Czech Republic

Analysis: Czech political parties cleanse municipal district of “Romani garbage”

Ostrava/Prague, 28.4.2013 4:06, (ROMEA) The municipal department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz, which is governed by the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) together with the Ostravak (“Natives of Ostrava”) movement, is gradually “purging” this central section of Ostrava of “Romani garbage”. At least, that is how developer and municipal department councilor Lukáš Semerák (Ostravak movement) expressed himself last year when explaining his desire to purchase buildings on Přednádraží Street and his purchase of an apartment building on Palackého Street just a few steps away.  full story

Commentary: Czech Senator Okamura’s view of people in need

Prague, 28.4.2013 1:35, (ROMEA) After November 1989, people in this country had high expectations. For example, they expected that the practices of a police state would come to an end. Unfortunately, those expectations haven’t been met, which is why I am constantly raising that issue.  full story

Czech municipality continues to push impoverished residents out

Ostrava/Prague, 28.4.2013 0:36, (ROMEA) The centrally located municipal department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz in the town of Ostrava is facing even more criticism for its approach toward its socially vulnerable residents. During a recent inspection, the Building Works Authority there has discovered that buildings being used as residential hotels were never permitted for that kind of use. The structures concerned are meant to be used as apartment buildings (where whole apartments, not individual rooms, are meant to be leased) or as office buildings.  full story

Czech court to screen CCTV footage in trial of “machete attack”

Liberec, 27.4.2013 2:44, (ROMEA) CCTV footage was scheduled to be screened today at the Regional Court in Liberec, where the closed trial of a group of five men charged with committing the so-called “machete attack” is taking place. The 2011 attack in the town of Nový Bor injured three people. If convicted of attempted murder, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison or extraordinary sentencing.  full story

Czech court says landlord was not obligated to evacuate Přednádraží properties

Ostrava, 26.4.2013 19:31, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz reports that the Regional Court in Ostrava has ruled that the Building Works Authority of a central Ostrava district was not justified in instructing the owner of the buildings in the ghetto on Přednádraží Street, Oldřich Roztočil, to evacuate them. Roztočil does not have to pay a CZK 30 000 fine levied by the authorities for not evacuating the properties. He is now drawing up new leases for his displaced tenants, who are Romani.  full story

OECD warns Czech Republic of rise in number of socially excluded schools

Prague, 25.4.2013 18:50, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the Czech education system is more selective than has previously been suspected. Non-Romani parents are not enrolling their offspring into schools with high numbers of Romani children and are choosing to send them to schools for the wealthy. The OECD is warning the Czech Republic of a rise in the number of “socially excluded” schools.  full story

Czech Republic: North Bohemian members leave DSSS

Ústí nad Labem, 24.4.2013 21:24, (ROMEA) The Ústecký daily in the Czech Republic reports that the Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) has fractured. Petr Kotáb, the party leader in the Ústí region has left the DSSS ranks. Most of the DSSS members in North Bohemia have reportedly left as well.  full story

videoCardinal Duka to attend commemoration of Romani victims of Nazism in Lety by Písek

Lety u Písku, 24.4.2013 19:11, (ROMEA) The Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu v ČR – VPORH v ČR) will hold its traditional Commemoration Ceremony for the Romani victims of Nazism on Monday 13 May 2013 at 12:00 PM at the site of the burial ground of the victims of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek. Cardinal Dominik Duka will participate this year.  full story

videoVideo recording of discussion on social residential hotels in Czech Republic

Prague, 24.4.2013 18:44, (ROMEA) On Monday 15 April 2013 a discussion was held about so-called “social residential hotels” in the Czech Republic. The event in the conference space of HUB PRAHA, called “Garbage dumps for those we don’t want”, discussed whether the state should support such facilities or close them.  full story

Brussels: Romani women critique Czech town’s social inclusion program

Brussels, Belgium, 23.4.2013 17:54, (ROMEA) Jakub Dürr, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the European Union, received a visit in Brussels on 9 April 2013 from Romani women activists and NGO representatives from the Czech Republic. The meeting was attended by Romani activists Elena Gorolová, Iveta Horváthová, Ivanka Mariposa Čonková and Gabriela Hrabaňová. Among other matters, the women criticized the Social Inclusion Program of the municipality of Ostrava, which is slated for EU financial support.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-Romani march on Hitler’s birthday is a fiasco

Ústí nad Labem, 21.4.2013 15:30, (ROMEA) Yesterday’s attempted march against Romani people in the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem can be described as an enormous fiasco. The demonstration, convened by Josef Bareš on the 124th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birth, was attended by one person. However, it has cost the state and the taxpayers no small amount of money, as about 70 police officers were deployed to the radical event.  full story

Czech Republic: 47-year-old man learns to count and read for first time

Teplá, Toužim - Dobrá voda, 20.4.2013 14:46, (ROMEA) The following is a translation of a press release from the Český západ civic association:  full story

Prague Post: The new face of Czech fashion

Prague, 19.4.2013 10:05, (ROMEA) Ironically, the fashion industry likes homogeneity. It thrives in conditions where all of the players are known and can be easily identified, manipulated and pigeonholed.  full story

Poll finds Czechs like Romani people least, Slovaks most

Prague, 19.4.2013 6:14, (ROMEA) A survey conducted in March by the Center for Public Opinion Research (Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění - CVVM) has found that of the national groups living in the Czech Republic, Czech people like Romani people the least and Slovaks the most. More than four-fifths of Czechs surveyed consider Slovaks to be congenial.  full story

Czech EdMin awarded booby prize for data leak about Romani students

Prague, 18.4.2013 13:21, (ROMEA) On Wednesday 17 April 2013 the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport received a Data Leak Award for the online leak of almost 900 Romani students’ personal information. The award ceremony was held at the Karlín Theater in Prague. An expert jury selected the winners on the basis of criteria evaluating the extent of damage caused by the leak, the nature of the information leaked, and the way it was leaked.  full story

VIDEO: Discussion after screening of documentary film “Life and Death in Tanvald”

Prague, 17.4.2013 15:04, (ROMEA) On the occasion of International Romani Day, a series of concerts, a debate and a screening of the documentary film “Life and Death in Tanvald” (“Život a smrt v Tanvaldu”) were held at the Cross Club in Prague on Sunday, 7 April 2013. The ROMEA civic association invited one of the producers, Vít Klusák, to discuss the film.  full story

Roma Education Fund announces scholarships for Romani college students

Prague, 16.4.2013 14:23, (ROMEA) Are you a college student, or a high school senior planning to continue your studies? Are you Romani? Are you interested in a scholarship for the 2013/2014 academic year?  full story

Czech Republic: Romani tenants overcharged for substandard housing

Liberec, 16.4.2013 5:38, (ROMEA) Romani tenants of tenements in excluded localities on the outskirts of Liberec, a town of 100 000 in the Czech Republic, pay almost CZK 9 000 in rent for studio apartments, often with mold-infested walls. According to a study mapping the ghetto in Liberec, about 1 100 people are living in such conditions in several residential hotels and 14 apartment buildings.  full story

HATTRICK: Famous Romani footballers

Czech Republic, 13.4.2013 19:11, (ROMEA) The following is a translated excerpt from the Czech magazine HATTRICK (the full article in Czech is at http://hattrick.cz/slavni-romove-ve-fotbale-aneb-proc-nehral-s-kollerem-v-utoku-narodaku-gabco/):  full story

Jozef Miker: Hate is No Solution

Krupka, 13.4.2013 3:32, (ROMEA) Who will be chosen as the greatest hero fighting injustice, unfair treatment and wrongs in the Czech Republic? Cast your vote in the survey “Anyone Can Be a Hero” (Hrdinou může být každý) at hrdinou.cz.  full story