Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Romani march to mark D.H. anniversary

Ostrava, 6.11.2012 21:29, (ROMEA) On 7 November 2012, a group of Romani residents will peacefully march in Ostrava to mark the anniversary of the judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the matter of "D.H. and Others versus the Czech Republic". That judgment confirmed that Romani children were being discriminated against in their access to education.  full story

Czech activist: NGO more loyal to local govt than to the poor

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 6.11.2012 20:41, (ROMEA) Miroslav Brož of the civic association Konexe has written an open letter to the People in Need (Člověk v tísni) public benefit corporation regarding the way in which the Romani minority is being integrated and the situation in the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem. News server Romea.cz is publishing the letter in full translation below.  full story

Czech government must do more to end marginalization and segregation of Roma children in schools, concludes ODIHR report

Warsaw, 5.11.2012 21:48, (ROMEA) The Czech government needs to do more to overcome the marginalization and segregation in schools of children from Roma and Sinti communities, concludes a field assessment visit report published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on 26 October 2012.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani tenants removed from dangerous building to gym

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 5.11.2012 18:06, (ROMEA) Occupants of a dangerous building in the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem have ended up in a primary school gym. They left the building two weeks after being instructed to move out, at the insistence of a crisis team. The residential hotel into which they were originally to have moved does not meet their needs. They can remain in the gym until they find other housing.  full story

OSF: Czech Government has not ended discrimination of Romani children

Prague, 5.11.2012 17:09, (ROMEA) On 13 November 2007 the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgment in the case of "D.H. and Others versus the Czech Republic", in which 18 Romani children from Ostrava sued the Czech Republic over their having been assigned to attend "special school" on the basis of their origin. The judgment upheld their complaint and sanctioned the Czech Republic for discriminating against Romani children by disproportionately enrolling such children into the "special schools" (now called the "practical primary schools") which are designed for children who have been diagnosed as "lightly mentally disabled".  full story

Czech Agency says evicted tenants must be housed in the same town

Ústí nad Labem, 3.11.2012 22:37, (ROMEA) The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion has issued the following press release on the situation in Ústí nad Labem - Předlice:  full story

Čeněk Růžička: Czech society has not squared up to what happened during Nazism

Prague, 3.11.2012 21:06, (Romano vod'i) We interviewed Mr Čeněk Růžička, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Victims of the Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romských obětí holocaustu) about this sensitive topic and about today's relations between the majority part of Czech society and the Romani minority. We also asked him about Romani pride and what he believes that involves. The interview was conducted at the recent Roma Pride event in the Czech Republic, which involved a march through the streets of Prague and a discussion in the St. Salvator Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (Českobratrská církev evangelická).  full story

Czech NGO says tenants must leave condemned building

Ústí nad Labem, 2.11.2012 23:06, (ROMEA) People in Need (Člověk v tísni, o.p.s.) has released the following press release on the case of the building at Beneše Lounského street no. 5 in Ústí nad Labem-Předlice.  full story

Alleged assailant of 14-year-old Romani boy tells his side of the story

Ostrava, 2.11.2012 22:05, (ROMEA) As we reported earlier this week, 14-year-old Ladislav N., a Romani boy from Ostrava-Přívoz, is still hospitalized with bleeding of the brain. His mother, Jana Fišerová, says his injuries are the result of his having been assaulted and beaten, as do two eyewitnesses. Police officers have begun investigating the entire matter as a misdemeanor incident only. As promised, Romea.cz is now reporting on what the alleged assailant has to say about the incident.  full story

Czech town fears rumors of Romani "influx"

Znojmo, 1.11.2012 21:06, (ROMEA) News server Znojemský týden has reported that rumors are circulating in the Czech town of Znojmo alleging that Romani families will be moving in. The rumors first mentioned that Romani families would be moving into the building of a monastery on Louce street, then into muncipally-owned apartments on Sokolovská street, and finally that they would be moving into building no. 3 on that street, which belongs to the Znojmo-based Agropodnik company.  full story

Czech Police say attack on Romani minor, hospitalized with bleeding of the brain, was a "misdemeanor"

Ostrava, 31.10.2012 1:46, (ROMEA) Ladislav N., a 14-year old Romani boy from Ostrava-Přívoz, was hospitalized recently with bleeding of the brain. His mother, Jana Fišerová, says he was assaulted and beaten. Police officers initially said that was the case, but then began to investigate the matter as a misdemeanor only.  full story

Hundreds of videos inciting racial hatred available on YouTube

Prague, 31.10.2012 0:23, (ROMEA) Hundreds of videos inciting racial hatred are freely available on the YouTube website, including videos of songs with Czech-language lyrics, but police do not know how to intervene against their authors. Allegedly the perpetrators cannot be prosecuted because the website belongs to an American company and is not subject to Czech law.  full story

videoCzech hockey club apologizes to Canadian player for fans' racism

Chomutov, 29.10.2012 16:56, (ROMEA) The management of the Chomutov Pirates Czech Extraliga hockey team (Piráti Chomutov) has publicly apologized to Wayne Simmonds, a forward for the Liberec hockey team, for the racist insults aimed at him by several Pirates fans during yesterday's game. Simmonds, a Black Canadian, became the target of the insults toward the end of the game, which Chomutov won 3:2 in overtime.  full story

Commentary: Romani people who won't take a look at themselves harm everyone

Prague, 27.10.2012 21:00, (ROMEA/Romano hangos) During discussions on the website of the Romea news server (www.romea.cz), the debates between pro-Romani and Romani activists have often returned on various occasions to the topic of legitimacy - who can and should "speak on behalf of Romani people" or "represent Romani people" in the Czech Republic? The Editor-in-Chief of the Romano hangos periodical, Pavel Pečínka, has reached out to a circle of his regular contributors with questions that can all be summarized under the basic question of: Who can speak "for Romani people"? News server Romea.cz is gradually publishing the responses submitted to him by selected authors. Below is the translation of the response submitted by iDNES.cz editor Patrik Banga.  full story

Czech town councilors to decide fate of Romani residents

Přerov, 23.10.2012 22:07, (ROMEA) The leadership of the Přerov town hall is leaving the fate of the Romani locality on Škodova street up to local councilors to decide. The town's political leadership says they will demand that Přerov back out of a sales contract with the owner of properties in the locality because the conditions of the sale were not met. Town councilors should decide whether the Romani residents still remaining in the half-ruined buildings should be awarded municipally-owned apartments even though they are not the next in line for them and other applicants have been waiting a longer time. The town council will convene at the start of November.  full story