News

Czech Republic: Theater as a victory over bullying and racism

24.4.2015 1:01 Bullying, manipulation and racism are the subjects of three plays that were presented last week by the Theater of the Oppressed (Divadlo utlačovaných) in Prague. This is a special form of theater in which actors create a situation of oppression on the basis of their own experiences and audience members get the opportunity to join the action and try to change the fates of the protagonists for the better  full story

Amnesty International: Discrimination of Romani children in the Czech Republic has lasted decades and must end

London, 23.4.2015 21:31 In the Czech Republic, everyday discrimination of Romani children in education is persisting because the Czech Government is still not succeeding in coming to grips with deeply-rooted preconceptions about Romani people in the schools. Those are the findings of a report published today by the international organization for the protection of human rights, Amnesty International (AI).  full story

Commentary: Czech Human Rights Minister fights with social inclusion head while the "Nazis" laugh

23.4.2015 1:24 Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has removed Martin Šimáček from his position as head of the Agency for Social Inclusion and both men have engaged in mutual recriminations in a public clash. The only people who are hugely enjoying this are probably the antigypsyists and the "Nazis", so what are we to make of what seems at first glance to be an absurd situation?  full story

Germany: SS volunteer charged with participating in 300 000 murders at Auschwitz

22.4.2015 21:24 On Tuesday, 21 April 2015, the trial of 93-year-old Oskar Gröning, who worked in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, began under intense media scrutiny. Gröning, who is charged with participating in the deaths of 300 000 Jewish people, recognized in his opening statement that he bears moral responsibility for his actions and said he believes the court must decide whether he is criminally culpable.  full story

Czech town says it will block housing benefits for residential hotel dwellers

21.4.2015 23:39 The leadership of the Bohumín town council is threatening to block the housing benefits awarded to those living in residential hotels. As of May, applicants for this welfare benefit will need the consent of their local municipality to receive it.  full story

Czech PM wants to increase aid to refugees after 900 drown near Italy, EU convenes extraordinary summit

21.4.2015 21:09 Yesterday foreign ministers from EU countries were slated to review the situation of thousands of people dying in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to get to Europe. Federica Mogherini, the head of European diplomacy, asked over the weekend for this point to be added to the agenda of yesterday's meeting after yet another in a series of accidents at sea evidently cost the lives of as many as 900 people Saturday.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister says Agency director removed over public tender errors

21.4.2015 17:03 Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier held a special press conference today at which he said that Martin Šimáček has been removed from his post as director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion because he made administrative errors in public tenders and the concluding of contracts. Dienstbier said another reason for the removal was that Šimáček had refused to discuss the reorganization of the Human Rights Section at the Office of the Government, where the Agency is located, with his superior, Deputy Minister Martina Štěpánková.  full story

Romani Studies scholars don't like what they've learned so far from cooperation with Council of Europe and EC

20.4.2015 22:24 Professor Yaron Matras of the University of Manchester has released a paper summarizing the achievements to date of the European Academic Network on Romani Studies (EANRS), a Joint Programme of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Commission (EC) that is ending on 31 May.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister meets with Janov residents, few of them Romani

20.4.2015 18:26 Residents of the Janov housing estate in the Czech town of Litvínov (Most district) are calling the situation in the locality unmanageable. During a meeting today with Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) the residents asked for concrete aid.  full story

Greece: Trial of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party postponed until May

20.4.2015 17:23 Agence France-Presse reports that the trial of 69 members of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was postponed until 7 May two hours after it began today. The postponement was for procedural reasons, as one of the defendants did not have a lawyer.  full story

Czech ombud warns Education Ministry against perpetuating segregation

20.4.2015 16:17 The Czech Public Defender of Rights (the ombud) Anna Šabatová disagrees with the Czech Education's proposal that children be permitted to spend their mandatory final year of preschool in what are called preparatory classes. She is concerned that this could lead to such children being segregated from others from the very start of their educational careers.  full story

Czech children's theater director to leave at year's end over allegedly racist remarks

20.4.2015 7:34 Speculation around the choice of Vlastimil Peška to direct the Divadlo Radost children's theater in Brno and the allegedly racist remarks he made during the job interview is continuing. Deputy Mayor of Brno Matěj Hollan, who is responsible for cultural and social issues, has announced that Peška should remain as director only until the end of the year, when he will evidently be replaced by Tomáš Pavčík, who was the hiring commission's second choice.  full story

France investing EUR 100 million into combating racism

20.4.2015 6:37 The French Government will invest approximately EUR 100 million over the next three years into combating anti-Semitism and racism. Agence France-Presse reports that Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced the investment at a press conference on 17 April.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion renews work in 10 locations

19.4.2015 1:03 At the start of April the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion renewed its collaboration with 10 cities, municipalities and a Regional Authority. The renewed collaboration focuses primarily on coordinating the drawing of social inclusion funds during the current European Union funding period.  full story

Czech Deputy Human Rights Minister says changes will make Agency even stronger

18.4.2015 0:20 The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, which falls within the purview of Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), has organizational changes ahead of it. The Agency will soon stop working in its current form and should split into two sections.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion staff protest removal of director

17.4.2015 21:35 Staff members of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion have sent an open letter to Czech Human Rights Minister Dienstbier protesting his removal of the Agency's director. News server Romea.cz brings you their letter in full translation below.  full story

Will the Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion survive its director's departure?

17.4.2015 20:40 On Thursday, 16 April, Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier removed Martin Šimáček from his post as director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. Šimáček said in an interview for news server Romea.cz that what lies behind the change is a law on state service that is about to take effect.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani figures respond to removal of director of Agency for Social Inclusion

17.4.2015 19:10 News server Romea.cz has contacted Romani activists, experts and politicians for their reactions to the removal of Martin Šimáček from the post of director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. We asked them 1) what they think of his removal and 2) whether they know what the reasons for it are.  full story

Former director of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion says its future is uncertain

17.4.2015 18:13 The Czech Human Rights Minister has removed Martin Šimáček from his post as director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. News server Romea.cz interviewed him about the impact of his removal and the reasons for it.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister removes director of Agency for Social Inclusion

17.4.2015 17:29 Yesterday the Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation, Jiří Dienstbier, removed Martin Šimáček as the director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. News server Romea.cz was the first to break the news today in the Czech Republic.  full story