News

Greek police say they have prevented ultra-left bombing

Athens, Greece, 3.10.2014 18:15, (ROMEA) The Associated Press reports that police in Greece say they have foiled a bombing allegedly planned by an ultra-left group for this weekend. Authorities say left-wing extremists wanted to attack the headquarters of the conservative New Democracy party, which is leading the current governing coalition.  full story

Czech NGO analyses the multiple interpretations of proposed education amendment

Prague, 3.10.2014 17:32, (ROMEA) Section 16 of the much-discussed amendment to the School Act should be taught at law departments as a textbook example of how to create a law that can be interpreted for any purpose. The Czech NGO People in Need (Člověk v tísni) points this out on its website through an article recently published in Zvoní magazine.  full story

Greece: Roma block traffic to resist eviction

Athens, Greece, 3.10.2014 0:23, (ROMEA) Press TV, Iran's English-language news agency, reported yesterday that Stelios Kalamiotis, the leader of an encampment of Romani people in the Greek capital of Athens, said his community had temporarily blocked an eviction and relocation order issued against them by the government. The community set up road blocks on Tuesday, 30 September for 12 hours, keeping police forces away from their dwellings.  full story

Violeta Naydenova: Jourová must be more active on Romani issues than her predecessor

Brussels, 2.10.2014 23:42, (ROMEA) Violeta Naydenova, a Bulgarian Romani analyst for the Open Society Foundations, has commented in the EU Observer that Věra Jourová, the Czech EU Commissioner-designate for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, should be much more active when it comes to addressing Romani issues in EU countries. Naydenova says Jourová should do more than her predecessor to combat anti-Romani attitudes and discrimination.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani party asks for more ballots, raising suspicions of vote-buying

Ostrava, 2.10.2014 22:51, (ROMEA) Romani voters in Ostrava allegedly are not receiving ballots. Candidates with the Romani Democratic Party (RDS) have contacted several municipal departments in the city with demands that they issue new ones.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani political candidates withdraw before local elections

Most, 2.10.2014 20:50, (ROMEA) The daily Mostecký deník reported today that the "Mosters for Most" (Mostečané Mostu) political group at the Romani-occupied Chanov housing estate in the town of Most, which was running under the rubric of Jana Volfová's "Association of the Czech Sovereignty political party and independent candidates", has collapsed. The daily reports that of its original 45 candidates, only four are left.  full story

The story of Magdalena Karvayová

Prague, 2.10.2014 19:50, (ROMEA) The case of Magdalena Karvayová is a prime example of how Czech society generates its own problems in coexistence with the Romani minority by allowing prejudices to be crudely projected into its education system. "At school a boy grabbed me in the hallway and pushed my head into a toilet bowl. When I told the teacher what happened, she told me not to complain and made me sit down," Karvayová tells us.  full story

Czech Justice Commissioner candidate says there is no single solution to social integration

Brussels, 1.10.2014 21:50, (ROMEA) This afternoon the hearing began at the European Parliament of Commissioner-designate Věra Jourová, the Czech Republic's candidate for the position of EU Commisioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. During roughly three hours of questions and answers, Jourová attempted to convince MEPs from the four relevant committees not just of her professional qualifications to handle the post in the future Juncker Commission, but also of her personal integrity.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma claim police apply double standard

Kadaň, 1.10.2014 20:01, (ROMEA) Fear of going out onto the street alone, terror after being threatened with having one's throat cut and run over by a car, a feeling of hopelessness that neither the police nor anyone else can guarantee justice and the right to a dignified life. Police indifference to Romani residents and sympathy for the local skinhead brawlers who terrorize Roma living in the Czech town of Kadaň - all of this is leading local Romani residents to feel that a double standard applies to law and order there.  full story

Czech ombud says her deputy's article was totally out of line

Brno, 1.10.2014 18:15, (ROMEA) Anna Šabatová, the Czech Public Defender of Rights (the ombud) has sharply criticized her deputy, Stanislav Křeček, for authoring an article critiquing the work of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. "[Mr Křeček's article] contravenes all of the principles of the work of the ombud, which are to maintain competence and confidentiality, to have a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances of a case, to listen to the other side, and what is most important, to propose measures for improving a situation should it be unsatisfactory," she has written in the daily Lidové noviny, which published Křeček's critique.  full story

Czech Agency for Social Inclusion director responds to Deputy Ombud's critique

Brno/Prague, 1.10.2014 17:25, (ROMEA) Czech Deputy Ombud Stanislav Křeček has written a critique of the activity of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in the town of Duchcov for the daily Lidové noviny (Agentura, která nepomůže, LN 25. 9.) I would welcome it if next time he would spend more time studying our work, as it is evident from his article that he knows almost nothing about it or the situation in Duchcov.  full story

Serbia: Police protect LGBT Pride parade, PM's brother is injured

Belgrade, Serbia, 1.10.2014 16:08, (ROMEA) In the center of Belgrade, after a four-year hiatus, an LGBT Pride parade has been allowed to take place. The authorities mobilized large numbers of security forces to prevent violence of the kind sparked by radical nationalists during the event in 2010.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani party defends choice of "trafficker in poverty" as candidate

Prague, 30.9.2014 23:50, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz has prepared a series of brief interviews with Romani candidates in the upcoming local elections. This interview is with Miroslav Rusenko, campaign officer and political secretary for the Romani Democratic Party (RDS).  full story

Czech NGO says Romani women are unemployed because they have low self-esteem

Brno, 30.9.2014 22:30, (ROMEA) A wooden spoon in one hand, a child in the other and an education that helps her figure out where to buy the cheapest yogurt at the most. That, according to experts, is the position of women in Romani households.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma Pride 2014 this Saturday in Prague

Prague, 30.9.2014 21:59, (ROMEA) The Roma Pride march takes place on the first weekend in October in 15 European cities, Prague included. In the Czech Republic the event will begin on Saturday, 4 October at 13:00 on the Old Town Square.  full story

Norway: Reconstruction of government offices damaged by ultra-right terrorism

Oslo, Norway, 30.9.2014 21:31, (ROMEA) News server The Local reports that yesterday work began in the center of Oslo on demolishing and rebuilding a new headquarters for the Norwegian Government. The government buildings were extensively damaged in July 2011 during a terrorist attack committed by ultra-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.  full story

Czech NGO's hands tied on hopeless situation of Romani migrants from Slovakia

Prague, 30.9.2014 20:34, (ROMEA) In recent weeks the field social workers at the Prague branch of the People in Need association have been confronted with the desperate situations of Romani people from Slovakia who, in fear for their lives, decided to leave their home country with the unclear notion that they might find assistance in Prague. The following is a description of a dramatic two days in the life of the Prague branch of that NGO, as described by one of its social workers.  full story

Czech town turning residential hotel into real housing

Karviná, 30.9.2014 18:47, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the existence of at least one ghetto in the Czech Republic may actually be indirectly helping to improve the housing of young people and senior citizens. The growing number of privately-run facilities housing the socially vulnerable is forcing municipalities to take action.  full story

Czech Republic: Experts say amendment increases risk that Romani children will be segregated

Prague, 30.9.2014 18:05, (ROMEA) Part of an amendment to the School Act that has already been approved by the lower house during a first reading is now a topic of criticism by experts, people from nonprofit organizations, and some journalists. As news server Romea.cz has previously reported, the Czech Education Ministry is not admitting to any misconduct.  full story

Will Brussels galvanize the Czech Gov't to end segregation of Roma in the schools?

UK/USA, 29.9.2014 23:52, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz asked Dr Helen O'Nions, the editor of the Nottingham Law Journal and an HEA Fellow at the Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice at Nottingham Law School, to discuss the significance of the European Commission's recent decision to launch infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic. The decision to begin infringement proceedings followed a complaint to the Commission filed 18 months ago by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Centre regarding discrimination against Romani children in their access to education.  full story