Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Youth gives Nazi salute, racist abuse to Romani bus driver

Ústí nad Labem, 26.2.2013 22:29, (ROMEA) On Monday 25 February a Romani trolleybus driver had to call a municipal police patrol to deal with a young man who assaulted him verbally, shouted racist slogans and gave the Nazi salute. The driver, himself a former municipal police officer, called his former colleagues to take charge of the youth and remove him from the bus, as his behavior was not just an assault on the driver, but was bothering his fellow passengers.  full story

Czech EdMin to research number of children educated as disabled

Prague, 26.2.2013 16:38, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the Czech Education Ministry wants to find out how many pupils are being taught according to an educational program for children with "light brain dysfunction". The Czech Republic has long faced criticism that it enrolls large numbers of Romani pupils into what were once called the "special schools" who do not belong there. Better record-keeping is one step toward correcting the situation.  full story

Slovakia: Brutal attack on black basketball player under investigation

Nitra, Slovakia, 23.2.2013 19:49, (ROMEA) News server SME.sk reports that basketball player Jean Rony Cadot has suffered a brutal assault in Slovakia. The player, who was born in the Bahamas, has been playing in the Slovak league since last fall. He was attacked and beaten in front of a nightclub in the town of Nitra.  full story

Commentary: Martin Luther King, Jr's testament for Romani people

Prague, 22.2.2013 22:11, (ROMEA) This piece was composed as an introductory contribution to a debate about Martin Luther King, Jr in Prague that was convened by the American Center and the Slon publishing house, which has released the first selection of Dr King's works in Czech translation.  full story

Czech High Court removes defendants' attorney from "machete case"

Liberec, 22.2.2013 18:27, (ROMEA) The Czech Press Agency reports that Judge Eva Drahotová, the chair of Regional Court in Liberec, has informed them that the High Court in Prague has removed attorney Klára Samková from representing defendants in the case of the so-called "machete attack" in Nový Bor during which three people were seriously injured. "The High Court has decided that Dr Samková can no longer represent any of the defendants," the judge said.  full story

Czech NGO: Předlice quarter is hostage to illegal drugs

Ústí nad Labem-Předlice, 21.2.2013 21:47, (ROMEA) The People in Need (Člověk v tísni) organization has published an interview on its website with Radka Kobližková, the director of the Contact Center of the DRUG-OUT Klub civic association about the Předlice quarter in Ústí nad Labem and its residents' problem with drugs. News server Romea.cz is publishing the article in full translation below with the kind permission of People in Need.  full story

Commentary: The difference between Czech and French politicians

Prague, 21.2.2013 19:27, (ROMEA) This is really interesting: One comment by Maurice Taylor, head of the American firm Titan International, about the work morale of the French employees of a Goodyear factory has upset almost all of France. Taylor wrote to the French Government that "French employees receive high wages but work only three hours. They get hour-long breaks for snacks and lunch, talk for three hours and work for three." He went on to add that he is no longer interested in French workers or preserving the factory in France and would therefore be closing it.  full story

Czech Republic: Good and bad examples of helping the poor

Prague, 21.2.2013 18:47, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz reports that yesterday, 20 February, was the World Day of Social Justice, an effort to draw attention to the topic of poverty and social problems. According to the EU Statistical Office, 15 % of the population of the Czech Republic is jeopardized by poverty and social exclusion, defined as suffering from material deprivation or working less than 20 % of what ordinarily constitutes a full-time work year.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani NGO founder says his trial proved nothing

Karlovy Vary, 21.2.2013 17:50, (ROMEA) Ladislav Bílý, who is appealing a verdict sentencing him to six years in prison for alleged subsidy fraud, has provided news server Romea.cz an essential statement on the case. Bílý made the statement as part of online discussions posted beneath the articles on Romea.cz about the verdict and in discussions posted to social networking sites. Some discussants believe Bílý misused the finances of the Romani Civic Association in Karlovy Vary, bu he denies those charges in his statement.  full story

Czech Republic: Stronger efforts needed to end segregation of Roma

Strasbourg, 21.2.2013 10:13, (ROMEA) “Segregation of Roma children in education remains a serious human rights concern in the Czech Republic. Many of them are still taught as children with mild disabilities, in contravention of the 2007 D.H. judgment of the European Court of Human Rights which condemned the Czech Republic for this practice. Urgent action is needed to remedy this shortcoming”, said today Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, releasing a report based on the findings of his visit to this country carried out on 12-15 November 2012, which focused on the human rights of Roma and persons with disabilities.  full story

Czech neo-Nazis on trial can't remember a thing

Brno, 20.2.2013 22:07, (ROMEA) A group of 17 right-wing extremists on trial before the District Court in Brno-venkov is rejecting the charges filed against them of promoting Nazism and racism. They face up to eight years in prison if convicted.  full story

Czech Republic: New advice bureau to replace defunct Romani NGO

Karlovy Vary, 20.2.2013 20:57, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the recently appealed conviction of Ladislav Bílý, the leader of the Romani Civic Association (Romské občanské sdružení) in Karlovy Vary, has now left a gap in the services available free of charge there, but the counseling center that operated for years in the association's offices should be replaced by a similar facility within half a year. The Prague-based leadership of the Association of Citizens' Advice Bureaus (Asociace občanských poraden - AOP) is already taking action to provide substitute services.  full story

Czech subsidies fall for nonprofit social work, rise for sports

Prague, 20.2.2013 19:43, (ROMEA) A recent analysis of the financing of nonprofit organizations in the Czech Republic shows that subsidies for nonprofit organizations focused on employment and social affairs have fallen in recent years, while those available for groups involved in physical education have risen. In 2009, CZK 3.55 billion made its way to nonprofits involved in social issues and increasing employment, but in 2011 just CZK 3.09 billion did, even as the total amount of subsidies to nonprofits overall rose during that period from CZK 10.18 to CZK 10.86 billion. During that period a higher share of those subsidies each year has been dedicated to groups involved in physical education.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani NGO founder appeals fraud conviction

Plzeň, 19.2.2013 19:15, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that Ladislav Bílý, the head of the Romani Civic Association (Romské občanské sdružení) in Karlovy Vary, has been sentenced to six years in prison and must repay almost CZK 10 million [EUR 394 000]. The verdict was handed down by the Regional Court in Plzeň, which found Bílý guilty of subsidy fraud and falsifying documents  full story

Czech Republic: Insurance scam in Ostrava affects the deprived

Ostrava, 18.2.2013 17:41, (ROMEA) A recently publicized incident in which patients in the Czech town of Ostrava were fraudulently registered with health insurers has affected socially vulnerable families with many children and Romani people in particular. At the start of the year an unusually large number of socially vulnerable residents living in a former mining colony in the municipal department of Ostrava-Radvanice changed their health insurance companies. Now, however, it turns out that many of them had no idea their insurance registrations had been changed and their signatures were most probably falsified. The police will be investigating the case.  full story

Czech Republic: Bus serving Romani area installs cameras

Liberec, 16.2.2013 20:00, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that buses on line number 16, which runs from the Czech town of Liberec to the village of Kryštofova Údolí, will soon be featuring their first security cameras to monitor passengers. The vehicles make regular stops in a place the news server describes as "a large ghetto in Machnín - Hamrštejn. Predominantly Romani families live on the very outskirts of society there."  full story

Czech Republic: Gentrification evicts more poor in Ostrava

Ostrava, 15.2.2013 21:29, (ROMEA) While the main town hall for Ostrava offered a total of four social apartments to needy people earlier this week as part of its newly-launched inclusion program, the Municipal Department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz is doing its best to push impoverished residents out of its center. At the start of January the municipality posted a warning at a residential hotel it runs on Božkova information those living there that they must move out by the end of May.  full story

Commentary: NGO war breaks out in Czech Republic

Prague, 15.2.2013 1:25, (ROMEA) "When People in Need, during the worst moment of this crisis at the residential hotel, when there was a risk that people's children would be taken into state care, released a lie to the media claiming that the residential hotel occupants had rejected 20 apartments, they crushed the faith of the people they were collaborating with, as well as the overall faith of the public in NGOs. At the same time, this organization showed that its media image and the provision of an alibi to its allies at the town hall, from which its grant money flows, is more important to it than are human lives and a good resolution to a crisis situation," reads a recent declaration issued by the Housing for All (Bydlení pro všechny) initiative. The abysmal situation of the Romani people in Ústí nad Labem has drawn attention to the deep antagonisms between those whom we have become used to assigning, in a too-simplified way, into apparently clear categories such as "non-governmental organizations" or "activists".  full story

Commentary: Dilemma of the "decent Gypsy"

Prague, 13.2.2013 17:58, (ROMEA) Consensus-building and efforts at dialogue are part of democracy. On the other hand, we cannot completely smooth over any conflict ongoing in society. Which is better: To soften your formulations when conversing with someone whose opinions contradict yours, or to go into conflict with them?  full story

Czech Republic: Ostrava starts social housing program

Ostrava, 12.2.2013 22:26, (ROMEA) Czech Television reports that the first families enrolled in a social housing program in the town of Ostrava have received keys to their new apartments from the town. As long as they follow the rules and send their children to school, the town will assist them.  full story