating.  full story

Half of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in social exclusion, members of the middle class face ethnic intolerance

11.7.2016 6:47 Half of the Romani people living in the Czech Republic are socially excluded. According to qualified estimates made by the coordinators for Romani minority affairs who work at local and regional level, that is more than 113 000 people.  full story

UK: Number of attacks on East European and Muslim immigrants grows by 42 % since the referendum

10.7.2016 23:25 The number of hate attacks against immigrants in Britain has increased 42 % since the June referendum in which British voters expressed their desire for their country to leave the European Union. The statistics were reported on 8 July by the British police.  full story

Germany: Merkel's popularity rising, anti-refugee populists losing favor

10.7.2016 18:48 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is enjoying her highest ratings since the beginning of the refugee crisis. A total of 59 % of Germans are assessing her work positively, the highest rating since last September.  full story

Czech politician files criminal report against activist who set a copy of the Quran on fire

10.7.2016 12:07 The Brno-based politician Svatopluk Bartík (Žít Brno) has filed criminal charges against Martin Konvička, head of an Islamophobic initiative now named after himself ("The Initiative of Martin Konvička"), who provoked outrage last week in front of a mosque in Brno. Konvička and his followers said they were "defending Czech culture" by setting fire to the Quran, holding a fashion show of scantily-clad women, drinking beer, and eating goulash and hot dogs.  full story

Germany: Number of refugees arriving has significantly fallen

10.7.2016 11:34 During the first six months of 2016 more than 220 000 migrants arrived in Germany. The figure was announced on 8 July by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière.  full story

USA: African-American sniper kills five white police officers in Dallas after two African-American civilians killed by police elsewhere

9.7.2016 22:58 An armed African-American sniper identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan, killed five police officers in Dallas, Texas and injured six more during an otherwise peaceful demonstration on 7 July against police violence being committed against African-Americans. Police also arrested three other people in connection with the attack, one of them female.  full story

Germany: Romani refugees at risk of deportation occupy cathedral in Regensburg

9.7.2016 20:48 On Tuesday, 5 July, a group of more than 40 Romani refugees from states in the Balkans occupied the cathedral in the Bavarian city of Regensburg on the Danube. The local Catholic parish has decided to leave the refugees in the building and is not requesting police to intervene.  full story