Czech Republic

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

Czech Republic: Police assistants were supposed to be hired, now they're unemployed

Sokolov, 16.6.2014 16:39, (ROMEA) Recently they were a model for the whole country. For two years the Western Bohemian town of Sokolov has been successfully using so-called crime prevention assistants to maintain order in troubled localities.  full story

Czech residential hotel issues remain unresolved

Varnsdorf, 14.6.2014 0:38, (ROMEA) All of the Czech Republic was shocked three years ago by the footage of otherwise honorable citizens marching side by side with ultra-right radicals and chanting "Gypsies to the gas chambers" in the town of Varnsdorf. Residential hotels for socially vulnerable people were the thorn in their side.  full story

Czech Republic: False rumor spreading that Roma access local pool for free

Most, 13.6.2014 19:56, (ROMEA) As happens every summer in the Czech Republic, various towns are having to issue statements refuting the rumors that Romani people get free entry to local swimming pools because of their nationality. This year the lie is spreading in the town of Most.  full story

Commentary: Deadline for adopting Czech social housing concept is unrealistic

Prague, 12.6.2014 1:48, (ROMEA) Three months have elapsed since the Czech Government approved its program declaration stating that social housing is a priority. We have heard from many government politicians that work is underway on the Social Housing Concept and how important it is.  full story

Czech foundation supports work in places where anti-Romani marches have taken place

Prague, 12.6.2014 1:12, (ROMEA) The Open Society Fund Prague has distributed CZK 400 000 (EUR 15 500) to organizations working in places where right-wing extremists have been holding anti-Romani marches. Of the 18 requests for funding received, the expert commission has so far selected four winning projects for its "Together Without Prejudice" (Společně bez předsudků) grant call.  full story

Czech town recalls councilor for violating strategic agreement on real estate sales

Obrnice, 12.6.2014 0:40, (ROMEA) Members of the town council of Obrnice (Most district) voted last month to recall Boris Ležal (Czech Social Democratic Party) from his position as a town councilor. The municipality says Ležal violated a strategic agreement concluded with the local government on the sale of apartments or apartment buildings.  full story

Czech Muslims plan Constitutional complaint over raid on mosque

Prague, 12.6.2014 0:09, (ROMEA) The Center of Muslim Communities in the Czech Republic (Ústředí muslimských obcí v ČR) is preparing a constitutional complaint over a recent police raid on their mosques in Prague. Munib Hasan Alravi, chair of the center, informed the Czech News Agency of the move on 5 June.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani figures rebuke Romani entrepreneur for anti-Roma slurs

Brno/Prague, 11.6.2014 23:22, (ROMEA) The Brno-based entrepreneur Rastislav Lučanský, who recently ran as an EP candidate, will be leaving the Romani Democratic Party (Romská demokratická strana- RDS) to establish his own political movement. Lučanský is said to have failed to reach an understanding with his RDS colleagues.  full story

Roma who won lawsuit against Czech Republic still can't find jobs

Prague, 11.6.2014 20:13, (ROMEA) It was a surprise in 2007 when 18 Romani schoolchildren from Ostrava won their lawsuit against the Czech Republic. The European Court for Human Rights recognized at the time that the state had discriminated against them in their access to education.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Success will be equal representation of minorities in inclusive education

Prague, 10.6.2014 23:29, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD) says the will of local politicians and the securing of popular support are the basic prerequisites for a good starting point for including minorities into mainstream society. He made the remarks in an interview with the Czech daily Lidové noviny which the ČSSD party has published on its website; news server Romea.cz brings you that interview in full translation.  full story

Czech Region must pay more than EUR 7 million for subsidy distribution errors

Liberec, 9.6.2014 23:39, (ROMEA) Errors committed recently in the distribution of social services funds in Liberec Region did not constitute a felony. Police have shelved the case.  full story

Czech judge who dissolved neo-Nazi party joins Constitutional Court

Brno/Prague, 9.6.2014 22:42, (ROMEA) On 30 May the Czech Senate approved Czech President Miloš Zeman's proposal to promote Judge Vojtěch Šimíček to the Constitutional Court. Šimíček chaired a panel at the Supreme Administrative Court that decides on electoral and political party cases.  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel set on fire in Liberec

Liberec, 9.6.2014 21:27, (ROMEA) Late afternoon Sunday a residential hotel on U Kolory Street in Liberec caught fire. Residents were evacuated before firefighters arrived and no one was injured.  full story

Czech Ghettofest attracts almost 3 000 this year

Brno, 9.6.2014 19:34, (ROMEA) The streets of Brno's "Bronx" were alive with the arts, culture and entertainment brought there by Ghettofest during the weekend of 6 - 8 June. The number of visitors exceeded previous years, approaching 3 000 people over the course of all three days.  full story