Czech Republic

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

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