News

Czech Prime Minister: Police procedure during demonstration with gallows was absurd

5.7.2015 20:01 The Czech Police are facing harsh criticism for the procedure they elected to follow during a recent hate demonstration when, instead of intervening against people carrying mock-ups of gallows and chanting racist slogans, they intervened against those counter-protesting them. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová have joined the criticism of the police.  full story

Czech Interior Minister says police should know a gallows has no place in a democracy

3.7.2015 6:10 Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) is demanding an explanation from police leadership as to why they did not intervene against the participants in the recent demonstration against Islam and migration in the center of Prague who were carrying mock-ups of gallows. The minister said the police must be aware that neither death threats nor gallows have any place in a democracy.  full story

Czech MP holds hate rally with nooses for "traitors" warning of "hordes of horny blacks"

1.7.2015 22:12 A demonstration against immigration and quotas and in favor of the Czech Republic leaving the European Union was held this afternoon on Prague's Wenceslas Square, attended by approximately 700 people. After the opening remarks, protesters headed for the Office of the Government, ending the protest three hours later at around 20:00 CET.  full story

Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved Jewish children from the Holocaust, has passed away

1.7.2015 19:20 Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved more than 650 Czechoslovak children from certain death in Nazi camps, has passed away at the age of 106. The Associated Press reports that Winton's son-in-law has announced the news.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-immigrant, Islamophobic protest in Prague

1.7.2015 17:41 Several hundred people demonstrated yesterday in Prague against the Czech Republic receiving refugees. Their claim is that the recent decision of the Czech Government to voluntarily receive several hundred migrants is a "dirty trick".  full story

Czech Republic: Study says mandatory preschool could paradoxically worsen Romani children's situations

1.7.2015 5:55 Mandatory preschool attendance could contribute to further stigmatization of Romani children and problems for their entire families. Such attendance will also not make it easier for them to adapt to primary school.  full story

Czech Republic: Hooligans physically attack customer of café supporting refugees in Brno

1.7.2015 1:24 For expressing solidarity with refugees on social networking sites, the Brno-based Tři Ocásci café has endured a wave of insulting reactions and threats online. Last Saturday the situation culminated in hooligans physically attacking a customer there.  full story

Czech trial hears recording of real estate broker rejecting Romani customer

27.6.2015 20:12 A court in Litoměřice began to review an alleged case of discrimination this past Wednesday against a Romani woman, Lenka Balogová. The plaintiff is seeking a public apology from real estate broker Eliška Nosková and CZK 100 000 (EUR 3 670) in compensation because Nosková's brokerage refused to discuss leasing an apartment to Balogová because of her ethnicity.  full story

Macedonia: Local council votes to dislocate Roma from settlement

27.6.2015 2:24 The website utrinski.mk reported on 12 June that the Kavadarci local council has voted to provide container housing to the inhabitants of a Romani settlement who have permanent residency in the town while requiring the rest to "return to their place of origin". The settlement, called the "Teneke maalo", is said to have been inhabited illegally.  full story

Czech riot police keep anti-immigrant, ultra-right demonstrators separate from counter-protesters in Brno

27.6.2015 0:34 Police riot units had to separate the participants of two demonstrations in Brno from each other today, one against the reception of immigrants to the Czech Republic, the other expressing solidarity with refugees. Both events took place at the same place and time just a few hundred meters away from each other.  full story

USA criticizes Czech Republic, Slovakia over Roma in human rights report

26.6.2015 0:14 The Czech Republic continues to discriminate against the Romani minority in many areas, and political representatives of the country have been contributing to this recently to an increasing degree. Those are the results of the report published today by the U.S. State Department evaluating the approach toward human rights that has been taken by various countries during 2014.  full story

Czech School Inspectorate unequivocally supports collecting "ethnic" statistics

25.6.2015 22:57 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues: The so-called “Roma issue” is not merely a poverty question

25.6.2015 20:23 All Independent Experts of the UN are required by the Human Rights Council (HRC) to present annual reports on their work during one of the HRC's regular sessions in Geneva. Based on an HRC resolution adopted in 2014, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Dr Rita Izsák, was invited to present an additional study on the human rights situation of Roma worldwide, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism.  full story

Commentary: Czech Labor Minister and ombud at odds over housing benefit law, mayor says state administration is "collapsing"

25.6.2015 19:35 The threat of tens of thousands of new homeless people, including families with children, ending up "on the streets" over the next few months has forced Czech Government politicians to re-evaluate the interpretation of an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress adopted last fall by legislators, but it is not yet clear what the next steps will be. Only one thing is clear: Based on the developments of recent months and weeks, there is no guarantee that legislators will adopt another amendment on this issue in time that will be good enough to not be changed again several months from now.  full story

European Roma Grassroots Organizations Network calls on EU to fund Romani "watchdog" groups

25.6.2015 17:49 In an open letter to EU officials, the ERGO Network has welcomed the European Commission's annual communication on Roma Integration and is calling for a "targeted funding strand" for Roma NGOs engaged in "watchdog" work. ERGO thanked the officials for acknowledging the need to combat anti-Gypsyism.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court says MP's anti-Romani remarks not covered by immunity

25.6.2015 17:01 The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint filed by former MP Otto Chaloupka demanding immunity from prosecution. Last year the Czech Supreme Court rejected his appeal after he was given a suspended six-month sentence and put on probation for one year because of hateful remarks about Romani people that he posted to the Facebook social networking site.  full story

Bulgaria: Roma at home and abroad respond to violence committed during anti-Romani protests

25.6.2015 0:18 On 23 June 2015, Jovan Damjanović, president of the Belgrade-based World Roma Organization, sent an open letter to the Bulgarian Prime Minister expressing his organization's surprise over the recent violent anti-Romani protests that have taken place in Sofia and elsewhere. "I expect that you will do everything to avoid the use of force against the Roma community and I urge that, in accordance with international conventions and the rights of national minorities, you will provide all human and civil rights of Roma in the Republic of Bulgaria," the letter reads.  full story

Czech Republic postpones reception of Syrian children, rejects EU summit on migration

23.6.2015 16:18 The daily Právo reported yesterday that the Czech Interior Ministry has suspended preparations to relocate 14 Syrian children and their families, roughly 70 persons total, from Jordan to the Czech Republic. The children were supposed to be treated for serious diseases.  full story

David Beňák: Without "ethnic statistics", we are de facto blind

24.6.2015 22:21 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

Dragan Ristic: Anatomy of an Idea - The European Roma Institute

23.6.2015 22:58 Dragan Ristic is a guitarist, lyricist and vocalist with the music group KAL. A citizen and resident of Serbia, he holds a Master's in Film Theory from the University of Belgrade.  full story