News

Czech Republic: Romani students honor their role models

9.4.2015 18:55 International Romani Day was celebrated at the MeetFactory club in Prague yesterday. In addition to a rich musical program during which representatives of the younger generation of Romani musicians met with their older colleagues onstage, Romani students also symbolically paid their respects to those they consider their role models, people whose life and work serve to aid Romani people and improve their relationships with the majority society.  full story

Czech sociologist says attending "practical school" reduces employability by half

8.4.2015 23:56 Speaking on Czech Television on 8 April, sociologist Daniel Prokop presented the results of a survey called Roma Survey 2011 organized by the United Nations Development Programme. The Czech Republic section of the research was performed by the Median agency among 750 Romani and 350 majority-society households.  full story

Czech Platform for Social Housing: Fire shows children must be rescued from living in residential hotels

8.4.2015 23:16 On the night of 6 April, six children who had been forced to live in a residential hotel in the town of Ostrov near Karlovy Vary almost burned to death. Tenants were standing with their children in the windows of the building planning to jump in order to escape the flames.  full story

Czech Television humiliates Romani people on their International Day

8.4.2015 22:30 Czech Television's programming on 7 April ahead of International Romani Day featured somewhat embarrassing dramaturgy and a documentary film promoting antigypsyist stereotypes and clichés. The public broadcaster had announced last week that a program of many documentary and feature-length films would be shown in honor of 8 April.  full story

Ambassadors to Czech Republic: Discrimination of Roma still exists

8.4.2015 19:55 On the occasion of International Romani Day 8 April, seven ambassadors to the Czech Republic have signed a declaration in support of the Romani community. In their statement, the ambassadors emphasize that this day is an occasion to celebrate Romani culture and heritage and is also a day for awareness of the fact that this group of people, frequently living on the outskirts of society, faces discrimination across Europe.  full story

Statement by Secretary of State John Kerry on International Roma Day

8.4.2015 10:27 On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I honor all Roma on International Roma Day.  full story

8 April: Romani people worldwide celebrate International Romani Day

8.4.2015 1:00, (ROMEA) International Romani Day is celebrated annually by Romani people worldwide on 8 April. On this day, Romani people commemorate the historic First World Romani Congress, organized by Comité International Rom (CIR) in Orpington, England in 1971.  full story

Czech Platform for Social Housing chair: Roma in residential hotels need a chance at a dignified life

8.4.2015 0:04 "If you get hit by a car, the emergency medical technicians don't ask you if you looked both ways before you crossed the street. Losing housing is a similar catastrophe. It is in everyone's interest for homelessness not to become an intractable fate, but the briefest possible episode in someone's life," says Štěpán Ripka, chair of the Platform for Social Housing in the Czech Republic; news server Romea.cz interviewed him about the progress on a social housing law.  full story

Romani police officer: Roma are both perpetrators and victims of modern-day slavery

7.4.2015 21:55 Petr Torák is a Romani police officer originally from the Czech Republic who has worked for almost 10 years in England investigating human trafficking. At the end of March he attended a conference in Prague on the topic of "modern-day slavery" along with other British and Czech experts.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani residents of Tanvald oppose planned demonstration for new investigation of 2012 shooting

Prague, 7.4.2015 19:39, (ROMEA) On Saturday 11 April a demonstration will be held in the Czech town of Tanvald calling for a new investigation into the case of a Romani man who was shot to death there on New Year's Day 2012. The event is being convened by activist Andrej Lučka in collaboration the father of the murdered youth, Ladislav Tatár.  full story

Czech Platform for Social Housing approves of Government's Concept

7.4.2015 18:38 Prior to the last Czech election, the parties now governing as a coalition promised to launch a new social housing system to aid the genuinely needy - people without housing and those for whom dignified accommodation is too expensive. The parties unanimously promised to draft a social housing law, to enhance the role of municipalities in providing housing, and to invest the necessary financing into the system.  full story

ERTF: We are Roma - this is what we are

7.4.2015 10:25 We mark International Roma day by celebrating the rich Romani culture and the diverse contributions of Roma to our societies. On this day, the Roma can stand up and proudly say “We are Roma: this is what we are.”  full story

Commentary: Who is the real expert here?

7.4.2015 1:57 In an article published 27 March by the Česká škola (Czech School) website, Jiří Pilař endeavors to interpret the recently-adopted amendment to the Schools Act. Actually he does not present any arguments in his piece, but simply practices division and spite, first creating and then shoring up an antagonism between "activists" and "experts", both "groups" of his own making.  full story

Czech man convicted of racially motivated murder wants a retrial

7.4.2015 0:47 Vlastimil Pechanec, who was sentenced in 2003 to 17 years in prison for the racially motivated murder of a Romani man at a discotheque in the Czech town of Svitavy, has filed a motion for a retrial. Olga Mičanová, spokesperson for the court in Hradec Králové, informed the Czech News Agency of the motion last week.  full story

Czech customs officials detain 15 Syrian refugees at Rozvadov

7.4.2015 0:11 Fifteen Syrian refugees were discovered by Czech customs officials from Plzeň on Friday at around 8 PM when they checked a Hungarian van at the Rozvadov border crossing. The refugees were heading to Germany on the D5 highway.  full story

Czech Republic: Overview of International Romani Day events

6.4.2015 20:48, (ROMEA) On Wednesday, 8 April, Romani people worldwide will celebrate International Romani Day. This commemorates the historical first congress of the International Romani Union in Great Britain in 1971, where participants adopted the Romani flag and international anthem.  full story

German minister says arsonists of refugee facilities are "cowardly and repulsive"

6.4.2015 19:11 A fire was intentionally set in the eastern German municipality of Tröglitz in the early morning hours of 4 April at a planned residential hotel facility for refugees. No one was physically injured.  full story

Czech survey shows welfare less acceptable than murder or stealing

5.4.2015 23:01 Czechs believe that living on welfare is worse than either murdering someone believed to be a thief or committing theft itself. Those are the results of an opinion poll conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM).  full story

Commentary: Why are they setting up a European Roma Institute?

5.4.2015 21:30, (ROMEA) Under this heading - substitute with "we" - billionaire George Soros and Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland published this comment week before last.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry gives award to crime prevention assistant

5.4.2015 2:52 He maintained his presence of mind, calmed a very exacerbated situation and called emergency medical technicians and police to the scene. Crime prevention assistant Ján Polyák, who has become an inherent component of the Brno Municipal Police team, has been given special recognition by the Czech Interior Ministry for handling the circumstances of a traffic accident on Cejl Street in Brno that he witnessed while off-duty.  full story