News

Czech Government approves proposals for solving housing problems in excluded localities, critics not satisfied

6.11.2015 4:48 On 19 October the Czech Government approved a report on the state of socially excluded localities in the Ústecký Region submitted by Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier that includes proposals for how to solve the problems of ghettos in the Czech Republic in general. The report reviews the situation in municipalities with socially excluded localities that have collaborated with the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and includes motions, recommendations and brief proposals for addressing the problem areas of education, employment, housing, indebtedness, social services and social work.  full story

Czech court acquits activist who used removable paint on sidewalk in front of Parliament

4.11.2015 23:18 Today the Prague 1 District Court acquitted two activists who used removable paint to outline the figure of a man and write the name "Tomáš" on the sidewalk in front of the Czech lower house in July. Judge Dana Šindelářová said no crime had been committed and there had been no intention to commit property damage.  full story

German state of Bavaria prepares to sue federal government over alleged mishandling of the refugee crisis

4.11.2015 22:39 The German daily Tagesspiegel reports that the German state of Bavaria is preparing a Constitutional complaint against the German Government over the current influx of refugees into the country. The country's largest state is of the opinion that the federal government is not meeting its obligations during the refugee crisis by not attempting to restrict the arrival of immigrants to the country.  full story

Marek Szilvási: Czech Government should stop gambling with the country's reputation - the fight for compensation for forced sterilization is not over

4.11.2015 19:15 I remember being with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) just a couple of months when I was invited to Ostrava to an informal meeting with the Group of Women Harmed by Coercive Sterilization, an informal collective of harmed self-advocating Romani women. The meeting was organised by the local Life Together NGO in early April 2012 to celebrate the fact that after years of local activism, lawsuits and advocacy struggles, the Government’s Council for Human Rights had finally recommended the Government develop a compensation scheme for involuntarily sterilized women. A month earlier, the Group, Life Together and the ERRC had sent an official letter welcoming this government commitment. I took an early morning train and after a half-day journey from Budapest to Ostrava, I was warmly welcomed by the Life Together staff and the Romani women activists, whom until then I knew only through phone calls and email correspondence. After shedding my water-soaked coat I entered the second room and was introduced to Monika Šimúnková, the Czech Government’s Human Rights Commissioner, and Kateřina Valachová, now the current Minister of Education, who was at that time working for the Ombudsman. The atmosphere was relaxed, almost festive, and I soon succumbed to it and started expecting this controversy soon to be over.  full story

Karel Holomek: We should approach migrants through a sober examination of the facts

4.11.2015 0:09 The most recent opinion I have come across in the broad, endless debate about the refugees and what to do with them comes from Roman Joch (Lidové noviny, 15 October). In his opinion piece, he has presented the horrifying vision of author Jean Raspail's novel The Camp of the Saints, in which European civilization is destroyed by hordes of refugees who take what they do not have away from those who are incapable of holding onto what is theirs because of some sort of chimerical kindness and limitless tolerance.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Debt relief is a basic aspect of addressing social exclusion

3.11.2015 22:54 Combating social exclusion involves not just creating accessible social housing and schools that don't discriminate, but debt relief. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier opened up this very sensitive topic during the "Partie" discussion program on the Prima television station yesterday.  full story

Slovakia: Roma build new homes with EU money

3.11.2015 22:08 The Office of the Slovak Government's Plenipotentiary for Romani Community Affairs allocated financing last year for three local administrations to build lower-standard small apartment buildings. That successful project can now continue thanks to a subsidy in the amount of EUR 70 million to be provided to Slovakia by the European Union for the purpose of building more such dwellings.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani local councilor to remain in custody on drugs charges

3.11.2015 19:04 Marcel Cichý, a local councilor in the Czech town of Trmice (Ústecký Region), has been charged with drug distribution and will remain in custody pending trial. The Ústecký Regional Court announced that decision today.  full story

Czech Republic: Proportion of Roma in children's homes increasing

3.11.2015 1:37 The proportion of Romani boys and girls in children's homes for children under three years of age has risen in recent years. While in 2010 one-fifth of the population of such nursery institutions was comprised of Romani children, at the end of last year one-third of the children in such institutions were Romani.  full story

Analysis: Did the Hungarian Justice Minister really warn that Roma could join jihadists in Syria?

2.11.2015 17:31 Brussels-based news server EU Observer reported recently that Hungarian Justice Minister László Trócsányi allegedly spoke at a recent conference in Brussels of the danger of the possible radicalization of Romani people, who could become the next jihadists in Syria. However, what precisely he said and what he meant is now the subject of ongoing discussion and speculation.  full story

Czech Republic: Ultra-right anti-immigrant protests blockaded by 98 opponents who are detained

2.11.2015 16:01 News server iDNES.cz reports that several hundred opponents of immigration who are also supporters of the right-wing extremist Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS) gathered in Olomouc on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate against the reception of refugees and in favor of the Czech Republic leaving the European Union. A group of approximately 100 people protested against that assembly and expressed their support for receiving refugees.  full story

Czech Gov't prepares instruction manual for municipalities on how to address the problems of ghettos

2.11.2015 1:45 Cities and municipalities will be receiving instructions from the Czech Government on how to proceed with solving problems in so-called socially excluded localities and what instruments to use. The instructions concern crime prevention, education, employment and social services.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry says ultra-right is being pushed out of the public space by Islamophobes using same rhetoric

2.11.2015 0:27 The topic of the so-called migration wave has created fertile ground for various extremists in the Czech Republic since the beginning of this year. Various populist and xenophobic entities have frequently pushed ultra-right entities out of the public space by exploiting this specific issue.
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Czech documentary film about xenophobia, "Czechs versus Czechs", wins special honor at Jihlava film festival

1.11.2015 20:46 Tomáš Kratochvíl's documentary film "Czechs versus Czechs" (Češi proti Čechům) has won special recognition at the documentary film festival in Jihlava "for the impressive use of film as a personal journal to break down social prejudices and stereotypes". The director made the film in the Romani ghetto of Předlice, where he lived for eight months.  full story

videoEXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Romani police officer originally from Czech Republic becomes a Member of the British Empire

31.10.2015 17:46 On 29 October, police officer Petr Torák received the honor of being appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) from the UK Home Office. The high civilian honor was awarded to him by Queen Elizabeth II for his community work in the town of Peterborough.  full story

Czech Republic: Building owner demolishing controversial properties on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava

31.10.2015 16:47 The buildings on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava from which about 25 Romani families had to move away two years ago have been under new ownership since mid-October. After several unsuccessful auctions, the buildings were bought for almost CZK 600 000 (EUR 22 000) by the Ostrava Engineering and Repair Plant (Ostravské opravny a strojírny), which also owns a production facility nearby.  full story

Slovakia: Artists protest Governor after he blocks anti-xenophobia project funding

31.10.2015 16:02 In the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia artists are protesting the actions of Governor Marián Kotleba, who is known for his admiration of the WWII-era clerical Fascist Slovak State, his anti-Romani posturing, and his extremist political opinions. The Governor has refused to sign already-approved subsidies for projects aiming to warn young people against the dangers of extremism and xenophobia.  full story

Czech Republic: Hidden camera captures reactions to a refugee family from Syria

31.10.2015 15:17 The organizers of the Czech Government project "HateFree Culture" decided to test the approach taken by people in the Czech Republic toward refugees when they meet them face to face. The project sent a Syrian family with a young child to Kolín and to several neighboring villages in Central Bohemia.
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Romani participant in international pilgrimage: Meeting the Pope is the experience of a lifetime

31.10.2015 14:49 Anna Bystrá was a participant in the recent meeting with Pope Francis as part of the International Pilgrimage of Gypsies in Rome. News server Romea.cz interviewed her about her experience there.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani councilor charged with marijuana sale faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted

30.10.2015 23:05 Czech State Prosecutor Hana Řeháková has filed an indictment with the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem against Marcel Cichý, a Romani member of the Trmice town council who is allegedly involved in a four-member group of drug dealers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The group worked in the Ústí Region and is said to have sold marijuana and methamphetamine there between October and December of last year.  full story