News

Czech Human Rights Minister says Government is addressing discrimination in the schools

18.3.2015 14:48, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier says a planned amendment to the Schools Act and the institution of compulsory preschool education as of 2017 are examples of how the Czech Government is doing its best to handle criticism from the EU regarding discrimination against the Romani minority in the schools. Yesterday in Brussels the most important aspects of Romani inclusion into society were discussed by representatives of EU Member States, EU institutions and NGOs from the EU-28.  full story

Yet another Czech town bans sitting outdoors

17.3.2015 22:31, (ROMEA) The Czech town of Duchcov has adopted a new ordinance that is intended to improve the upholding of public order there. The generally binding ordinance bans people from sitting on concrete barriers or walls and also bans them from grilling food in public areas.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani town councilor critiques antigypsyist petition

17.3.2015 19:09, (ROMEA) After spending a longer period of time out of the news, the Janov housing estate is once again being very actively discussed, and not only by local media. The proof is a petition asking for aid in addressing social problems that has been sent to Prime Minister Sobotka by a group of the "decent majority", led by the chair of the Krušnohor housing cooperative, František Ryba.  full story

Czech ombud says human rights are being violated everywhere she looks

17.3.2015 0:41, (ROMEA) The weekly RESPEKT (12/2015) has published an interview with the Czech ombud, Anna Šabatová, in which she discusses discrimination against Romani people with author Marek Švehla. "Human rights violations occur wherever you look here," she says in the interview.  full story

Czech online environment cultivating hatred of Roma

16.3.2015 23:08, (ROMEA) "So the gypsies are going tol get preferential treatment at the Labor Office. They will also be giving them all CZK 60 000 for enrolling their children into school, where they will get free food."  full story

Czech DSSS supporter tells court that "gypsies" and homeless people are better off dead

Prague, 16.3.2015 16:50, (ROMEA) Jan Mokrý (age 24), who is accused of the attempted murder of two homeless men, told the court today that his intention had been to torture them. He also said he regrets that they survived his attack.  full story

Czech Republic: Demonstration against Islam, counter-protest for coexistence

České Budějovice, 14.3.2015 22:27, (ROMEA) More than 200 people gathered in the town of České Budějovice today for a demonstration convened by the "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" initiative. Approximately 30 people counter-protested them nearby.  full story

Slovakia: Antifascists try to block neo-Nazi march celebrating WWII-era fascist state

Bratislava, Slovakia, 14.3.2015 21:49, (ROMEA) Approximately 150 neo-Nazis marched today through the center of Bratislava to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the creation of the fascist Slovak State. The same number of their opponents gathered for an assembly organized by the "Nazi-Free Bratislava" initiative on Slovak National Uprising Square; police arrested one antifascist activist.  full story

Germany: Right-wing radicals attack police in Wuppertal, ultra-conservative Muslims and Pegida demonstrating

14.3.2015 21:06, (ROMEA) Violence broke out today in the center of the German city of Wuppertal when masked right-wing radicals assaulted police with rocks. Several demonstrations had been announced there by rival groups, and city hall summoned more than 1 000 police officers with water cannon to maintain order.  full story

Commentary: Embarrassing ministerial games about Romani children and the "special schools"

14.3.2015 19:10, (ROMEA) On 12 March a sad and serious fact about the discrimination of Romani children in the Czech Republic was confirmed: The approach of the Czech Education Ministry continues to show that it does not take seriously the notion that schools should be open to all children and that Romani children should enjoy equal access to education. The ministry's position on this issue is embarrassing at the very least.  full story

Slovak psychiatrist says crimes against Romani boys considered less outrageous than if they had been white

Slovakia, 14.3.2015 0:30, (ROMEA) The eduRoma civic association has reached out to several experts in the fields of psychiatry and psychology in connection with the case of police officers in Košice, Slovakia who bullied and humiliated Romani children. The association asked the experts to comment on the content of video recordings of the officers abusing the boys.  full story

Czech Republic: Demonstration against scandalous verdict acquitting Slovak Police of abusing Romani children

13.3.2015 23:27, (ROMEA) At the end of February a court in Slovakia acquitted police officers accused of having abused Romani children aged between 11 and 15 who had been suspected of injuring and robbing an older woman. According to the indictment, the officers forced the children to strip and to beat each other, among other things.  full story

Italian court orders withdrawal of textbook promoting anti-Romani prejudice

13.3.2015 20:53, (ROMEA) A court in Rome has found the publisher of a textbook for law students guilty of promoting prejudices against Romani people. Two separate initiatives promoting the rights of Romani people and a female Italian citizen of Romani origin have drawn attention to the case.  full story

Czech Republic: Ecumenical prayer against Islamophobes to take place in České Budějovice tomorrow

13.3.2015 20:24, (ROMEA) Tomorrow, Saturday 14 March, the "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" initiative will hold yet another demonstration, this time on Přemysl Otakar II. Square in the town of České Budějovice. In the Facebook announcement of the event, organizers led by Martin Konvička are tempting people to come by saying the event will feature the sale of propaganda items and refreshments and are attempting to ensure a big turnout by arranging for participants to drive there together.  full story

Council of Europe says there are still too many Romani children in the Czech "special schools"

12.3.2015 20:08, (ROMEA) The proportion of Romani pupils in "special schools" continues to be disproportionately high in the Czech Republic, but measures seeking to introduce inclusive education - the enrollment of all children into mainstream schools - could bring about positive change. Those are the findings adopted by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers today.  full story

Czech President appoints Justice Minister Pelikán, known for his anti-racist work

Prague, 12.3.2015 18:43, (ROMEA) Czech President Miloš Zeman has appointed a new Justice Minister today. Robert Pelikán, a 35-year-old lawyer, now holds the post.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani youth beaten by police says officers told him he would die

Prague, 11.3.2015 22:58, (ROMEA) "I feared for my life," a Romani 19-year-old who recently experienced the worst date of his life told news server Romea.cz - the incident resulted in his fleeing through a forest at night and ended with his being unfit to return to work for more than a month. Nicolas Kurej contacted the ROMEA organization, which provides aid to victims of discrimination and hate violence, claiming he had been beaten up in two location, one of them a forest on the outskirts of Prague, in a brutal way by three men, two of whom were uniformed police officers from the Prague 14 Local Department of the Police of the Czech Republic.  full story

Commentary: Czech mayor declares war on "inadaptables" again

11.3.2015 19:12, (ROMEA) Mayor Jiří Čunek (Christian Democrats) has announced to the Czech News Agency that the town hall in Vsetín is establishing a working group on the issue of "inadaptables" and will "seek measures to make the town calm and safe and options for stopping these groups of inhabitants or individuals from causing problems and tensions in town." The Czech News Agency reports that the mayor believes the town hall needs to review whether its position on rent defaulters or other citizens who have repeated problems with maintaining order might be too generous in some cases.  full story

Director of Czech Gov't agency says petition against "gypsies" to PM is really about real estate

10.3.2015 19:10, (ROMEA) Dissatisfied citizens living at the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov have sent a petition to the Czech Government calling for a rigorous solution to their problems - they claim it is no longer possible to live there because of the "gypsy minority terrorizing the majority". They have also expressed concern that a hard-hitting anti-Romani event similar to the ones that took place there in 2008, which they call a "small-scale civil war", could be repeated.  full story

Commentary: America's "Bloody Sunday" 50 years on - racism is not yet defeated

9.3.2015 20:53 Fifty years ago, police in Selma, a town in the southern United States, attacked a peaceful demonstration by roughly 600 activists, most of them Black. Officers used tear gas and truncheons, and images flew around the world of one of the organizers, Amelie Obynton, lying unconscious on the ground.  full story