News

International study claims Romani children still discriminated against in education in Europe

26.4.2016 11:35 While the situation is slowly improving, discrimination and segregation of Romani children in the Czech education system still persists more than eight years after the judgment in the case of "D.H. and Others versus the Czech Republic". In that judgment, the European Court for Human Rights ruled that 18 Romani children had been illegally assigned to "special schools".  full story

Czech expert says child welfare authorities should address discrimination in the schools

26.4.2016 9:44 Klára Laurenčíková, the chair of the Czech Professional Society for Inclusive Education and a member of the Czech Education Ministry's expert team on inclusive education, said last week that she believes child welfare authorities should be more involved in cases of discrimination in the schools. The current Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová, also pointed out that social workers have always been in a position to consult with parents about such matters as part of their jobs.  full story

Poland: Local Catholic church apologizes for neo-Fascist mass in cathedral

26.4.2016 8:35 Last week a big discussion was prompted in Poland by the fact that a local Catholic church had made it possible for a right-wing radical organization to celebrate mass in a cathedral in the east of the country. The ultra-nationalist group, which is calling for the country to leave the EU, celebrated its 82nd anniversary in the cathedral in Bialystok.  full story

Czech Senate approves education amendment in full, opponents of inclusion failed to convince them otherwise

25.4.2016 13:44 Last week the Czech Senate adopted an amendment to the law on education in full despite the fact that many reservations to it have been expressed. The vote means that new rules for inclusion in the Czech schools will apply as of September.  full story

Czech Republic: Dozens of educators and students support activist who allegedly assaulted police officer

25.4.2016 11:09 Dozens of educators and students of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) have signed a letter supporting left-wing activist Kateřina Krejčová, who allegedly assaulted a police officer last year while protesting a march by those opposed to migration. In February the court sentenced her to one month in prison, suspended for one year, a sentence she has appealed.  full story

Czech youth who fired gas pistol at demonstration given 200 hours of community service

25.4.2016 8:58 Jiří Borovička, who fired a gas pistol into the air during an anti-immigration demonstration this past February in Prague, was convicted of rioting and sentenced last week to 200 hours of community service and forfeiture of the weapon. The 21-year-old laborer has accepted the sentence and will not appeal, but the state prosecutor is still considering whether to appeal.  full story

Germany: Trial of right-wing extremist Lutz Bachmann of Pegida begins

24.4.2016 10:43 On 20 April the trial of Lutz Bachmann, the leader of the "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West" (Pegida) movement, began in Dresden accompanied by an exceptional degree of interest from the media and the public. If convicted he faces up to five years in prison for inciting hatred against refugees.  full story

Czech Republic: Group of 16 Christian refugees wants to go back to Iraq

23.4.2016 9:14 Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) tweeted on 20 April that the group of 16 Christian Iraqi refugees who wanted to leave the Czech Republic for Germany last week has asked to be returned to Iraq. Chovanec said the ministry would be negotiating with the Generation 21 Foundation, which brought the foreign nationals to the Czech Republic this year, as to whether it could cover the costs of their travel.  full story

European Parliament is financing neo-Nazis even after rules change

21.4.2016 7:24 The European Parliament has just issued a second grant this year to support the Europa Terra Nostra foundation (ETN), part of the extremist "Alliance for Peace and Freedom" (APF) faction of the European legislature. Czech extremist Tomáš Vandas sits on the executive board of the APF, which is using the money to prepare a big meeting in Stockholm this summer.  full story

Croatia: Unidentified attacker threw a grenade at a Romani preschool in Zagreb

20.4.2016 12:04 An unidentified attacker threw a hand grenade into the yard of a building in Zagreb that houses a nursery school for Romani children. The Croatian Romani Association also has its office in the building and a second preschool facility is also housed there.  full story

Czech online daily wants public prosecutor disciplined for anti-Romani prejudice

19.4.2016 21:38 The online daily Deník Referendum has delivered a motion to Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán (ANO 2011) asking that disciplinary proceedings be initiated against state prosecutor JUDr. Zdeňka Galková. The editors believe her work for the Prague 1 office has been extremely problematic because the activities of that particular state prosecutor's office clearly have an impact on the republic as a whole, as Prague 1 is the district in the country where the biggest number of political speeches and public activities takes place.  full story

Czech Republic: Seven-year anniversary of neo-Nazi arson attack on Romani family home in Vítkov

19.4.2016 12:09 Seven years ago, during the late night hours of 18 April and the early morning hours of 19 April 2009, four neo-Nazis threw Molotov cocktails into a single-family home in the town of Vítkov (Opava district), where a Romani family was living. During the subsequent blaze three people were injured, including the family's youngest daughter, Natálka, who suffered burns over 80 % of her body before she was even two years old.  full story

Slovakia: Fascist politician seeks minute of silence in Parliament for WWII-era leader, doesn't get it

19.4.2016 8:27 Slovak media are reporting that the leader of Slovakia's ultra-right "Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia" (K-LSNS), Marián Kotleba, asked the leadership of Parliament on Friday to announce a minute of silence to honor the President of the wartime Slovak State, Jozef Tiso, who was responsible for the deportation of Jewish people from the country. Andrej Danko, the speaker of Parliament who is also the head of the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), refused the motion.  full story

Slovak President: Democratic countries face rise of extremism, decency is coming to symbolize "weakness"

18.4.2016 22:21 Democratic countries are facing a new wave of propaganda and the rise of extremist political forces, Slovak President Andrej Kiska said in his opening remarks at the international Globsec conference last weekend in Bratislava. The 11th annual Globsec was dedicated to questions of terrorism, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the referendum on Britain remaining in the EU.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani ice hockey player Dominik Lakatoš is rookie of the year

18.4.2016 8:02 Dominik Lakatoš, a talented ice hockey player for Liberec, has been designated rookie of the year by Czech Television's annual "Hockey Player of the Season" survey. Robert Záruba announced the news during half-time of the final match of the ice hockey championship between Liberec and Sparta on 14 April and the awards ceremony will take place on 2 May.  full story

Czech Republic: Handful of neo-Nazis demonstrate in Vítkov to raise money for racist arsonists who attacked Romani family there

17.4.2016 9:50 Just a few neo-Nazis assembled yesterday at a demonstration in the Czech town of Vítkov, where seven years ago during the late night hours of 18 April and the early morning hours of 19 April an arson attack was committed on a home occupied by a Romani family. The neo-Nazis originally invited the public to the assembly by saying they wanted to support the racist arsonists who had committed that particular attack.  full story

Adriana Trejtnarová: Inclusive education must include everything

15.4.2016 20:30 Inclusive education? Yes, but it must include everything and naturally it must benefit the child, as that is what we are after.  full story

Czech Police arrest 16 Iraqi refugees who want to leave the country

15.4.2016 19:08 Another 16 Christian refugees from Iraq who were brought to the Czech Republic by the Generation 21 Foundation and who have been living in Brno have decided to leave the Czech Republic. They retrieved their passports from the Czech authorities and wanted to go to Germany.  full story

ROMEA: The media need more Romani journalists

15.4.2016 17:52 Richard Samko, Patrik Banga, Jarmila Balážová, Iveta Demeterová, Tomáš Bystrý, Rena Horvátová: Their faces and voices are known to the Czech-speaking public from radio and television broadcasts. Each report they do refutes the prejudice that all Romani people "are the same".  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister says USA's human rights report about the Czech Republic is correct and factual

15.4.2016 15:13 Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) says the report issued by the US State Department on the state of human rights in the Czech Republic is correct and factual. In the document, which the American authorities publish annually, reservations were expressed regarding the situation of Romani people and the remarks made by political representatives about the migration crisis, including remarks made by Czech President Miloš Zeman.  full story