News

French citizen charged with murders at Jewish Museum committed torture in Syria

Paris, 8.9.2014 17:33, (ROMEA) The French citizen charged with murdering four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels this May tortured people captured by Islamists in Syria. French journalist Nicolas Henin, who was one of those hostages released in April of this year, has made the claim in the magazine Le Point.  full story

Ostalinda Maya Ovalle: The Myth of the Spanish Model of Roma Inclusion

Madrid, 29.8.2014 10:42, (ROMEA) “Things are different in Spain.” This is a common refrain when discussing Roma integration in Europe. Spain is held up as a model, and not just by media or government officials. Even some Roma activists point to programs in the country as a way forward. But this rosy picture ignores the historical and economic environment, as well as the vital role of Romani families. As Spain’s economic crisis and its effects take root, it’s time to break this myth.  full story

Former Czech EdMin to become Education Ombud, defends segregation

Prague, 27.8.2014 22:05, (ROMEA) The new position of Education Ombud in the Czech Republic will be taken up by former Czech Education Minister Eduard Zeman in mid-September. In an interview for Czech Radio regarding Roma access to education, Zeman said he considers the country's "practical schools" to be uniquely Czech and sees nothing wrong with them.  full story

UN: Pro-Russian separatists, Ukrainian forces violating human rights

Geneva, 27.8.2014 15:35, (ROMEA) Reuters reports that both pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian Government forces are violating human rights during the current conflict in eastern Ukraine. According to a UN report, kidnapping, murder and torture are taking place there.  full story

Czech Republic: Muslim woman complains over nursing school's ban on head coverings

Prague, 27.8.2014 13:57, (ROMEA) Anna Šabatová, the Czech Republic's Public Defender of Rights (the ombud), is currently reviewing a complaint of discrimination in access to education by a Muslim student who is prevented from wearing her headscarf at school. Given the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, the ombud has decided not to publish any interim conclusions and will not comment on media reports until the investigation is completed, which she predicts will be by mid-September.  full story

Slovak Interior Minister recommends cancelling festival in Romani settlement

Moldava nad Bodvou, 27.8.2014 2:39, (ROMEA) The local council of Moldava nad Bodvou has decided to cancel the "Moldava spolu" ("Moldava Together") festival that was supposed to be held next weekend in the nearby Romani settlement of Budulovská, where a brutal police intervention happened a year ago. The council session during which that decision was made was not open to the public.  full story

Norway: Thousands of young Muslims protest Islamist terrorists from ISIS

Oslo, 26.8.2014 13:46, (ROMEA) Yesterday young Muslims in the Norwegian capital Oslo held a meeting with representatives of other religions to express their opposition to religious extremists and the crimes committed by the radical Islamist terrorist organization ISIS in Iraq and Syria. News server The Nordic Page reports that thousands of people attended the assembly on Grønland Square.  full story

Hungarian PM says Roma should be employed instead of immigrants in the EU

Budapest, 26.8.2014 13:22, (ROMEA) The Associated Press has reported that yesterday Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán said the EU should train the 10 million mostly-unemployed Romani people throughout Europe so they would be able to hold the jobs requiring little or no qualifications currently being performed by immigrants. Orbán said he believes it is "irresponsible" to employ foreigners in jobs that Romani people could get.  full story

Czech Republic: Commemorative ceremony for Romani Holocaust victims at Hodonín

Hodonín u Kunštátu, 26.8.2014 12:52, (ROMEA) Seventy-one years ago, the Nazis transported the largest group of Romani prisoners from the so-called "gypsy camp" at Hodonín u Kunštátu to the extermination concentration camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Few returned from there alive.  full story

Czech chamber of experts on gender equality being created

Prague, 25.8.2014 17:12, (ROMEA) A chamber of experts dedicated to the issue of equality beween men and women is being created in the Czech Republic. The body will bring together qualified people from academia and from various specialized areas of practice to focus on the issue.  full story

Britain planning stricter measures against Islamist radicals

London, 25.8.2014 15:58, (ROMEA) Great Britain is planning harsher laws against British Islamist radicals. Home Secretary Theresa May has announced the plans through the British media.  full story

Trafficking in poverty costing the Czech state a billion a month, speculators profiting

Prague, 25.8.2014 15:07, (ROMEA) The volume of state benefits paid out to subsidize housing for the impoverished in the Czech Republic grew during the past year by one-fourth, and the owners of residential hotels are profiting in particular. Local governments are reportedly doing their best to restrict this trafficking in poverty by buying out such facilities or by offering the recipients of housing benefits the opportunity to live in "training apartments".  full story

videoCzech Republic: Anti-Romani demonstration a fiasco, ultra-right duped by their opponents

Děčín, 23.8.2014 21:52, (ROMEA) The Czech town of Děčín has experienced yet another anti-Romani demonstration, this time under the baton of the right-wing extremists from the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). The last hateful demonstration prior to this one in Děčín was organized by the notorious con artist Lukáš Kohout on Wednesday, 13 August.  full story

Ian Hancock: 500 000 Romani Holocaust victims? There could have been twice that.

Prague, 22.8.2014 17:38, (ROMEA) The repeated number of 500 000 Romani deaths in the Porrajmos is becoming the conventional, accepted total. But we do not know this for a fact. The documentation has not been completely located nor analyzed. We must guard against this figure becoming the accepted total, appearing in the (small number of) books that even acknowledge the genocide of our people. Is it a move to diminish the extent of the mass murder, the samudaripen, in the eyes of the world? If this low estimate can be shown to be true, this is surely a cause for gladness. But the number, in reality, was in fact much higher.  full story

German legislators say police work on neo-Nazi murders so flawed as to border on sabotage

Erfurt, Germany, 22.8.2014 15:49, (ROMEA) The murders committed between 2000 and 2007 by the German neo-Nazi cell calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU) reportedly could have been prevented if the relevant authorities had not committed many serious errors. That is the conclusion of a report by an investigative committee of the Thuringian state legislature into the issue.  full story

Czech Radio archive has Romani-language recording from the 1968 invasion

Prague, 21.8.2014 21:50, (ROMEA) News server iHNED.cz reports that for years a Romani-language recording from 25 August 1968 has gone unnoticed in the Czech Radio archive. The Czechoslovak Radio broadcasts during and after the 1968 invasion are considered historic.  full story

Commemoration of the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia

Prague, 21.8.2014 18:28, (ROMEA) Today's commemoration of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the armies of the Warsaw Pact, which took place at the instigation of the Soviet Union in August 1968, began at 10 AM in front of the National Museum in Prague. The event was held by the "Without Communists" (Bez komunistů) initiative, and was advertised as "More significant than ever given events in the east."  full story

Czech Interior Ministry plans amendment to law on assembly

Prague, 21.8.2014 15:38, (ROMEA) The Czech Interior Ministry has elaborated an amendment to the law on the right to assemble on the basis of its experiences with demonstrations in recent years. The deadline for the draft amendment to be submitted to the Government is the end of October 2014 with a proposed date of effect of 1 July 2015.  full story

Czech con artist Kohout lies about support from famous figures

Prague, 20.8.2014 22:19, (ROMEA) Lukáš Kohout, who says he is running for mayor of the Czech town of Varnsdorf, has perpetrated yet another trick. His website lists the names of famous figures from cultural and political life along with quotes that supposedly express their appreciation and support of him.  full story

Hungary: Jewish Nobel laureate not "Hungarian enough" for the ultra-right

Budapest, 20.8.2014 16:00, (ROMEA) Imre Kertész, a Hungarian author with Jewish roots who is a Nobel laureate, will receive the Order of St. Stephen, Hungary's highest state honor, today. The Fascist party "Movement for a Better Hungary" (Jobbik), is opposed to his receiving it and has written an open letter on the subject to Hungarian President János Áder.  full story