News

Czech Republic: 17 000 to lose benefits for tenancy in residential hotels

18.6.2015 23:01 As many as 17 000 applicants for housing benefits, people in need who are living in residential hotels, could lose the roofs over their heads after local authorities reject their applications. The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion reported the findings today.  full story

Hungary erecting four-meter-high fence against migrants on its border with Serbia

18.6.2015 22:00 The Hungarian Government wants to build a four-meter-high fence along its border with Serbia to stop the influx of illegal migrants. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced on 17 June that the Government has called on the Interior Ministry to design the appropriate project by next Wednesday, according to the MTI agency.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Housing benefits legislation is unsustainable and must be changed

18.6.2015 21:22 Today at 9:30 AM a session of the Czech Government's Legislative Council began at which Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier added the agenda item of discussing the approval of housing benefits. Dienstbier intends to publish an analysis of the constitutionality of recently-adopted legislation according to which municipalities, not the state, approve the disbursal of these public benefits.  full story

Czech Labor Office says it cannot tell municipalities how to award housing benefits

17.6.2015 23:41 As of May, when an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress took effect, municipalities, not the state's Labor Offices, have been tasked with deciding on whether to accept or reject applications for housing benefits. Municipalities around the country have begun using these new powers and the number of rejected applications for these benefits is rising.
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Čeněk Růžička: If society is to aid the Roma, it must have data

17.6.2015 16:59 Ethnic data collection became the subject of debate at Monday's seminar organized by the Platform for Human Rights and the ROMEA organization at the Czech Parliament. Čeněk Růžička of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH) and Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the ROMEA organization, expressed support for the collection of statistical data about Romani people.  full story

Czech PM Sobotka does not want more homelessness, demands law be changed

17.6.2015 0:03 "I am of the opinion that it is essential for the Labor Minister to respond by drafting another amendment to the law where we establish clear rules to prevent people from ending up on the street en masse who are not entitled to any state support," said Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka after yesterday's cabinet session. His remarks were made in response to the situation prompted by a recently-adopted amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress which means that as of May, applications for housing benefits filed by people living in residential hotels are approved by local authorities, not the state's Labor Offices.  full story

European Court for Human Rights says internet portal operators responsible for insulting online posts

16.6.2015 22:59 Today the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that the operators of internet portals are responsible for insulting commentaries posted online by their users. The judgment in the case of a large Estonian online news server could impact the operation of such portals in all the member states of the Council of Europe, which includes the Czech Republic.  full story

Human rights and hate violence seminar at Czech Parliament attended by only one MP

16.6.2015 21:24 Yesterday the Platform for Human Rights and ROMEA, o.p.s. convened a seminar on "Human Rights and Hate Violence in the Czech Republic - civil society and policy" in the Czech lower house under the auspices of Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier and Czech MP Markéta Adamová. The seminar was opened by the actress and politician Táňa Fischerová.  full story

Hungary faces harsh criticism for anti-democratic developments, including anti-Gypsyism and anti-Semitism

16.6.2015 0:09 On 9 June the Council of Europe’s expert group on racism and intolerance (ECRI) called for action to fight prejudice in Hungary as it released a report condemning the country. The report finds that “a radical right-wing populist party openly engages in anti-Roma, antisemitic, homophobic and xenophobic hate speech”.  full story

Human rights activist: The Czech state is holding impoverished people hostage, the ombud will do what she can

15.6.2015 23:13 Local councils across the Czech Republic have begun taking advantage of an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress that has shifted the power to decide on the awarding of housing benefits from local branches of the state's Labor Offices to municipalities. This is the result of declared efforts to combat residential hotels that are not up to code and the "traffickers in poverty" who run them, but in many towns this has instead become a fight against the impoverished people who are living in these facilities  full story

UN side event on discrimination as a root cause of Romani marginalization

15.6.2015 20:03 Tomorrow, 16 June, a side event to the UN Human Rights Council session will further discuss the findings and recommendations of the recent study released by the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues on the human rights situation of Roma. The report was officially presented on 15 June.  full story

VIDEO: UN Human Rights Council review of anti-Gypsyism

15.6.2015 9:00 Rita Izsák, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, will present her study of the human rights situation for Romani people worldwide before the United Nations Human Rights Council at 18:00 today, Monday, 15 June 2015. The entire session of the HRC begins at 09:00 and can be followed live at the link below.  full story

Commentary: Czech MP uses Nazi term to discuss the impoverished

15.6.2015 17:17 At the end of May, an essential piece of news was reported about the so far unsuccessful attempts by more than one administration in the Czech Republic to halt the unfavorable trend of the creation of socially excluded localities. During the past nine years, the number of these places has doubled and the number of people who are being displaced into the "ghettos" has also risen.  full story

France: Legislation will end permits for travelling people

15.6.2015 15:36 The English-language edition of Radio France International reported on 10 June that the French lower house has voted to end the travel permits for those known as gens de voyage (travellers). Human rights groups and those representing the minority are welcoming the move.  full story

Czech Republic: Unique exhibition reviews postwar memories of migrant Romani workers

12.6.2015 23:59 On Monday, 1 June an unusual exhibition called "Khatar san?" opened at the Hraničář Cinema and Gallery in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem. The exhibition is the result of an applied social research project, "Romani Workers' Memories", and is being exhibited in the Czech Republic for the fifth time.  full story

Finland: Helsinki Police say they are dismantling Romani encampments almost daily

12.6.2015 23:14 On 11 June, news server yle.fi reported that police in Helsinki say they have been dismantling illegal camps occupied by Romani people almost every day. Yesterday police dispersed Romani people camping under a bridge near Linnunlaulu Park.  full story

Czech Supreme Court president fires spokesperson for anti-Romani remarks

12.6.2015 21:44 Pavel Šámal, president of the Czech Supreme Court, is dismissing Petr Knötig, the head of the public relations department and the court's spokesperson, as of today. Šámal informed the Czech News Agency of his decision in a telephone interview.  full story

Bulgaria: Mayor plans referendum in which Roma cannot vote

12.6.2015 20:45 News server focus-fen.net reported on 9 June that Petar Paunov, Mayor of Kyustendil, told a Bulgarian television station that he plans to call a local referendum to ask whether he should run for a third term this fall - one that would exclude Romani voters. The mayor said that vote-buying in the Roma community is always widely-covered by the media and that he did "not want to discredit the poll”.  full story

Czech amendment would make it easier for minorities to ask for bilingual street signs

12.6.2015 19:16 If a proposed amendment passes, groups representing the interests of national minorities that have been active on the territory of a particular municipality for at least five years will be able to request bilingual street signs. Passage would also mean the Czech Interior Ministry would be able to intervene in territorial disputes between municipalities.  full story

EU Fundamental Rights Agency holds workshop on indicators of Romani integration

12.6.2015 2:11 From 10-11 June the EU Fundamental Rights Agency convened a workshop in Vienna for its National Roma Contact Points on the Roma Integration Indicator and a template for reporting on such indicators. The workshop was to bring together 22 Member States' National Roma Contact Points, the European Commission, and representatives from national statistical offices.  full story