News

UN Committee criticizes Czech Republic over Roma discrimination and xenophobia

28.8.2015 21:50 The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) published a report today on its review of the Czech Republic, which took place on 12 and 13 August in Geneva. Its report begins with an overview of positive steps, including the adoption of the Romani Integration Strategy and an amendment to the Schools Act that promotes inclusive education.  full story

Austria reports 71 refugees died in refrigerator truck, four of them children

28.8.2015 19:37 A truck found yesterday in the east of Austria turned out to contain 71 dead refugees, four of them children. Hans Peter Doskozil, Chief of Police in the Austrian state of Burgenland, announced the number at a press conference today.  full story

Czech event brings atheists, Christians, Jews and Muslims to the same table

28.8.2015 6:06 On 18 August, 30 people of various minority and religious backgrounds gathered in Prague to eat breakfast together. Those participating in the event wanted to show that people from different backgrounds, cultures and religions are able to understand one another.  full story

Serbian PM: We will never build a wall to keep out refugees

28.8.2015 5:26 Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić told the Reuters news agency on 27 August that Serbia will never close its borders to refugees. He added that EU leaders must aid the creation of a plan for how to deal with the tens of thousands of refugees flowing to the Balkans.  full story

Czech PM and Deputy PM warn against the "fascisization of society“

28.8.2015 0:20 Czech Finance Minister and Deputy PM Andrej Babiše (ANO) remarked on Tuesday that the external borders of the Schengen area must be immediately closed, prompting a reaction from his fellow cabinet members. Pavel Bělobrádek, Deputy PM for Science, Research and Innovation, who chairs the Christian Democratic Party, called the Finance Minister's remarks irrational and populist.  full story

Austrian Police discover as many as 50 dead refugees in refrigerator truck

27.8.2015 22:43 Austrian Police have found what may be as many as 50 dead refugees in a parked truck in the east of the country near the border with Hungary. The exact number of dead refugees found in the refrigerator truck and other details will be announced tomorrow at 11:00 CET.  full story

Commentary: Correct language in the USA isn't sparing anyone's life

27.8.2015 19:48 Neither a correct nor a "hypercorrect" vocabulary, in and of itself, is enough to get rid of any problem. Petra Gelbart, who has commented on her shock that the Prague Transit Authority is telling its passengers "amusing" anecdotes about the history of the slang expressions used by drivers, certainly knows this.  full story

Petra Gelbart: "Black Mugs" in the Prague metro

27.8.2015 18:53 I was on my way home from a successful Romani event here recently at the Prague Pride festival, full of impressions, feeling happy and proud. My own children and some others whom I had taken there, including a girlfriend in a long colorful skirt, had participated in a program organized by the ARA ART association.  full story

German ultra-right exploits refugee reception issue to foment domestic unrest and violence

27.8.2015 1:52 Deutsche Welle (DW) reports that Germany is expecting a record high number of people to apply for asylum there this year. According to DW, the German Government is determined to only grant asylum to people actually fleeing ongoing wars, not to those whom they have termed "bogus" refugees from the Balkans.  full story

Canada now accepting more Roma asylum-seekers from Hungary as evidence of persecution accumulates

26.8.2015 20:50 Canadian newspaper The National Post reported on 23 August that Canada is beginning to accept more Romani asylum-seekers from Hungary after all but rejecting them across the board just a few years ago. The Conservative-led Government launched a much-criticized crackdown on allegedly "bogus" refugees in 2009-2010.  full story

Czech research finds teachers support educating all children together

26.8.2015 18:42 Research performed as part of a project called "Systemic Support for Inclusive Education in the Czech Republic" has found that teachers are inclined towards educating children with disabilities together with healthy children. However, they condition that agreement on receiving more support for their work.  full story

France: Fatal shooting at Romani camp, six-month-old among the dead

25.8.2015 20:26 A shooting in northern France today at a Romani camp in Roy resulted in four dead and three seriously injured. The dead include an infant and a woman.  full story

Austrian Chancellor criticizes Czech Republic for rejecting EU quotas on refugee reception

25.8.2015 19:33 Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann criticized the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries and Poland for rejecting redistribution quotas for refugees within the European Union. Speaking on the "Morgenjournal" program on radio station Ö1, Faymann declared that without quotas it will be impossible to stabilize the situation on the EU's external borders which are being crossed by thousands of refugees primarily from Africa and the Middle East, but Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka has a different opinion on the matter.  full story

France: Roma immigrants evicted, travelling community kept from halting

24.8.2015 21:22 British newspaper The Independent reported on 16 August that a shantytown known as Samaritain in La Courneuve suburb north of Paris was slated for demolition "within days". The 80 families living there, most of them Romani, were not scheduled for rehousing by the local council  full story

Two Romani families not allowed to board flight from Prague to Canada, no explanation given

24.8.2015 17:34 During the past two months approximately 20 Romani people from the Czech Republic have not been allowed to board flights to Canada. They were informed that they would not be let on board by airline private security staff at Václav Havel Airport in Prague.
 full story

Ethnic, religious, sexual minorities now suffering more discrimination in occupied Crimea and Donbas

23.8.2015 20:55 The Interfax-Ukraine News Agency reports that human rights activists have issued a report entitled "In the Crosscurrents: Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Ukraine" that finds discrimination has significantly increased against minorities in occupied Crimea and Donbas. Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director of the Equal Rights Trust, presented the report at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.  full story

Czech media outlet publishes interview with detained migrant

23.8.2015 20:21 Online news server Aktuálně.cz published an interview on 18 August with a Pakistani citizen who spent half a year en route to Germany only to be intercepted by the Aliens Police in the Czech Republic and detained in the Bělá-Jezová camp there. "I don't understand why the Czech Republic is holding us here. I do not want to remain here. I have never committed a crime. During my six months fleeing Pakistan I traveled through many countries, but only in the Czech Republic was I imprisoned. After I am released I want to go to Germany... I am not seeking asylum in the Czech Republic. Moreover, I am afraid that I will not be treated well in this prison," the migrant says in the interview.  full story

Council of Europe: Rejecting refugees on religious basis is pure discrimination

23.8.2015 0:51 Slovakia has found itself at the center of world media attention and under fire from the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, considered the "watchdog of democracy" on the continent, because of the country's willingness to mainly receive a group of Christians from among the barrage of refugees heading for Europe. Big international media outlets did not notice the Slovak plan until several weeks after Bratislava began speaking of it in June.  full story

Czech Council on Radio and TV rejects critique of public broadcaster's reality show about Romani schoolchildren

22.8.2015 23:30 Nonprofit organizations in the Czech Republic have received an answer from the Council on Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) to the open letter in which they criticized the television series "Class 8A" (Třída 8.A.). The nonprofits believe the series has not fulfilled its intended aim of pointing out the problem of segregation of Romani pupils in the Czech schools.  full story

videoBulgaria: Romani dwellings demolished in Varna

21.8.2015 22:13 Radio FOCUS in Bulgaria reports that houses built illegally by their Romani occupants in the Maksuda quarter of the Mladost municipal department of the city of Varna began undergoing demolition yesterday. Residents reportedly threw rocks at police and attempted to attack them during the demolition.  full story