News

Interview with Slovak journalist Rudolf Sivý: "Extremist" is not the four-letter word it once was

19.7.2016 16:03 Slovak journalist Rudolf Sivý, who covers human rights, nationalism and political extremism, is interviewed in the June edition of Romano voďi magazine, where he says the term "extremist" is no longer the epithet it used to be in Slovakia. In the interview, he discusses how a particular ultra-right party made it into the Slovak Parliament, how radicalization of society happens, and what role the media plays - a discussion that is very instructive for the Czech Republic as well ahead of next year's elections.  full story

Bulgarian man who abused Romani youth convicted of racially-motivated attack

19.7.2016 7:40 Last week the District Court in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, reviewed the case of a racist attack perpetrated by Angel Kaleev. In April of this year, Kalev assaulted a Romani youth, Mitko Jonkov, after Jonkov dared to assert that he and Kalev were equals.    full story

Klaudia Vospálková: Investing into education pays off

19.7.2016 7:11 Klaudia Vospálková has always dreamed that one day she would become the most powerful woman on the planet. Those ambitions of hers just became a bit more achievable.  full story

Alliance against Antigypsyism: Antigypsyism is a major obstacle to equal citizenship for Romani people

19.7.2016 6:31 On 5 July the Alliance against Antigypsyism published its "Reference Paper on Antigypsyism", which is a specific form of racism against Roma, Sinti, Travellers and other groups stigmatized as "gypsies" in the public arena. The paper, among other things, proposes a working definition of the concept.
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Parliamentarians of Europe get involved to prevent genocide and mass atrocities and to fight against genocide denial

18.7.2016 15:24 Syria, Iraq, Darfur, Burundi,... The intolerable list of mass atrocities that are committed before our eyes, some of which could develop into genocides, is long. Simultaneously, we are witnessing a rise in genocide denial across our continent, through political parties as well as through a certain popular culture, in varying forms: denial or reversal of facts, relativism, confusion, competition of victims,…  full story

Commentary: Integration of impoverished Roma must begin immediately in the Czech Republic

18.7.2016 8:17 Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman has said good-faith, intensive negotiations are underway with stockholders to remove the pig farm from the site of the former concentration camp at Lety where Romani people died. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has said he believes a law on social housing can still be approved before the next elections.  full story

Czech commentator: The Nice attack is all about the PR of fear

17.7.2016 17:01 If you want to be seen, you must be in the media, and if you want to be in the media, then you must make yourself visible. What are all these terrorist attacks really about?  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion begins work with mayor who keeps attacking Roma

17.7.2016 15:37 Representatives of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and the leadership of the town of Vsetín signed a so-called Memorandum of Collaboration last Wednesday confirming their mutual obligations for the next three years. Local leaders will now collaborate with the Agency within the framework of its "Coordinated Approach" to addressing socially excluded localities.  full story

European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (Berlin) seeks Executive Director

16.7.2016 12:59 The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), a joint initiative of the Alliance for the European Roma Institute, the Council of Europe, and the Open Society Foundations, has announced it is seeking its first Executive Director. ERIAC will be a foundation registered under German law and based in Berlin.  full story

UN internal human rights oversight body says it failed to hold Kosovo mission accountable for abuses such as housing Roma on contaminated land

16.7.2016 11:53 The online news server Prishtina Insight reports that an annual report published by the United Nations' own internal human rights mechanism, the Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) has harshly criticized UN failures with respect to human rights in Kosovo. The HRAP called its efforts to achieve some sort of formal judgment regarding human rights abuses committed by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) a "total failure" and said it apologized "profusely to the complainants for its role in this sham.”  full story

Czech PM asks MP to apologize for homophobic remarks, she refuses and will no longer run for office

16.7.2016 11:06 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, head of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), has called on MP Pavlína Nytrová to apologize for her "inappropriate and offensive remarks about homosexuals". If she continues to make such statements then she will no longer be able to run on the party ticket.  full story

Czech town of Kroměříž plans to demolish Romani-occupied buildings in approach reminiscent of previous evictions

16.7.2016 9:27 The town hall of Kroměříž has been inspired by the approach taken by towns such as Holešov or Vsetín and reportedly plans to demolish buildings currently serving as social housing in the Račín settlement, where roughly 100 "socially vulnerable" residents live in the quarter called "Dolní zahrady" (Lower Gardens), most of whom are Romani. After the demolition, apartments for senior citizens are supposed to be built there, and the current residents, according to Vice-Mayor Pavel Motyčka, will be moved into other localities.  full story

Czech Social Democratic MP says "homosexuals" want to legalize sex with children, PM not yet calling for her resignation

15.7.2016 16:08 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the chair of the governing Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), says he wants to meet with Czech MP Pavlina Nytrová (also ČSSD)
to discuss her recent remarks about "homosexuals". The PM says he does not want her to continue making such comments.  full story

Czech Republic: Christian refugees from Iraq slowly find housing and jobs

15.7.2016 14:24 The 40 Iraqi Christians who were brought to the Czech Republic a couple of months ago by the Generation 21 Foundation have moved into rental housing and are learning Czech. Some of the adults are also beginning to work.  full story

Romani civil society member of advisory body to Czech Government resigns over failure to remove pig farm from genocide site

15.7.2016 9:21 Miroslav Zima, the director of Drom, a Romani Center, resigned last month from the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission on Roma Community Affairs. One of the
reasons for his resignation is the fact that the pig farm has not yet been removed from the site of the WWII era "Gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek.
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Czech Police to get new powers to disperse assemblies, spontaneous demonstrations will not have legal protection

14.7.2016 9:23 The option of being able to hold a spontaneous public assembly without first announcing it to the authorities will not be enshrined in law as the Government previously
proposed. The parameters for those entitled to announce such a public gathering to local authorities will also not be expanded, but police officers will be given new powers to disperse an assembly directly.  full story

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: It is extremely inappropriate to "catch Pokémon" in our building

13.7.2016 13:14 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has called on fans of the smartphone game "Pokémon Go" to stop using their building for this new form of entertainment. The institution said it is "extremely inappropriate" for players to virtually "hunt" the virtual pokémon figures in virtual representations of a place dedicated to commemorating millions of Second World War murder victims.  full story

ROMEA releases new Czech-Norwegian documentary film about aid for victims of discrimination and hate violence

13.7.2016 8:11 A new Czech-Norwegian documentary film about the situation in those countries for victims of discrimination and hate violence has been produced by staffers of the ROMEA organization in the Czech Republic. It is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of ROMEA TV.  full story

Commentary: Czech anti-immigrant MP has a math problem

12.7.2016 8:36 The Czech politician Tomio Okamura has reported through Facebook and Twitter, as well as through his video blog, that "Muslim migrants are primarily responsible for the number of rapes in Sweden growing by a multiple of more than 1 500". Since such a claim naturally attracts our attention, let's take a look at it.  full story

Slovakia: New campaign warns of the link between online hate and real-world extremism

11.7.2016 20:13 At the end of last week the Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Slovakia launched a new campaign against hate and the sharing of hateful content online under the slogan "Saying 'but' won't hide the hate". The campaign links hatred in the online world to real-world extremism in society.  full story