News

Czech academics: Promoters of hate want to trample on the anniversary of 17 November

12.11.2015 18:54 Tomáš Zima, the Rector of Charles University in Prague, and the Deans of its Faculties headquartered at Albertov in Prague have issued a statement against the possible abuse of the upcoming 17 November holiday by people espousing bigotry, hatred and intolerance. While the academics do not give concrete details in their statement, it is known that a demonstration by the Bloc against Islam has been planned for the state holiday next Tuesday at Albertov.  full story

Africa-EU summit: Billions in aid to help stop refugee wave

12.11.2015 17:53 Leaders of European countries meeting in Valletta today signed an agreement to create an EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. The European Commission has already allocated EUR 1.8 billion for it.  full story

Czech Republic: Asylum-seekers on hunger strike, number of injured rising

11.11.2015 21:09 The situation in a refugee facility in the Czech town of Drahonice (Louny district) escalated in the late afternoon today. The Czech Police report that two asylum-seekers have injured themselves and another injured himself after attempting to attack a member of the security forces there.  full story

Czech Gov't Inter-ministerial Commission on Roma holds two-day meeting on Romani affairs

11.11.2015 19:55 Inclusive education, the Romani Integration Strategy to 2020 and proposals from the Czech Interior Ministry in the areas of crime prevention and increasing safety in socially excluded localities have been discussed today and yesterday by experts in Romani affairs from all over the Czech Republic in the town of Pardubice. The meeting is being held by the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission on Romani Community Affairs.  full story

Research shows Slovaks take stricter approach to judging Romani people than to judging Hungarians - or themselves

11.11.2015 19:06 News server DenníkN.sk reports that a team of Slovak scholars, led by sociologist Andrej Findor from Comenius University, have conducted research to ascertain how respondents assess the commission of a misdemeanor depending on whether it is committed by an ethnic Hungarian, Roma or Slovak. Compared to the other groups, it is absolutely clear that respondents assess Romani people most strictly.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: We face a crisis fed by fear

11.11.2015 18:36 "We are facing a crisis fed by fear. In the debate being conducted about the refugee crisis, security measures are being constantly emphasized, but not much is being said about the humanitarian aspects," Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier says.  full story

European Court of Human Rights: Freedom of speech does not include Holocaust denial

11.11.2015 18:17 The European Court of Human Rights has rejected an appeal from comedian Dieudonné Mbala Mbala against the fact that the French justice system has fined him for disseminating hatred. Freedom of speech, according to the Court, does not cover anti-Semitism or Holocaust denial.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion wants to focus more on activation and community work

10.11.2015 23:46 The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is preparing to open up centers in three regions in January. Branches of the Agency should open in Ostrava, Prague, and Ústí nad Labem.  full story

AEDH calls on African and European leaders to put human rights at the center of migration policies

10.11.2015 23:14 The European Association for the Defence of Human Rights (AEDH) issued the following press release today:  full story

Papa bull? What the Pope said about Roma

10.11.2015 15:20 On Monday, October 26th, Pope Francis spoke to an audience of 7,000 members of the Roma and Sinti communities on the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul IV's meeting with Roma people in an informal settlement near Rome. While many were happy to receive his blessing, others were less impressed with what he had to say. In this guest blog, William Bila takes issue with the Pontiff’s message.  full story

Czech reporter's articles promote anti-Romani stereotypes through half-truths and manipulation

9.11.2015 21:49 The Czech daily Mladá fronta DNES and its Internet portal iDNES.cz have published a series of articles describing the development to date of a project in the town of Přerov spearheaded by local councilor Jiří Kohout, who has also been chair of the Public Affairs (VV) party since last year. The aim of the project was supposed to be (and still is) the employment of persons who have long been unemployed.  full story

Luxembourgian Foreign Minister says EU might fall apart over refugee crisis

9.11.2015 18:10 "The European Union can fall apart," Luxembourgian Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has warned in an interview for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). "That could happen unbelievably quickly if isolation, not solidarity, becomes the rule for both extra- and intra-EU affairs."  full story

Professor Igor Lukeš: Lies in the public arena and the beginnings of Fascism

9.11.2015 5:57 With the permission of the author, news server Romea.cz has republished a blog written by Boston University Professor Igor Lukeš for news server Aktuálně.cz about the dissemination of hatred and lies. In the piece he draws attention to an extremist text against Islam and warns that "this is how Fascism began in the 20th century".  full story

Romani evictees seek compensation from town, Czech Supreme Court to review case

9.11.2015 4:38 The case of the Romani residents of Vsetín who were removed from its territory and relocated to villages outside of the Zlín Region nine years ago will be addressed by the Czech Supreme Court. The Romani plaintiffs believe the town violated their fundamental human rights by removing them.  full story

EU Justice Commissioner: Whoever says refugees don't deserve aid has never spoken with one

9.11.2015 3:18 The dissemination of hatred on the Internet, the refugee crisis and xenophobia in Czech society were the main topics of discussion between EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová and Czech MEP Stanislav Polčák on a recent episode Czech Television's "Václav Moravec's Qustions" program. "We do not have, not the Union, which is to say the Commission or the Parliament, and not the Member States - we ourselves do not have a solution to this in hand. The European Union is not a federation that could entrust the resolution of asylum policy from on high to the Member States of the Union. We must address this together, and I would really appeal for us to listen to each other, for the West to listen to the East, which is saying: 'We are concerned that we will have to... face the problem that the West has because it is a multicultural society'," the Commissioner said when asked to explain her view of the redistribution of refugees within the EU.  full story

Commentary: Czech conference of Islamophobes moved from the Senate to a hotel

9.11.2015 0:11 This was the appropriate place: The Hotel Svornost in Dolní Počernice. The sponsors were also appropriate, with costs being covered by the clubs of senators from the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, the North Bohemians (Severočechy) and the "Citizens' Rights Party" (Strana práv občanů - SPO).  full story

Artist wakes Europe's conscience with a minute of silence symbolizing deafness to the cause of refugees

8.11.2015 20:56 Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that when the news spread at the end of October that another 11 children had drowned attempting to reach Greece, the actor Benedict Cumberbatch suddenly exploded: "Fuck the politicians," the otherwise meticulously cultivated actor told the upper classes of the theater-going public in London after a performance of "Hamlet". He followed that with an urgent intercession on behalf of the thousands of refugees who are disembarking daily on the beaches of Europe.  full story

Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry plans financing of social housing as discussion of new law proceeds

8.11.2015 1:22 The Czech Labor Ministry is counting on a big portion of the money now used for housing benefits being transferred in the future into the financing of the country's social housing system. The money should be transferred to municipalities.  full story

Czech sociologists: Economic crisis contributed to rising exclusion, but society is mainly to blame

8.11.2015 0:26 Why has there been growth recently in the number of excluded localities and the number of people living in them? Czech MP Ivan Gabal, who is also a sociologist, and his colleague from the GAC company, Karel Čada, have contributed their analysis of the issue to the Czech daily Hospodářské noviny.  full story

Czech study shows most non-Romani parents seek schools with few or no Romani pupils

7.11.2015 21:55 Children from socially excluded areas who do not receive adequate support during preschool age are more at risk of school failure than their non-excluded peers. That is the finding of a study focused on the inclusion of preschool-aged Romani children presented on 5 November by the Open Society Fund Prague.  full story