News

Czech Museum of Romani Culture presents silent film from 1923 featuring Roma character

14.7.2015 5:17 On Thursday, 16 July, the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno will present an extraordinary cultural experience. The museum will screen a unique silent film by Václav Kubásek from 1923, "Bewitching Eyes" (Čarovné oči), accompanied by live music performed by the band The Harmonic Play.  full story

Czech Labor Offices awarding housing benefits to more than half of all applicants

13.7.2015 23:07 Apparently thousands of new homeless people will not be created by municipalities in the Czech Republic after all. At least not for now.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry anticipates up to 7 000 to enter illegally next year

13.7.2015 22:17 The Czech Interior Ministry anticipates that next year anywhere between 5 000 and 7 000 immigrants will enter the country illegally. This year approximately 3 500 such entries are expected total.  full story

Infamous Czech right-wing extremist plays a Nazi in a new film

13.7.2015 7:06 In a film by director Filip Renč that is currently in production, one of the Nazis is played by an infamous face on the Czech neo-Nazi scene, Jaromír Pytel. The Club of Military History of the "White Power European Patriots" (WPEP) has published photographs on its Facebook profile of Pytel with the director and added a text stating that Pytel's club has signed a contract with the production.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani journalist starts media "incubator"

12.7.2015 23:22 "Young Roma have a lot to say about what is going on around them. However, they come up against the fact that they are unable to express their opinions in such a way as to be able to participate in a public debate, and frequently they never have the room to present their opinions about matters other than inter-ethnic coexistence," says Věra Lacková, the author of the "Media Voice" program in the Czech Republic.  full story

Bulgaria: European Court of Human Rights says Gov't must stop house demolition in Garmen

12.7.2015 21:45 The Equal Opportunities Inititative Association (EOIA) in Bulgaria reports that on 10 July the European Court of Human Rights issued "urgent interim measures" over the house demolitions planned for tomorrow in the town of Garmen. Under Rule 39 of the Rules of the Court, the measures urge the Bulgarian government to “stop the demolitions, until alternative housing is secured for the vulnerable claimants”.  full story

Greece needs urgent aid with refugees at risk of going hungry in camps

11.7.2015 19:12 Greece needs urgent aid with the influx of thousands of immigrants and refugees who are sailing into the country every day, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The agency has called on the European Union to aid the country before the humanitarian situation deteriorates further there.  full story

Czech Labor Ministry says homelessness will not rise because of housing benefit ambiguity

11.7.2015 18:27 The Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry issued a press release at the end of June on the current situation regarding the disbursal of housing benefits. News server Romea.cz publishes it in full below, followed by a response from the Union of Cities and Municipalities.  full story

Portugal releases its first national Roma survey

11.7.2015 0:39 News server theportugalnews.com reports that the first-ever national study of the Roma in Portugal was published at the end of June. Its findings include the information that Portuguese Roma have little formal education, marry young, and mainly work in fairs.  full story

Czech Republic: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival features dramas about Roma

10.7.2015 23:50 Peter Baláž, a former Olympic athlete and boxing champion many times over, has played himself in a melancholy boxing film by Ivan Ostrochovský called "Koza" (Goat). Baláž was present on 6 July for the screening of the film in the Grand Thermal Hall at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.  full story

Poland: Roma Caravan commemorates Holocaust

10.7.2015 22:05 The unmarked graves of hundreds of Romani people murdered during WWII are scattered throughout Poland, according to Adam Bartosz, curator of the Regional Museum in Tarnów. One mass grave of Romani victims in Szczurowa village (Małopolska province) is probably the largest, containing 93 people, as almost the entire Romani settlement was killed and buried there.  full story

Czech Justice Ministry offers unused building with 580 beds for refugees

10.7.2015 20:06 The Czech Justice Ministry can provide a building in Vyšní Lhoty (Frýdek-Místek district) for the reception of refugees. The ministry had originally considered turning the facility into a prison but would like to use it as a refugee center instead.  full story

Pope Francis asks forgiveness for crimes against indigenous people and criticizes "new colonialism"

10.7.2015 18:30 "I humbly ask forgiveness, not just for the sins of the Church itself, but also for crimes committed committed against the indigenous inhabitants during the so-called settling of America," Pope Francis told an applauding crowd during a world meeting of movements representing impoverished people in the Bolivian town of Santa Cruz. The Pope acknowledged that "in the name of God", serious sins had been perpetrated against indigenous people.  full story

Czech mayor disagrees with study finding an excluded locality in his town

10.7.2015 17:20 On 3 July the Mayor of Milovice, ing. Milan Pour, posted his official standpoint on the town's website about the results of the recent Analysis of Socially Excluded Localities in the Czech Republic, a research project commissioned by the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry and produced by the GAC, s.r.o. company. The mayor's statement says that the factual extent of the area which might be considered excluded does not provide a basis for including Milovice among towns with socially excluded localities, as "this concerns a part of town where approximately 160 -180 persons showing signs of social exclusion live".  full story

EU-28 ministers have not yet reached full agreement on refugee redistribution

10.7.2015 16:19 Interior Ministers of the Member States of the European Union were unable to fully reach agreement yesterday on how they will redistribute 40 000 asylum seekers currently in Greece and Italy throughout the EU over the next two years. Jean Asselborn, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg, which currently presides over the EU, is convinced that agreement will be reached at the next meeting on 20 July.  full story

Czech prosecutor finds no evidence that radical Islamic book disseminates racism

9.7.2015 22:46 Czech Television reports that prosecutors have returned the case of an allegedly radical Islamic book said to have been disseminating racism back to police for further investigation. Jan Lelek, head of the Prague 1 District State Prosecutor, confirmed the information to the Czech News Agency.  full story

Roma in Denmark, Norway and Sweden not being "run" by organized crime

9.7.2015 22:06 News server west-info.eu, which reports on European welfare policies, say a new report from Fafo, a Scandinavian social research foundation, has found no evidence that Romani people in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are being managed by organized crime. The report contradicts claims that Romani people are being trafficked into those countries.  full story

Czech Labor Minister plans Internet subsidy for the socially vulnerable

9.7.2015 21:27 Czech Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Michaela Marksová-Tominová (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) is planning to subsidize reduced Internet rates for the socially vulnerable. "The aim is for people at risk of social exclusion to be able to use digital technology to improve their position in society," Jiří Vaňásek, director of the ministry's Labor Market Department, told news server iHNED.cz.  full story

Hungary adopts law allowing construction of fence against immigrants

9.7.2015 19:53 Reuters reports that the Hungarian Parliament adopted a law on 6 July tightening conditions for granting asylum and allowing the construction of a fence on the border with Serbia to halt the influx of immigrants entering the country illegally. The new law shortens the time for evaluating asylum requests and facilitates the rejection of applications from immigrants who have passed through a so-called "safe country" where they were not in serious danger while fleeing, for example, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria.  full story

Czech Police: Shooter was a juvenile, no indications yet of extremism playing a role

9.7.2015 18:55 The person suspected of having shot at a bus full of people on Tuesday evening in the Czech town of Plzeň is a 15-year-old youth, according to police. The suspect was apprehended by detectives less than 24 hours after the crime was committed and is now in a police cell.  full story