News

Czech Republic: Hateful demonstrations against refugee reception in several cities

28.10.2015 23:12 In Brno, Prague, and several other cities in the Czech Republic, hundreds of people gathered today for demonstrations against migration, with police in Brno estimating that about 1 500 people turned out. Most of the events (the ones in Brno, Ostrava, Prague and Ústí nad Labem) were convened by the Bloc against Islam (Blok proti islámu) and Dawn-National Coalition (Úsvit-Národní koalice).  full story

UN migration representative: Lack of agreement on refugees risks the European project

28.10.2015 9:07 Peter Sutherland, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for International Migration, warned last month that failure to agree on a united response to the current asylum-seeker crisis poses a danger to the very concept of European unity. “If there is no agreement to share refugees between the countries of the European Union, it risks undermining the very essence of the European project,” he told The Guardian.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani preschool teacher knows change is possible

28.10.2015 8:34 Božena Horváthová teaches Romani preschoolers on Cejl Street in Brno, the Czech Republic's second-largest city. In a reportage broadcast by Czech Television last month, she described her greatest dream as follows: "You know what I envision? For us to not be 'sidelined', for us to be involved in society. For our children to study and have beautiful professions. I have managed this with my own children and I know it can be done. I know this can be changed."
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UK: Traveller people have to "prove" their ethnicity under new planning rules

28.10.2015 7:44 Dan Allen, a lecturer in Social Work at the University of Salford, reported for The Conversation last month that recent actions by the UK Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) might make the lives of Traveller communities worse. The department has introduced new planning rules that Allen says will adversely directly affect the health of these people.  full story

Czech Republic deporting Afghan family whose case came before the European Court of Human Rights

28.10.2015 7:13 The Czech Republic will be releasing an Afghan family from the Bělá-Jezová detention facility in the Mladá Boleslav district after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg called on the Czech authorities to transfer them to a different facility. The Czech Interior Ministry, however, says its decision is not in reaction to the Court judgment.  full story

Refugees to have their own team at Rio under the Olympic flag

28.10.2015 6:30 Leading athletes who are also refugees and therefore technically unable to represent any country will be able to compete in the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. Thomas Bach, the chair of the International Olympic Committee, announced the development at Monday's session of the UN General Assembly.  full story

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis: Meeting with participants in the pilgrimage of Gypsies

27.10.2015 17:46 Dear Brothers and Sisters, I welcome and greet you all cordially. I thank Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò for his words and for having organized this event in collaboration with: the “Migrantes” Foundation of the Italian Episcopal Conference; the “Migrantes” Office of the Diocese of Rome and the Sant’Egidio Community.
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Czech Education Ministry responds on basic timeline for inclusion preparations

27.10.2015 10:48 News server Romea.cz has asked the Czech Education Ministry why it is has not yet communicated with experts and principals about how the transition to inclusive education will take place next school year. On 16 October the ministry sent the following response:  full story

Pope Francis to Roma: Your nation deserves a new story

27.10.2015 10:11 Yesterday Pope Francis received more than 5 000 Romani people from the Americas, Asia and Europe at the Vatican. The meeting was part of the International Pilgrimage of Gypsies, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples from 23 to 26 October on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of a visit paid to Romani people in Pomezia, Italy, by Pope Paul VI.  full story

Czech adviser to Education Minister: Segregation is unacceptable, unethical - and undefined in Czech law

27.10.2015 8:52 "The reasons given for the creation of ethnically homogeneous classes frequently do not reflect the actual state of affairs," claims Education Ministry adviser Klára Laurenčíková. Following the newly-reported cases of the suspected segregation of Romani primary school pupils in the towns of Duchcov and Krásná Lípa, news server Romea.cz is publishing this interview describing the development of segregational tendencies in the Czech schools, the current state of those tendencies, and planned changes to the system.  full story

Italy: Several thousand Roma walk the stations of the cross in Rome

27.10.2015 7:34 On the night of Saturday 24 October those attending the International Pilgrimage of Gypsies walked the stations of the cross. At each of the 14 stations a different person from a different country was asked to speak.  full story

Commentary: Are the Czech schools at risk of chaos next year? Experts, teachers doubt schools are prepared for inclusion

26.10.2015 20:11 The "special schools" will be closed and all of the children in them will move into unprepared "normal" schools where there will not be enough teaching assistants, materials or teachers. Chaos will reign, children, parents and teachers will be dissatisfied.  full story

Slovakia internationally criticized for forced sterilization, police impunity for brutality against Roma, position on refugee reception and segregated education

26.10.2015 12:00 The Slovak Spectator reports that the United Nations has sharply criticized reports of Slovak Police brutality against Romani residents. Repressive, systematic actions by police are occurring hand in hard with ineffective investigations of police misconduct.  full story

Some Czech schools report inclusion already happening, Romani pupils achieving average results

26.10.2015 10:20 Primary school administrators in the Semilsko and Trutnov districts have told the Czech media that they are not having any problems with the Romani pupils attending their schools. The principals say Romani children are achieving average results, both in their behavior and in their studies.  full story

Slovenian PM: Refugee crisis could be the beginning of the end of the EU

26.10.2015 9:03 Several Prime Ministers from EU Member States used unusually direct, harsh words, including against the European Commission, when arriving in Brussels yesterday for a negotiation about migration routes to the EU through the Balkans. The mini-summit of high representatives of countries from the region, where some are EU Member States and some are not, was convened last week by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker with the aim of quickly agreeing on concrete measures for addressing the crisis situation of tens of thousands of refugees passing through the area in an attempt to reach Western Europe before winter sets in.  full story

Czech Police stop Romani barbecue to enforce local ordinance - even where it does not apply

26.10.2015 8:09 Roughly 20 to 30 Romani people, most of them minors, gathered for a picnic at a park in Duchcov last month as part of a gathering organized by the Romane Kale Panthera (Romani Black Panther) group as a provocation. A local ordinance in Duchcov bans sitting outdoors in some parts of town and is obviously intended to target local Roma.  full story

videoLIVE BROADCAST 10:30 GMT today: Romani people meet with Pope Francis

26.10.2015 7:01 Pope Francis will receive more than 5 000 Romani people from the Americas, Asia and Europe today in the Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City at 10:30 GMT and the event will be broadcast live online. The meeting concludes the International Pilgrimage of Gypsies, which was organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples between 23 and 26 October this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's visit to Romani people in a travellers' camp in Pomezia, Italy.  full story

Czech civil society marks anniversary of the first Nazi transport of Jews from Prague not with silence, but with rhythm

25.10.2015 9:17 An unusual "happening" called "Drumming for Bubny" has marked the anniversary of the first Nazi transport of Jewish people from Prague to the concentration camps during WWII. Four hundred drums were distributed at the Prague-Bubny train station beneath a statue by Czech sculptor Aleš Veselý called "The Gate of No Return" and used by participants to symbolically disrupt the silence that surrounded that first deportation (Video footage of the event is here).  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister rejects notion that mayors can decide who will live in a municipality

25.10.2015 8:26 Mayor of Obrnice Drahomíra Miklošová is calling for increased powers to be granted to mayors so they can decide who can live in their communities. She has repeatedly called the situation in her own municipality grave recently because a larger number of Romani families are now returning there after having attempted to settle in England.  full story

Moldova: First Romani women elected to local government

25.10.2015 7:20 UN Women reports that this summer's local elections in Moldova resulted in the election of two Romani women for the first time. A total of 15 Romani candidates, seven of them women, ran in the June elections.  full story