News

Bulgarian NGO to sue over ongoing forced demolition of Romani homes in Garmen

8.7.2015 20:49 News server novinite.com reports that the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has issued a press release stating its objections to the ongoing forced demolition of buildings in the "Kremikovtsi" Romani quarter of the village of Garmen. The 29 June demolition rendered four families with a total of 15 children homeless and more demolitions are scheduled for 13 July, according to the Amalipe Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance, which also reports that 124 of the quarter's 134 houses are slated for demolition.  full story

What grade to give a xenophobic student? Racism at a Czech college

8.7.2015 5:10 This story is about how easy it is to talk about racism in the academic community when one is standing up at the blackboard and how hard it is to handle it inside the community itself. The author does not want to identify the school where this scandal took place, and the names of the author and the student have been changed to protect their identities.  full story

Council of Europe issues report on Roma in preschool in the Czech Republic

7.7.2015 23:21 The Council of Europe's Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues (CAHROM) has just issued a report on its November 2014 visit to the Czech Republic. The visit included experts from Hungary, Latvia, Poland and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, who have authored the report.  full story

Czech Interior Minister: Today it's a gallows, tomorrow people could be shooting each other

7.7.2015 21:54 According to the Czech Interior Ministry, the law was broken during last week's demonstration against immigration and Islam in Prague. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec says it will be necessary to change police procedure as a result.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum: Anti-Gypsyism afoot in Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and elsewhere

7.7.2015 20:52 The European Roma and Travellers Forum has issued the following press release:  full story

New head of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion will involve more socially excluded people

7.7.2015 19:44 Radek Jiránek became the new director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion one month ago. He replaced Martin Šimáček, whose sudden dismissal caused a crisis - employees backed Šimáček, went on strike for one day, and ultimately approximately one-third of them quit.  full story

Hungary: Romani molecular geneticist says biochemistry is extraordinarily interesting

7.7.2015 1:23 József Horváth is a 27-year-old specialist in oral cancer. He grew up in a Romani settlement in Karcag, Hungary, where he completed high school before attending university in Debrecin, Hungary's second-largest city.  full story

Czech Education Minister insists on abolishing curriculum for "mild mental disability"

7.7.2015 0:10 Czech Education Minister Kateřina Valachová confirmed to the Czech News Agency on 3 July that nothing will change with the plan to abolish the use of reduced curricula for "mildly mentally disabled" pupils. Abolition of the curriculum is an important step toward an inclusive education and overcoming discrimination against Romani pupils in the Czech schools.  full story

Commentary: Are the Czech police not bothered by death threats and a gallows?

6.7.2015 22:08 The following commentary was first published in Czech on 2 July.  full story

Commentary: Actually, the Czech Police do not "know" that a gallows has no place in a democracy

6.7.2015 19:32 Police officers do not have an easy job and Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec evidently does not know much about their work. Just imagine someone bringing a mock-up of a gallows to a demonstration, as occurred last Wednesday.  full story

Roma instructor at Harvard calls for an end to injustice

6.7.2015 18:17 Recent European Roma integration policies have failed, and we need to find out why, according to Margareta Matache, Roma rights activist and instructor at Harvard University, speaking at Central European University’s Roma Graduate Preparation Program End-of-Year Student Seminar on June 15.  full story

Czech Republic: Thousands call on Government to stand up to hatred

6.7.2015 17:01 Last Wednesday's demonstration on Wenceslas Square in Prague demonstrated how hot-button problems related to the hysteria being spread on the topic of refugees in the Czech Republic are being dealt with. The event sparked a more or less immediate reaction and an Open Letter to the Czech PM and Interior Minister was posted online within 48 hours.  full story

Bulgaria: Switzerland investing in Roma integration there

5.7.2015 22:13 Focus-fen.net reported on 23 June that the Bulgarian Minister of Labor and Social Policy signed agreements with the municipalities of Burgas, Ruse and Sliven and Swiss Ambassador Denis Knobel on financing social inclusion of Roma, according to the ministry. The Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Program is to be jointly implemented by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Health and Minister of Labor and Social Policy.  full story

Czech Prime Minister: Police procedure during demonstration with gallows was absurd

5.7.2015 20:01 The Czech Police are facing harsh criticism for the procedure they elected to follow during a recent hate demonstration when, instead of intervening against people carrying mock-ups of gallows and chanting racist slogans, they intervened against those counter-protesting them. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová have joined the criticism of the police.  full story

Czech Interior Minister says police should know a gallows has no place in a democracy

3.7.2015 6:10 Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) is demanding an explanation from police leadership as to why they did not intervene against the participants in the recent demonstration against Islam and migration in the center of Prague who were carrying mock-ups of gallows. The minister said the police must be aware that neither death threats nor gallows have any place in a democracy.  full story

Czech MP holds hate rally with nooses for "traitors" warning of "hordes of horny blacks"

1.7.2015 22:12 A demonstration against immigration and quotas and in favor of the Czech Republic leaving the European Union was held this afternoon on Prague's Wenceslas Square, attended by approximately 700 people. After the opening remarks, protesters headed for the Office of the Government, ending the protest three hours later at around 20:00 CET.  full story

Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved Jewish children from the Holocaust, has passed away

1.7.2015 19:20 Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved more than 650 Czechoslovak children from certain death in Nazi camps, has passed away at the age of 106. The Associated Press reports that Winton's son-in-law has announced the news.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-immigrant, Islamophobic protest in Prague

1.7.2015 17:41 Several hundred people demonstrated yesterday in Prague against the Czech Republic receiving refugees. Their claim is that the recent decision of the Czech Government to voluntarily receive several hundred migrants is a "dirty trick".  full story

Czech Republic: Study says mandatory preschool could paradoxically worsen Romani children's situations

1.7.2015 5:55 Mandatory preschool attendance could contribute to further stigmatization of Romani children and problems for their entire families. Such attendance will also not make it easier for them to adapt to primary school.  full story

Czech Republic: Hooligans physically attack customer of café supporting refugees in Brno

1.7.2015 1:24 For expressing solidarity with refugees on social networking sites, the Brno-based Tři Ocásci café has endured a wave of insulting reactions and threats online. Last Saturday the situation culminated in hooligans physically attacking a customer there.  full story