News

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

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