Czech Republic

Czech court wants EP threshold lowered, extremists would have it easier if so

Prague, 26.6.2014 17:27, (ROMEA) The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (Nejvyšší správní soud - NSS) is proposing that the Constitutional Court abolish the 5 % threshold for becoming a Member of the European Parliament. The elections appeal panel has sided with a motion filed by the Czech Green Party and the Czech Pirate Party.  full story

Commentary: Death in Czech town shows state of Romani empowerment

Prague, 25.6.2014 23:58, (ROMEA) The current story of Romani people in the Czech Republic is not just about court cases, hate marches, or problems related to discrimination. Beneath the surface, a process of empowerment is underway.  full story

Karel Holomek: "Positive discrimination" - nonsense or a total misunderstanding?

Brno, 25.6.2014 20:27, (ROMEA) The news that Czech Human Rights Minister Dienstbier intends to submit the 2020 Romani Integration Strategy to the Government has sparked horror in political circles across the political spectrum here, or at best has sparked a reaction of total rejection. This has happened on the basis of a suggestive question asked by the tabloid daily Parlamentní listy, namely, whether these politicians support the "positive discrimination" of Romani people?  full story

Czech bank ad shows swarthy man as criminal

Prague, 25.6.2014 18:57, (ROMEA) ČSOB bank has evidently decided to traffic in the anti-Romani sentiment in Czech society in its latest ad campaign. The visual image concerned is part of a campaign advertising the bank's insurance products, featuring the slogan "Insure your family silver before you leave to get bronzed", and shows a thief robbing a house.  full story

Interactive game "Czechoslovakia 1938 -1989" teaches students about the Romani Holocaust

Prague, 24.6.2014 20:40, (ROMANO VOĎI) The phrase "school through play" applies literally to the case of the instructional simulation game "Czechoslovakia 1938-1989" (Československo 38-89). Using a combination of a computer game and interactive comics, students are led through key moments in contemporary Czechoslovak and Czech history so they can "experience" the events of that time from the perspectives of various people.  full story

Czech Republic invested less into Romani students last year

Prague, 24.6.2014 16:07, (ROMEA) Last year the Czech state invested CZK 5.6 million [EUR 204 000] into supporting Romani students attending higher vocational and secondary schools. The money went to young people from poorer families to cover the costs of commuting, meals, and school supplies.  full story

Facebook erases Czech hate page against Islam, other racist pages still running

Prague, 23.6.2014 19:48, (ROMEA) A xenophobic Facebook page called "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" ("Islám v České republice nechceme") has been blocked by the company after acquiring 65 000 fans. Administrators of the social networking site seem to have responded to several years' worth of Facebook users warning them about its hateful content.  full story

Teenagers in Czech survey say Roma, "whites" both to blame for tensions

Frýdlantský foothills area, Czech Republic, 20.6.2014 21:23, (ROMEA) Both the majority population and the Romani minority are responsible for current tensions in the Czech Republic. That response was given by 66.1 % of the teenagers participating in a recent survey, part of a project called "Together against Prejudice" in the Frýdlantský foothills area that involved a series of discussions called "The Romani (?) Puzzle".  full story

Commentary: Active, emancipated Roma by 2020 is goal of Czech strategy

Prague, 20.6.2014 17:12, (ROMEA) Government strategies are not usually the most attractive or readable of texts. As far as the position of Romani people is concerned, readers can find many government documents have been produced already, including the Strategy for the Fight against Social Exclusion or the Strategy for Social Inclusion.  full story

Czech President's rude wisecrack tars all Roma with the same brush

Prague, 20.6.2014 15:45, (ROMEA) Several Czech media outlets have reported that a Romani woman who asked Czech President Miloš Zeman when members of her community would get decent housing received the following wisecrack in response: "We need to clarify what is meant by the concept of decent housing. It means that I don't trash the apartment I am paying for. I don't tear up the floorboards to make a little fire, I don't remove the windows, I don't turn the hallways into a dump. The right to decent housing also means the obligation to reside somewhere decently. It's sincerely all the same to me whether someone is non-Romani or Romani. We must measure everyone according to the same standards. Someone either knows how to reside somewhere and get along with their neighbors or doesn't, and when they don't, they lose their entitlement.  full story

Czech survey shows more people believe discrimination is a big problem

Prague, 19.6.2014 22:54, (ROMEA) The number of people who consider discrimination in the Czech Republic to be a big problem has risen slightly once again. Currently 74 % of Czechs share that opinion compared to 70 % one year ago and only 47 % four years ago.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister races for equal opportunities between men and women

Prague, 19.6.2014 22:27, (ROMEA) Today, 19 June, the Czech Women's Lobby is holding its traditional "happening", called "Do we have the same chances?" The organization's "race for equality" in Prague will be attended by Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier.  full story

Czech lawmakers propose honors for the "Eight Brave Ones" from Red Square

Prague, 19.6.2014 21:32, (ROMEA) The Czech Chamber of Deputies will evidently be proposing that Czech President Miloš Zeman honor the deceased Russian dissident Natalya Gorbanyevskaya and the rest of the "Eight Brave Ones" who demonstrated in Moscow's Red Square against the occupation of Czechoslovakia by troops from the socialist bloc in August 1968. The Organizational Committee of the lower house recommended the lawmakers make the proposal yesterday.  full story

Commentary: Pope Francis is right - Roma are often modern-day slaves

Prague, 18.6.2014 19:45, (ROMEA) Recently several famous figures or those enjoying a certain authority have been standing up for Romani people and human rights in general. For example, Madeleine Albright has been following the lack of respect for Romani people in the Czech Republic and elsewhere and has expressed how disturbing she finds it.  full story

Khamoro World Roma Festival coming to Plzeň for the first time!

Plzeň, 18.6.2014 18:22, (ROMEA) This year the biggest Romani festival in the Czech Republic will bring sunshine not just to Prague, but to another city as well. For the first time ever, Khamoro will be hosted by the City of Plzeň from 26 – 28 June 2014.  full story

Czech art installation lampoons gambling as part of debate

Bystřice pod Hostýnem, 18.6.2014 17:05, (ROMEA) On Friday 13 June yet another gambling establishment was opened in the Czech town of Bystřice pod Hostýnem. Prizes on offer included "debt collections", "time behind bars" and "family breakup".  full story

Commentary: Czech Roma Strategy should support the Romani intelligentsia more

Prague, 18.6.2014 0:37, (ROMEA) Despite all of the concepts and efforts expended to date, the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic is deteriorating. According to estimates, 80 000 - 100 000 Romani people (an estimated one-third of all Roma living in the Czech Republic) are grappling with burdensome problems of social exclusion.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani Expert Team warns co-financing requirements will keep NGOs from EU money

Prague, 17.6.2014 22:57, (ROMEA) A group of Romani experts is warning against the introduction of rules requiring organizers to raise part of the money needed to co-finance EU-funded projects themselves so the state will not have to provide it. The experts believe many organizations would never access EU financing and services for the needy would decline as a result.  full story

Czech Museum of Romani Culture could lose 13 % of its budget

Brno/Prague, 17.6.2014 19:56, (ROMEA) Organizations funded by the Czech Culture Ministry, including some of the biggest national cultural institutions, will be required to reduce their expenditures next year by 10 %, according to the current proposed budget for 2015. These organizations, however, are already working with bare-bones budgets, and a 10 % reduction could mean significant restrictions to the work they are tasked with undertaking by law.  full story

video"I was born in your bed": Czech town presents Venice Biennale exhibition on Roma

Litomyšl, 16.6.2014 21:34, (ROMEA) An exhibition by multimedia artist Daniel Pešta, whose work was featured in the 2013 Venice Biennale, will now be exhibited comprehensively for the first time in the Czech Republic. The project, which is dominated by two large-format pieces of video art, is about the phenomenon of the Romani issue and individuals' attitudes toward it.  full story