Czech Republic

Czech NGO says Romani women are unemployed because they have low self-esteem

Brno, 30.9.2014 22:30, (ROMEA) A wooden spoon in one hand, a child in the other and an education that helps her figure out where to buy the cheapest yogurt at the most. That, according to experts, is the position of women in Romani households.  full story

Czech town turning residential hotel into real housing

Karviná, 30.9.2014 18:47, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the existence of at least one ghetto in the Czech Republic may actually be indirectly helping to improve the housing of young people and senior citizens. The growing number of privately-run facilities housing the socially vulnerable is forcing municipalities to take action.  full story

Czech Republic: Experts say amendment increases risk that Romani children will be segregated

Prague, 30.9.2014 18:05, (ROMEA) Part of an amendment to the School Act that has already been approved by the lower house during a first reading is now a topic of criticism by experts, people from nonprofit organizations, and some journalists. As news server Romea.cz has previously reported, the Czech Education Ministry is not admitting to any misconduct.  full story

Czech Republic: Activists convince Romani voters in Krupka not to sell their votes

Krupka, 29.9.2014 22:43, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that NGOs fighting corruption have done their best over the weekend to convince local Romani voters in Krupka not to sell their votes in the upcoming local elections. The last municipal polls there had to be repeated three times because of vote-buying, and suspicions exist this year that the situation could repeat itself.  full story

Czech ultra-right leader rails against Arab spa clients

Teplice, 29.9.2014 22:15, (ROMEA) Several people were arrested by police on Saturday during an assembly convened in the town of Teplice by the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Police spokesperson Dan Vítek announced the arrests.  full story

Czech Republic officially recognizes more people who resisted communism

Prague, 29.9.2014 19:41, (ROMEA) Another 38 people have been recognized as participants in the resistance to and revolt against communism in the former Czechoslovakia. Certificates to that effect have been presented by Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnický (ANO) to, for example, the former Charter 77 signatory and journalist Otta Bednářová; the former dissident and post-1989 officer with the Security Information Services, Vladimír Hučín; and to Zdislav Zima, who assisted a French secret service agent; Hučín and Zima have also been awarded the status of war veteran.  full story

Czech NGO releases exclusive survey by and about Romani women

Prague, 28.9.2014 22:28, (ROMEA) Research released earlier this month by the Slovo 21 civic association on the position of Romani women in the Czech Republic found that most Romani women consider their children's education to be very important. More than 600 Romani women were surveyed by the project.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani local candidate says racism poses the same threat as Fascism

Prostějov, 28.9.2014 20:33, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz has prepared a series of brief interviews with Romani candidates in the upcoming local elections. This interview is with 18-year-old Ondřej Provazník, a candidate with the ANO movement in Prostějov.  full story

Czech town tries to prevent giant residential hotel from developing

Přerov, 28.9.2014 20:00, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that councilors in the Czech town of Přerov have said they would prefer to pay CZK 40 million for a building they don't need than see it turn into a giant residential hotel housing hundreds of socially vulnerable people. Local officials have approved a plan to purchase the local Hotel Strojař from the Czech Defense Ministry.  full story

Problems of a Czech city: Aging populations, debt, depopulation, ghettos, not enough work, residential hotels

Ostrava, 28.9.2014 0:30, (ROMEA) The Czech city of Ostrava has several problems, which means deciding which are the most serious is not easy. Certainly problems with socially excluded localities and the rising number of residential hotels housing the most impoverished people are at the top of the list.  full story

Exhibition on postwar migration of Roma to the Czech Republic

Ostrava, 27.9.2014 23:10, (ROMEA) Earlier this month Ostrava's Mírové náměstí saw the installation of a stylized apartment housing the exhibition "Khatar san?" (Where are you from?) mapping the arrival of Romani people from Slovakia into the Ostrava region for work. The audiovisual exhibition presents the memories and stories of 11 men and women who headed for the Czech Republic from Romani settlements in Slovakia after 1945, according to the project's curator Kateřina Sidiropulu Janků.  full story

ROMEA holding training to improve image of Roma in the media

Prague, 26.9.2014 20:31, (ROMEA) ROMEA, o.p.s., in collaboration with the College of Media and Journalism in Prague (Vyšší odborná škola publicistiky), is holding a media training focused on practical skills for communicating with various kinds of media. The training will be given by professional journalists Roman Bradáč and Václav Sochor.  full story

Czech town's bulletin intentionally racist in runup to local elections

Albrechtice, 26.9.2014 19:33, (ROMEA) Albrechtice in the Jizerský Mountains may just be a small community, but we too have a municipal bulletin. If it were to be read by someone impartial, he or she would probably see it as a cross between a 1950's magazine promoting the "building of socialism" and a tabloid paper.  full story

Czech EdMin protests Brussels' criticism, AI confirms Roma are discriminated

Brussels/Prague, 26.9.2014 18:35, (ROMEA) New requirements from the European Commission regarding the education of Romani children in the Czech Republic have prompted a great outcry. Both the Czech Education Ministry and several NGOs that have long been involved in the problem have responded to the news.  full story

Czech Roma Holocaust victims and their relatives file criminal charges against MP

Prague, 26.9.2014 0:28, (ROMEA) The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH), Mr Čeněk Růžička, the ROMEA, o.p.s. organization, Mr Miroslav Kováč of the Equal Opportunities Party and Mr Michal Miko of the Slovo 21 association filed criminal charges against Czech MP Tomio Okamura on 2 September for the statements he made on the eve of the Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day doubting the existence of the so-called "gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek and downplaying the deaths of the hundreds imprisoned there, including children. The charges were filed by Mr Kováč and Mr Růžička in person at the District State Prosecutor for Prague 5 and included extensive appendices documenting the merits of their submission and the publicly available historical information that Okamura either ignored or even lied about in his public statement.  full story

Czech NGO says new law will force preschool clubs for impoverished children to close

Prague, 25.9.2014 23:33, (ROMEA) On 23 September the Czech lower house approved a ministerial draft of a law on children's groups. The terms of that legislation, according to the Czech NGO People in Need, establish insurmountable barriers to the operation of preschool clubs that provide a chance for at-risk children to succeed in the Czech education system and find skilled employment as adults.  full story

Czech town that repeated elections three times may see vote-buying again

Krupka, 25.9.2014 19:13, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that in the town of Krupka (Teplice district), where the most recent local elections had to be repeated three times because of vote-buying, locals are again receiving reports that parties are planning to offer to buy votes. Some local political associations are training members of the local electoral commission on how to spot vote-buying and are planning to patrol the streets during the elections.  full story

AI: EU action against Czech Republic for discrimination in schools is a victory for rights, justice, and Roma

London, 25.9.2014 19:05, (ROMEA) Amnesty International today welcomed the European Commission’s announcement that it would use its powers to initiate infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic for breaching European Union (EU) anti-discrimination legislation.  full story

Czech Foundation against Corruption: Vote-buying has begun

Prague, 25.9.2014 18:31, (ROMEA) Purely by accident, I ran into two homeless people sitting on a bench who were very grateful for the twenty crowns I gave them. After conversing for some time, they admitted that they are usually exploited during elections here, as it is impossible for them to refuse an offer of CZK 500 for their vote.  full story

Czech legislation to curb housing benefit abuses by residential hotel landlords

Prague, 25.9.2014 17:56, (ROMEA) The disbursal of housing benefits to tenants of residential hotels is evidently about to be limited. According to an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress drafted by the Government, the state would calculate such benefits provided directly to the operators of residential hotels based on the space being rented, not on the number of people living in a unit.  full story