Extended search

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

Czech town segregating Roma in housing and at school - mayor says integration will only happen over his "dead body"

29.9.2015 18:18 Milan Volf, Mayor of the Czech town of Kladno, says it is impossible to move those living in the town's excluded localities into regular apartment buildings and that he believes the per-child allowances offered by the state are like a business opportunity that is motivating families in ghettos to grow exponentially larger. He made those remarks in an interview on 23 September for news server E15.cz  full story

Iulius Rostas: Social change for Roma is not about money, but political will

28.9.2015 19:33 Iulius Rostas is a Visiting Lecturer at Corvinus University of Budapest currently teaching a course on "Roma - State and European Policies". News server Romea.cz interviewed him about the course and his work.  full story

Czech Deputy PM to meet with Defense Minister about scandalous internal Army survey leak

28.9.2015 18:22 Czech Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister Andrej Babiš, the chair of the governing ANO movement, wants to meet with his fellow party member Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnický to discuss the findings of an internal Army survey. Babiš announced the plan yesterday on TV Prima's "Partie" program.  full story

Czech Education Minister: Amended law won't close schools but will change curriculum

25.9.2015 20:22 School closures are not planned in the Czech Republic in connection with legislation on inclusion that will come into force on 1 September 2016. Czech Education Minister Kateřina Valachová (for the Czech Social Democrats) made that announcement at a press briefing on 23 September.  full story

Amnesty International: EU refugee summit lacked courage, chaos will continue

25.9.2015 19:12 European politicians have been criticized by human rights NGOs over the results of their extraordinary summit on migration. Amnesty International (AI) believes the summit's emphasis on protecting the EU's external borders ignores both the reality of the global migration crisis and those countries' obligations to offer protection to those who cannot find it elsewhere.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister says EU allocating CZK 10 billion to inclusion

24.9.2015 23:31 Approximately CZK 10 billion (EUR 370 million) should come to the Czech Republic from the EU to promote social inclusion over the next few years. The funds could be distributed between 70 different cities and municipalities.  full story

EU approves refugee redistribution quotas, extraordinary summit says chaos must end

24.9.2015 20:55 On 22 September the interior ministers of the EU-28 cast a majority vote to approve quotas for redistribution of refugees among EU countries. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec tweeted that those opposed were the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, while Finland abstained.  full story

Czech Republic is the last European country to institutionalize children under three

24.9.2015 20:02 "The Czech Republic has been criticized for this for more than 20 years. Other countries consider our system unbelievable. We are the last country in Europe that makes it possible to place children under the age of three in institutions. All of Europe is ahead of us on this," said Věduna Bubleová, chair of the Child and Family Association during yesterday's session of the Czech Parliament's Social Affairs Committee.  full story