News

EU-funded online Roma resources project draws criticism from academics and activists

12.10.2015 16:42 Stefan Benedik of the History Department at the University of Graz in Austria has written a protest letter regarding the online promotional video for a project called "e-roma-resource" (e-RR) funded by the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme. The video has since been removed.  full story

Czech Defense Minister unshaken by poll revealing extremism in the Army, sociologist says it reflects society

12.10.2015 7:53 An opinion survey among soldiers that discovered some Czech Army personnel hold extremist views also revealed some positive results, according to Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnický (ANO). "The soldiers have my full trust and I stand behind the Army 100 %," he said after Chief of General Staff Josef Bečvář presented the findings of the survey to MPs on the Defense Committee in the Czech lower house on 7 October.  full story

Romanian film "Aferim!", set during era of Roma slavery, discusses various forms of honor

11.10.2015 0:27 A gendarme and his sidekick, a father and son looking for a runaway Gypsy slave, ride through the breathtaking landscape of Wallachia. On the way they encounter various characters almost always representing some sort of social type, whether a psychopathic Orthodox priest, a band of local mercenaries, Gypsy serfs and their only slightly more well-off masters from the impoverished peasant class, or drunkards and whores at a traveller's tavern.  full story

Czech Republic: Activists sentenced for stunt to draw attention to a suicide say police made hateful, racist remarks

8.10.2015 5:31 News server Aktuálně.cz reported on 6 October that a verdict has been handed down in the case of two activists who tried to draw attention in June to the story of a man from Ostrava who committed suicide out of fear that he would become homeless after his eviction from a residential hotel. The local authority where the man was living did not approve his request for housing benefits, which meant he would no longer be able to afford to stay in the facility.  full story

As evictions continue in Albania, Romani women reach out to local elected officials

7.10.2015 21:58 Activist Ola Tare in Albania has contacted the Roma Virtual Network to report the planned eviction of Roma families living in an informal encampment near a man-made lake in the capital, Tirana. The municipality reportedly announced the eviction on 2 October because of redevelopment plans and alleged that the families were "harm[ing]... the environment and their [own] health."  full story

Czech School Inspectorate: Objections to counting Romani pupils in the schools are absurd pretexts

7.10.2015 2:43 Yet another "head count of Romani children" has just been completed in the Czech Republic's primary schools. The tally was conducted at all primary schools and was designed to produce information about how many Romani children are attending "special" schools, whether the practice of segregated classes (or entire schools) is operating at "normal" schools and of so, to what degree.  full story

Anti-immigrant arson, violence mark 80th anniversary of Nazi race laws, German civil society and leaders respond

6.10.2015 8:09 The month of September saw more arson attacks on prospective asylum-seeker facilities in western Germany. A former school in Gersheim meant to shelter several dozen people was intentionally set ablaze on 10 September, according to the Saarland State Police Presidium.  full story

Vice-Mayor of Czech Republic's second-largest city calls xenophobia the national hobby

6.10.2015 6:06 Brno Vice-Mayor Matěj Hollan (Žít Brno - Live Brno) has engaged in a sharp exchange with South Moravian Governor Michal Hašek over comments Hollan made about xenophobia in Czech society. "[During the Holocaust] there was majority-Czech anti-Semitism, which we love to forget about today, and the anti-Gypsyism of that time, which a big segment of society dismisses today, because to this day verbally sending 'Gypsies' to the gas chambers is the national hobby. These are modes of behavior and thought that are deeply rooted among the Czech public. Reading the debates today about Muslim refugees is essentially absolutely the same as reading the remarks that used to be made about the Jewish refugees. Back then the Jews (and the 'Gypsies') were to blame for everything, and today it's the Muslims (and the 'Gypsies')," Hollan wrote.  full story

Roma Pride marches in 14 European cities call for removal of pig farm on concentration camp site in Czech Republic

5.10.2015 5:22 Roma Pride 2015 took place yesterday in Prague and other European countries. About 50 people attended carrying banners reading "Hate is No Solution", "Remove the pig farm from the site of the Romani concentration camp at Lety" or "For dignified conditions for all Holocaust victims".  full story

Czech police and soldiers practice protecting borders in case migration wave rises

3.10.2015 22:47 Czech Police officers and soldiers conducted joint exercises on 30 September at 06:45 CET to practice reinstating controls at the border with Austria. Czech Police President Tomáš Tuhý announced the exercises to the press shortly before they were about to begin.  full story

Dom refugees from Syria tell ERRC "We just want to live"

3.10.2015 2:07 Members of the Dom minority have been subjected to decades of discrimination in Syria and across the Middle East. Now that they are fleeing Syria and seeking refuge in neighboring countries, they are experiencing discrimination on a whole new set of grounds as asylum-seekers.  full story

Commentary: Won't Czech education reform just rename the schools (again) without achieving equality for Roma?

3.10.2015 1:09 Confusion, incessant attacks by critics, and uncertainties - these are evidently the main characteristics of the current state of Czech education reform. The proposals now on offer are yet another attempt to close the country's "special schools" and achieve inclusion.  full story

Gwendolyn Albert: The long train ride to justice for forcibly sterilized women

2.10.2015 16:36 It has been more than 10 years since I first learned of the forced sterilization of women in the former Czechoslovakia and how it was still continuing in the 21st century. It is now almost 10 years since I first met Elena Gorolová and many of the other women to whom this actually happened. When I imagine what their journey toward justice has been like, I picture them all on a train ride. Sometimes the train abruptly stops on the tracks, but no one never explains to the passengers - or the rest of us – when exactly the doors are going to open.  full story

Compensation for victims of forced sterilization raised at OSCE event on Roma

2.10.2015 2:27 Speaking at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on 1 October, two Romani civil society members raised the urgent issue of the Czech Government's decision not to compensate the victims of forced sterilizations, human rights abuses that have taken place over the course of decades in the former Czechoslovakia and its successor states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, including into the 21st century. Karolina Mirga of the Ternype network raised the issue as well as the continued presence of an industrial pig farm on the site of a former concentration camp for Roma at Lety in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Government rejects bill to compensate victims of illegal sterilizations

1.10.2015 9:35 Victims of illegal sterilizations perpetrated over decades apparently will not be receiving compensation from the Czech state according to a proposal developed by the team of Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD). Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (ČSSD), after a nighttime cabinet session, told journalists early this morning that the Government disagrees with the proposal, but would not give details.  full story

LIVE: OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting addresses Roma today and tomorrow, watch online

1.10.2015 2:49 At 10 AM CET today the second week of the OSCE's Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) comes to a close with two days devoted to Romani issues. The live webcast of the meeting is available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cWS7cst3aUm and will be archived there.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani author Andrej Giňa has passed away

1.10.2015 0:40 On 30 September the author Andrej Giňa passed away at the age of 79 after a difficult illness.  full story

Czech Gov't reviewing bill to compensate illegally sterilized women

30.9.2015 19:46 Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier is submitting a bill to the cabinet that legislates an apology, CZK 300 000 (EUR 11 000) in compensation, and coverage of medical treatment for women who have been illegally sterilized. Czech Deputy Human Rights Minister Martina Štěpánková, who informed Czech Television of the legislation today, estimated that several hundred women might get the chance to receive compensation.  full story

Czech Roma Spirit 2015 - last day for nominations tomorrow

29.9.2015 22:42 The Roma Spirit awards in the Czech Republic opened up their nomination process for the fifth time this past July. The mission of Roma Spirit is to appreciate the work of individuals and organizations contributing to improving the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic.  full story

France: Roma celebrity Eric Cantona offers to house asylum-seekers

29.9.2015 21:40 Online news server TheLocal.fr reported on 10 September that famous ex-footballer Eric Cantona has criticized the French Government's approach to asylum-seekers and is ready to house them in his own home. Cantona made his remarks in an interview for the French daily Le Parisien.  full story