News

Commentary: Czech Labor Minister and ombud at odds over housing benefit law, mayor says state administration is "collapsing"

25.6.2015 19:35 The threat of tens of thousands of new homeless people, including families with children, ending up "on the streets" over the next few months has forced Czech Government politicians to re-evaluate the interpretation of an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress adopted last fall by legislators, but it is not yet clear what the next steps will be. Only one thing is clear: Based on the developments of recent months and weeks, there is no guarantee that legislators will adopt another amendment on this issue in time that will be good enough to not be changed again several months from now.  full story

European Roma Grassroots Organizations Network calls on EU to fund Romani "watchdog" groups

25.6.2015 17:49 In an open letter to EU officials, the ERGO Network has welcomed the European Commission's annual communication on Roma Integration and is calling for a "targeted funding strand" for Roma NGOs engaged in "watchdog" work. ERGO thanked the officials for acknowledging the need to combat anti-Gypsyism.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court says MP's anti-Romani remarks not covered by immunity

25.6.2015 17:01 The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint filed by former MP Otto Chaloupka demanding immunity from prosecution. Last year the Czech Supreme Court rejected his appeal after he was given a suspended six-month sentence and put on probation for one year because of hateful remarks about Romani people that he posted to the Facebook social networking site.  full story

Bulgaria: Roma at home and abroad respond to violence committed during anti-Romani protests

25.6.2015 0:18 On 23 June 2015, Jovan Damjanović, president of the Belgrade-based World Roma Organization, sent an open letter to the Bulgarian Prime Minister expressing his organization's surprise over the recent violent anti-Romani protests that have taken place in Sofia and elsewhere. "I expect that you will do everything to avoid the use of force against the Roma community and I urge that, in accordance with international conventions and the rights of national minorities, you will provide all human and civil rights of Roma in the Republic of Bulgaria," the letter reads.  full story

Czech Republic postpones reception of Syrian children, rejects EU summit on migration

23.6.2015 16:18 The daily Právo reported yesterday that the Czech Interior Ministry has suspended preparations to relocate 14 Syrian children and their families, roughly 70 persons total, from Jordan to the Czech Republic. The children were supposed to be treated for serious diseases.  full story

David Beňák: Without "ethnic statistics", we are de facto blind

24.6.2015 22:21 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

Dragan Ristic: Anatomy of an Idea - The European Roma Institute

23.6.2015 22:58 Dragan Ristic is a guitarist, lyricist and vocalist with the music group KAL. A citizen and resident of Serbia, he holds a Master's in Film Theory from the University of Belgrade.  full story

Czech Interior Minister calls for housing benefits law to change, gives new interpretation of existing regulations

23.6.2015 21:44 The current crisis around the disbursal of housing benefits to people living in residential hotels in the Czech Republic might have a surprisingly simple solution, at least temporarily. According to Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, a municipality's disagreement with the disbursal of benefits does not have to be considered a binding decision.  full story

Czech-language Facebook page of non-existent group falsifies photo of banner carried by Romani people

23.6.2015 20:42 The fake Czech-language Facebook group "Roma against Islam" (Romové proti Islámu) has published an altered version of a photo taken of a Romani demonstration in September 2013 in front of the Office of the Czech Government. On one the banners, instead of the Romani flag which was actually being held, the photo has been doctored to show a text that attacks refugees.  full story

Italian court rules that official camps for Roma only are discriminatory as evictions continue

23.6.2015 19:28 On 9 June the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) reported the Italian media as saying that approximately 100 Romani people are to be evicted from a facility called the Ferrotel building by the Municipality of Cosenza and relocated to an official, segregated tent camp. A total of 400 Romani people now living in the informal Vaglio Lise camp there have also been targeted for removal for some time.  full story

Czech Chamber of Commerce considers local branch's call for Army to patrol Roma unacceptable

23.6.2015 17:46 An "Open Call" demanding a solution to the "negative immigration of inadaptables" and the deployment of the Czech Army to patrol Romani residents in excluded localities was published several days ago by the District Chamber of Commerce (OHK) in the town of Ústí nad Labem. News server Romea.cz reported yesterday that the leadership of the national Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic did not respond to our questions regarding the "Open Call".  full story

Bulgaria: Roma respond to anti-Romani protests in the capital

23.6.2015 16:57 On 14 June the FOCUS News Agency cited police reports that a protest against the "lawlessness of Roma people" on 13 June had resulted in several injuries in the Orlandovtsi district of Sofia, Bulgaria. A brawl reportedly broke out between non-Romani and Romani residents there.  full story

EU and UN criticize Hungary for local treatment of Roma and border fence plans

22.6.2015 23:40 On 16 June, politics.hu reported that EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said the Miskolc council's recent moves with respect to the housing of Romani people contravene both the EU's Roma Integration Framework Strategy and Hungary's own Roma Strategy. The Commissioner made the statement in response to a written question submitted by MEP Péter Niedermüller (Democratic Coalition) in March.  full story

Czech town's chamber of commerce wants to deploy the Army against Roma

22.6.2015 19:57 The District Chamber of Commerce (Okresní hospodářská komora - OHK) in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem has published an "Open Call to Local Politicians and Citizens" that reads as follows: "In Ústí nad Labem and other towns we are threatened by a demographic catastrophe that may already be unavoidable. We must have the courage to describe this problem and propose solutions."  full story

Czech management professional on hiring of Roma

21.6.2015 2:36 Right at the start of my work with the Civil Society Studies Department at Charles University in Prague I became involved in a new area in which I had not done much research, that of disadvantaged candidates and minorities on the labor market. My specialization is personnel management, and here I must state that the issue of employing people from these groups is not focused on by many experts, with the exception of those social enterprises that specifically target the employment of the disadvantaged or minorities.  full story

New York Times editorial says France is failing immigrants, including Roma

21.6.2015 1:23 An editorial in the New York Times published online on 17 June says that France has failed to come up with a "humane" plan for handling immigrants from Africa and the Middle East as well as Romani people from Bulgaria and Romania. While highlighting that the main victims of this failure are migrants, the paper warns that "another casualty may be a sense of unity in the European Union."  full story

Slovak President honors victims of Nazi massacre at Lidice for first time ever

21.6.2015 0:49 Slovak President Andrej Kiska laid wreaths in honor of the victims of the Second World War at the Lidice memorial in the Czech Republic on 10 June. The wreaths were laid at the mass grave of the victims of the Lidice massacre and at the memorial to the child victims.  full story

European Commission reports on Roma integration: More work needed

20.6.2015 1:00 The annual European Commission (EC) report on Roma integration was released on 18 June. The Member States have their work cut out for them on this issue.  full story

Commentary: Czech Human Rights Minister wakes up on homelessness - better late than later?

20.6.2015 0:04 The crisis around the implementation of the amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress, which could result in forcing thousands, including families with children, onto the streets, is a testament to the horrible chaos and lack of conceptual clarity in Czech politics. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier warned yesterday that as many as 17 000 people could lose their "homes" in residential hotels as a result of the legislation.  full story

Slovak Gov't says high number of Roma in "special schools" is due to incest

19.6.2015 0:30 According to the Slovak Government the disproportionate number of Romani people in "special schools" is due to the fact that incest occurs much more frequently in their families and leads to developmental disorders in their children. The Government made the statement in response to April's launch of infringement proceedings by the European Commission for violating EU anti-discrimination legislation.  full story