News

Roma Health Fellowship Program for EU advocacy extends deadline to 12 June

4.6.2015 18:13 The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) has launched a one-year fellowship program for 2015-2016 to mentor and train two advocates for Roma health in the EU with the support of the Open Society Foundations' Public Health Program. The program is intended to empower Roma Health Advocates from Central and Eastern Europe to engage with EU policy designers and increase the capacity of the Romani community to provide leadership at EU level on health issues affecting them.  full story

Czech PM may nominate Deputy Human Rights Minister as new Education Minister

4.6.2015 17:38 Kateřina Valachová, Deputy Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation, may become a candidate for the next Czech Education Minister. Several sources close to Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka (ČSSD) said today that he is ready to propose a female candidate to replace outgoing EdMin Marcel Chládek (ČSSD).  full story

Bulgaria: Regional governor says situation in Garmen is calming down

4.6.2015 17:03 The Focus Information Agency (FIA) reports that the Regional Governor of Blagoevgrad, Biser Mihailov, met with Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova this week to discuss recent anti-Romani unrest in the town of Garmen. "CCTV will be installed in the municipality by the municipal administration at the order of the mayor," Mahailov said.  full story

Sociologist says Czech Republic is creating two states, an impoverished north and a wealthy center and south

3.6.2015 22:03 Sociologist Ivan Gabal says the Czech Republic is now beginning to look like two states in one. The center and the south of the country are prospering, while the north is worried about poverty.  full story

Czech towns begin to "produce" hundreds of newly homeless people after law has potentially catastrophic effect

3.6.2015 21:13 Reality has turned out differently than Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová believed it might. "Most municipalities behave rationally, they know they cannot afford to create dozens or hundreds of homeless people," she said last week.  full story

Tasks awaiting the Czech Education Ministry need more than a temporary replacement in charge

3.6.2015 19:16 Even though it may seem that Marcel Chládek is leaving office primarily because he has not treated women and colleagues not involved with sports well at the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, there are more reasons than that for his dismissal. The degree of his misconceived ideas, such as the distribution of tablet computing devices to schoolchildren, or the introduction of "practical" classes in the primary schools, had in fact exceeded all tolerable limits.  full story

Does the Czech Human Rights Minister grasp the purported dispute between the "ethnic" and "social" approaches to inclusion?

3.6.2015 17:35 Two important events took place recently that may fundamentally influence the approach to Romani integration policy and combating socially excluded localities for a long time to come. A new report on socially excluded localities was presented by the GAC company, and several hours later, Czech Human Rights Minister Dienstbier announced that the new director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion will be Radek Jiránek.  full story

UK: Gangs are abusing impoverished women from Eastern Europe, including Roma, for fake marriages

3.6.2015 16:49 Klara Balogová was 18 years old, without a cent, and in an advanced stage of pregnancy when she traveled 1 000 kilometers from Slovakia to England to marry a man she had never met. She knew that neither she nor her child were any of his concern.  full story

Commentary: Not everyone has luck or talent - response to Julius Zajac about options for ghetto children

3.6.2015 15:40 Julius Zajac's recent commentary presented a proud, self-aware perspective on the problems of Roma - in his view the key to overcoming these problems is education, and anyone can access a decent education in the Czech Republic. Racism, he says, does not stand in the way.  full story

Norwegian photographer fascinated by Roma ability to maintain cultural heritage in desperate conditions

3.6.2015 15:15 In Oslo a book about Norwegian Romani people was recently been published featuring the photographs of Gorm K. Gaare. He has also documented the lives of Roma in Bulgaria, in the Czech town of Bělá nad Radbuzou near Plzeň, and in Slovakia.  full story

Czech Republic: Café says it will only serve "adaptable" customers

3.6.2015 0:46 There probably is no need to extensively justify the unwritten social rule that if someone disrupts the social order of those peacefully sipping espresso at the Chat Noir Café in Brno to such an extent that it is intolerable, that person can understandably be asked to leave. When, however, the café announces it is forbidding entry to "inadaptables", some prefer to suppress their desire for coffee and give the place a miss.  full story

Czech town rejects residential hotel tenants' applications for housing benefits across the board

2.6.2015 14:41 Town councilors for the municipality of Bohumín have rejected all 124 applications for housing benefits submitted by individuals who are accommodated in residential hotels on their territory. Such rejections could impact as many as 210 such facilities throughout the country.  full story

Nine aid workers of Czech NGO murdered in Afghanistan

2.6.2015 13:49 Nine Afghani employees of the Czech organization People in Need were killed last night during an attack perpetrated by armed men in the north of Afghanistan. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported the news, citing a local representative, and the Czech News Agency confirmed the reports with the organization's director, Šimon Pánek.  full story

REF Seeks a National Selection Board Member in Czech Republic

1.6.2015 13:16 Roma Education Fund Scholarship Program announces its call for applications for a National Selection Board (NSB) position for the Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP), who will participate in the evaluation and selection process of scholarship beneficiaries for REF Scholarship Program (REF SP) for the academic year 2015-2016, in Czech Republic.  full story

videoKHAMORO: Annual parade of Romani performers marches through the center of Prague

31.5.2015 23:11 This year the 17th annual Khamoro Festival parade of colorfully-dressed Romani dancers, musicians, and singers made its way through the center of Prague accompanied by live music. The annual festival began last Sunday on the banks of the Vltava River in Prague and culminated last night with a gala concert of many Romani performers.  full story

France sees annual celebration of Sara e Kali, the patron saint of Roma

31.5.2015 8:47 On Sunday, 24 May, the traditional pilgrimage of Sara e Kali, a celebration of the patron saint of Romani people, Saint Sarah, took place in the south of France. The festival takes place in the village of Saintes Marie de la Mer and tens of thousands of Romani people from all over Europe visit it annually.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion sees more staff quit over allegedly untransparent hire of new director

30.5.2015 8:19 Wednesday's announcement of the new director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, Radek Jiránek, has not managed to halt the departure of another 10 employees. Notice has been given, for example, by the interim director, Alena Zieglerová, by an expert in debt counseling, and by a lawyer with the Government department.  full story

Czech Prime Minister proposes removal of Education Minister

29.5.2015 6:18 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka will be proposing the dismissal of Education Minister Marcel Chládek within the next few days (both are ČSSD). The PM has referred to information reported yesterday by the daily Mladá fronta DNES about the bullying of subordinates at the ministry, claiming that he intends to take it seriously.  full story

SURVEY: Romani figures respond to the choice of Jiránek as director of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion

27.5.2015 20:22 Radek Jiránek, head of the Crime Prevention Department at the Czech Interior Ministry, is the new director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion.  full story

New director of Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is Radek Jiránek

27.5.2015 15:17 The new director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is Radek Jiránek, who until now has been the head of the Crime Prevention Department at the Czech Interior Ministry. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (ČSSD) announced the appointment today at a press conference.  full story