News

Czech Human Rights Minister says striking agency's aims can't be met

11.5.2015 10:18 Most of the staff of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion has gone on strike today. Their demand is that their institution, which currently is part of the portfolio of Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (ČSSD), become autonomous and independent.  full story

Czech film "The Way Out", about life in a Romani ghetto, on general release in France to high praise

10.5.2015 8:01 Director Petr Václav's film "The Way Out" (Cesta ven), which has won seven Czech Lion awards, has been on general release in France since last Wednesday. French critics are praising the drama set in a Romani community, with reviews especially highlighting the performance by Romani actress Klaudia Dudová in the main role.  full story

Czech Republic: Defendants in Wotan Jugend trial say they were just selling stickers

10.5.2015 7:18 Three young men charged with supporting the ultra-right Wotan Jugend movement from Russia told a Czech court on 6 May that they have not been promoting extremism. They claim to have just been selling stickers with symbols of the movement in order to financially support a friend in prison.  full story

Hungary: Life in prison for murdering Romani people

9.5.2015 14:14 Yesterday the Associated Press reported that a Hungarian appeals court has upheld the sentencing of four men responsible for attacks on Romani people during which six individuals, including a five-year-old boy, died in 2008 and 2009. Three perpetrators were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2013 and the appeals court has now agreed with that verdict.  full story

Czech Republic: Three left-wing extremists face life in prison for planning terrorism

9.5.2015 13:17 Three of the six people who were charged last week after the Czech Police conducted a raid against extremists are now facing the possibility of life in prison. Police say they were preparing a terrorist attack on a train.  full story

European Commission will respond to Czech Gov't plans for Romani schoolchildren within the week

9.5.2015 12:07 The European Commission should express its view of the situation of Romani schoolchildren in the Czech Republic within the coming week. Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) communicated the expected timing of the response to journalists after meeting with EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová.  full story

video Marine Le Pen visits former Czech President, activists confront her in Prague

8.5.2015 11:38 Activists from the Young Greens (Mladí zelení) organization in the Czech Republic protested on 6 May at a conference called "Peace and Prosperity in Europe After the European Union" against the appearance of French politician Marine Le Pen in the Czech Parliament. The chair of France's Front National (FN) arrived in Prague on Tuesday and attended the conference, which was organized by the Civic Conservative Party (Občanská konzervativní strana - OKS).  full story

Czech Institute for Study of Totalitarian Regimes: Instruction of WWII subject matter needs to be refined

8.5.2015 9:12 At a press conference organized yesterday by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů - ÚSTR), representatives of eight educational organizations presented their ideas for improving how the history of the Second World War is taught in the Czech Republic. Those participating in the discussion represented the organizations Antikomplex, Collegium Bohemicum, Československo 38-89, the Terezín Institute Initiative (Institut Terezínské iniciativy), the Museum of Romani Culture (Muzeum romské kultury), the Terezín Memorial (Památník Terezín), ÚSTR and the Jewish Museum in Prague (Židovské muzeum v Praze).  full story

Most of the Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion staff to strike Monday

7.5.2015 19:28 Most of the staffers of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion will strike on Monday. Of the Agency's 70 employees and sub-contractors, 59 will begin the strike.  full story

Czech Republic: Ghettofest 2015 will have less loud music, more reverence

7.5.2015 18:33 The fourth annual Ghettofest will take place on 5 and 6 June in the "Bronx" neighborhood of Brno. In addition to a full program of music and theater, the festival will focus on the tragic past of the locality and the fates of its local inhabitants.  full story

EP is for quotas on refugees, Czech politicians can't agree

7.5.2015 16:53 On Saturday, 2 May a total of 3 427 refugees were rescued from boats in the Mediterranean Sea during several interventions near the coast of Libya, according to the Italian Coast Guard. The service has been rescuing thousands of African immigrants from overcrowded smuggling vessels that frequently capsize on their way to Italy, with many lives lost.  full story

Roma demand apology from Czech Education Minister on Facebook for his insulting remarks on television

7.5.2015 15:42 Romani activist Miroslav Klempár is using his Facebook profile to call on Romani people to sign an open letter to Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek. Klempár refers in the letter to the minister's recent appearance on Czech Television, where he responded to a critical report by Amnesty International in part as follows: We are doing our best today just to get children from excluded localities into the schools. Many representatives of the schools go to their homes to drag them out of bed. They are doing their best to teach them the basics of hygiene, to speak Czech correctly, and also to teach them that it's just not normal for someone to stay in bed until noon and then smoke a pack of cigarettes - in other words, that people also go to work."  full story

Changes at Czech university revive longstanding dispute about the existence of the Romani ethnicity

7.5.2015 9:03 The Faculty of Arts of one of Europe's oldest universities, Charles University in Prague, is undergoing significant changes thanks to the leadership of its current Dean. Some members of the academic community are strongly objecting to some of those changes; a petition has been put together and ethnology students are on strike.  full story

Office of the Czech Gov't announces search for new director of Agency for Social Inclusion

7.5.2015 8:15 The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic has announced the terms for applying to its selection procedure for the position of director of the Agency for Social Inclusion. The new director will start work in June.  full story

Czech ethnology students begin strike in defense of fired teachers

7.5.2015 7:42 Yesterday morning began a two-day occupational strike by ethnology students at Charles University in Prague. The students want the director of the Institute of Ethnology, Marek Jakoubek, to be removed and hope their protest action will draw attention to ongoing changes with which they disagree.  full story

Outgoing director of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion says Human Rights Minister doesn't understand the Agency's work

7.5.2015 6:34 In an interview for news server Romea.cz on 5 May, outgoing director Martin Šimáček has responded to the explanation given by Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier to the press about the situation in the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. Šimáček said he believes the minister's press conference shows that he completely lacks information about the work of the Agency and that his subordinates are reporting erroneous, incorrect information about it to him.
 full story

Czech Republic: Dean at Charles University standing by controversial ethnologist

6.5.2015 19:18 In February 2014, Docent Mirjam Friedová became the first female Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. Friedová, who was originally the director of the Linguistics Department, came into the leadership position as Dean with a new concept of how to direct the faculty - how to make up for the university's lack of money, how to solve staffing cuts, and how to focus more on research activity.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Agency staff will either meet their obligations or leave

6.5.2015 12:21 Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier convened an extraordinary press conference yesterday to respond to the "further escalation of the situation" around the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and the "media campaign by its employees". The staff of the Agency have announced they are considering going on strike.  full story

Charles University ethnology students occupy building and strike, demand director be removed

6.5.2015 8:42 Students of ethnology at Charles University in Prague are beginning a two-day occupation and strike on Wednesday, 6 May. Their protest is an expression of their disagreement with the director of the Institute of Ethnology, Marek Jakoubek, whose removal they seek.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion threatens strike

5.5.2015 17:35 The staff of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is concerned, now that its director Martin Šimáček has been removed, that the Agency will become politicized and will be incapable of fulfilling its obligations. They say they consider their negotiations to date with Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier, under whose remit the Agency falls, to have been unsatisfactory.  full story