News

Czech Republic: NGOs disagree with draft law on free legal aid

19.9.2016 13:03 The Czech Helsinki Committee and other non-governmental, non-profit organizations are criticizing the draft law on free legal aid that will be discussed by the Czech Government on Wednesday, 21 September 2016. According to a statement released today by the organizations, the bill was originally meant to arrange for a comprehensive, innovative system for persons whose fundamental human rights have been violated to access free legal aid in order to provide them more options for achieving redress through the courts.  full story

International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance met with Czech Government about removing the pig farm at Lety concentration camp site

18.9.2016 14:16 On 12 July an International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) delegation including the IHRA Chair, Ambassador Mihnea Constantinescu, attended high level meetings in the Czech Republic to discuss the future of the former concentration camp site of Lety u Pisku where a pig farm currently stands. Martina Maschke, Chair of the IHRA Committee on the Genocide of the Roma and Mirjam Karoly, ODIHR's Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues formed part of the delegation and reflect below on their visit to the site.
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Commentary: Czech media publish manipulative news item about slaughtered sheep and an "evil Turk"

18.9.2016 13:41 Today we are reporting yet another case study on the topic of "journalists in Czech media who could easily be replaced by monkeys. Even untrained ones."  full story

Czech Republic: Romani faithful gather for traditional pilgrimage

18.9.2016 12:32 Roughly 400 Romani people from all over the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered yesterday at Svatý Kopeček near Olomouc for their traditional pilgrimage. The event is organized by the Charita NGO in Olomouc and has a long tradition.
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Czech Republic: Opponents of the EU, Islam, Merkel and refugee reception demonstrate in Prague

18.9.2016 9:35 Opponents of Islam assembled on Saturday afternoon in on the upper part of Wenceslas Square in Prague. An event called "Solidarity with Refugees" took place on the lower part of Wenceslas Square at Můstek at the same time.  full story

Commentary: Schizophrenic "Barbie" running for ultra-right party claims to be shocked by backlash against her support for Romani arson victim

18.9.2016 8:20 The Czech celebrity Dominika Myslivcová is "Barbie". At least, that's the nickname given to her by the readers of Czech tabloids.  full story

Germany: Neo-Nazis in Lausitz region chase refugee youth through town, besiege their accommodation until 3 AM

18.9.2016 7:00 Neo-Nazis in Germany have launched a new offensive against refugees. The situation is escalating in the eastern town of Bautzen, where in February still-unidentified perpetrators set fire to a facility in the town center that was supposed to house refugees.  full story

Prague Pride changes website after recommending supporters vote for racist candidates

17.9.2016 15:17 The Prague Pride organization, which defends the rights of gays and lesbians and annually convenes a pride march through the center of Prague, recently conducted a survey among candidates to the Senate for this year's elections. According to how candidates responded to the three questions asked, the organization recommended members of the LGBT community vote for them.  full story

Miroslav Klempár: Parents make the final decision on where to enroll their children for school

17.9.2016 13:24 In the former communist Czechoslovakia of the late 1950s, the Government decided that Romani people were different from the rest of society and should therefore be educated separately. This differentiation on the basis of race led to today's two-track school system, in which a high-quality education is offered by mainstream schools where mostly non-Romani children are educated, and Romani children are disproportionately represented in what were once called the "zvláštní školy" (special schools) where a reduced education is offered for children who have mild mental disability.  full story

Czech documentary about Romani footballers premiered yesterday in Prague

17.9.2016 10:09 After the unanticipated cancellation of the premiere of the documentary film "FC ROMA" at the stadium of the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club earlier this week, the film was screened at a different location yesterday evening. The Containall arts and entertainment space in Prague's Lesser Quarter agreed to be the venue.  full story

Czech Police officers accused of abusing power over disproportionate use of force against Romani workers

16.9.2016 7:57 The Inspector-General of the Security Forces (GIBS) has accused Czech Police officers of abusing their power last September when they intervened against Romani agricultural workers in a field of legally-cultivated hemp near the village of Bukovany in the Česká Lípa district. News server Romea.cz reported the incident and developments in the case were published earlier this week by news server Novinky.cz, referring to information from the print edition of the Právo daily paper.  full story

Jitka Hatinová: All children must get the same chance to be educated

16.9.2016 6:35 Even though Jitka Hatinová is a special needs educator today, her first desire was to become a nurse. In fact, she even graduated from nursing school.  full story

EU: Juncker and Verhofstadt warn against nationalists and populists

15.9.2016 13:55 Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the European Parliament (EP), said yesterday that the solution to uncontrolled globalization and virulent nationalism and populism on the old continent is a new, reformed, stronger European Union. His remarks were made in response to the speech on the state of the union given by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.  full story

Analysis: The Czech town of Varnsdorf is cursed by its populists

15.9.2016 12:23 Czech Vice Prime Minister Babiš has concentrated public attention once again on the northern Bohemian town of Varnsdorf, which was the scene of pogrom-like marches on Romani-occupied residential hotels in 2011. This year Babiš has become the king of the Varnsdorf populists, freely continuing the legacy, for example, of Czech MP Ivana Řápková and of local neo-Nazis.  full story

Czech historian responds to tabloid disinformation about Romani Holocaust site

15.9.2016 8:16 The "Gypsy Camp" at Lety by Písek in Bohemia was established on 2 August 1942. It was located on the site of a transit camp that had previously been a disciplinary labor camp.  full story

Czech MP says Roma "don't go to work" and are "parasites on our social system"

14.9.2016 17:15 "A certain group of inhabitants doesn't go to work and are parasites on our social system, and if they are poorly integrated and in the majority [locally], then residents who are doing their best to uphold our standards and meet their work obligations are not absolutely understood by that group and are oppressed by them," Czech MP Radka Maxová (ANO) said during a discussion program broadcast by Czech Radio Plus on the evening of 12 September. The topic of the discussion was supposed to be the remarks made by Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babiš, who heads the ANO movement, about the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek and about the situation in socially excluded localities.  full story

Czech court rejects Interior Ministry lawsuit over gallows mock-ups

14.9.2016 16:18 The Municipal Court in Prague has rejected a lawsuit filed by the Czech Interior Ministry against the Prague 1 Municipal Department over mock-ups of gallows that were used during demonstrations against Islam last year. The local authority assessed the action of bringing the mock-ups to a public assembly as lawful.  full story

Commentary: An oasis of green and white has been flooded with Brownshirt mud

14.9.2016 15:27 The Bohemians Praha 1905 football club, based in the Vršovice quarter of Prague, is wearing a coat of shame today. Actually, we all are.  full story

Russia: Massacre of Romani people in the Urals, two dead, six injured, media reporting is biased

14.9.2016 7:56 A tragic exchange of gunfire in Russia between a group of Romani people and three local non-Romani businessmen on Saturday, 3 September has resulted in the deaths of two Romani people and the injury of six. Some media outlets in Russia are reporting the incident as an assault perpetrated by a group of armed Roma on some unsuspecting local entrepreneurs who had no choice but to defend their own lives and protect their family members.  full story

Czech football club backed down to racists within its own fan base over documentary screening

14.9.2016 6:53 After the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club decided to cancel the premiere of the documentary film "FC Roma" by Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš Bojar, the news server iSport.cz published an interview with the boss of the Bohemians Fan Club, Luďek Provazník, about the issue. It was the Fan Club that insisted on the cancellation.  full story