News

Czech Police never found mosque vandal

Brno, 4.4.2014 20:38, (ROMEA) Police never determined who placed a pile of pork bones in front of the doors of a mosque on Vídeňská Street in Brno just before the Christmas holidays last year. The perpetrator of the offensive vandalism spread lard on the door handle and hung a piece of pork flesh on it as well.  full story

videoThird EU Roma Summit takes place in Brussels

Brussels, 4.4.2014 20:08, (ROMEA) Progress on Romani minority integration was the main topic of the European Roma Summit today in Brussels. In addition to discussing the situation of Romani integration in the EU Member States, the 500 delegates also focused on the question of financing for integration measures.  full story

Czech art project appropriates "inadaptable" label

Stříbro, 4.4.2014 19:01, (ROMEA) On Thursday, 3 April, the advertising spaces in the West Bohemian town of Stříbro were flooded with photographs by Lukáš Houdek from his 2011 "Theory of Adaptability" (Teorie přizpůsobivosti) cycle. In a very direct and funny way, the photographs show how the label "inadaptable" is being disseminated by the Czech media and politicians.  full story

videoPetition asks EU to ensure a dignified life for Romani people

Brussels, 4.4.2014 9:00, (ROMEA) Romani groups connected to the RomaReact.org website are calling on those attending tomorrow's Third EU Roma Summit to sign a common pledge on ensuring Romani dignity. The document calls for ending the stereotypical depiction of Romani people as "untrustworthy sub-citizens who are inactive and incapable".  full story

Viviane Reding: Roma Integration - From polemics to small miracles

Brussels, 4.4.2014 14:34, (ROMEA) I remember very well: 8 April 2010, in Córdoba, Spain. A Ministerial meeting on Roma – without Ministers. Exactly four years later, I stand here with the President of the European Commission, the President of Romania (Traian Băsescu), the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria (Zinaida Zlatanova) and Ministers, mayors and State secretaries from many other EU and non-EU countries.  full story

ERRC: On the Eve of the EU Roma Summit, Respect for the Human Rights of Roma is an Unfulfilled Promise

Budapest, 4.4.2014 14:05, (ROMEA) Member States of the European Union and candidate countries are meeting today in Brussels, just before International Roma Day on 8 April, to assess progress in addressing the problem of Roma exclusion in Europe. Unfortunately, the commitment to combatting discrimination and human rights abuses against Roma remains largely no more than a promise, despite the creation of an EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies and the Decade of Roma Inclusion. Throughout the EU and the countries aspiring to join the EU, Roma face significant rights abuses with an inadequate state response. A few examples illustrate the persistence of some of the most egregious abuses in EU Member States and candidate countries, relating to segregation, violence against Roma, and forced evictions leading to homelessness.  full story

Roma integration: EU Framework triggers first results

Brussels, 4.4.2014 13:41, (ROMEA) Concerted action by the European Commission has put Roma integration firmly on the political agenda across Europe. The first signs of improvement in the lives of Roma are slowly starting to show, says a new report unveiled today on Member States' progress achieved under the EU Framework for national Roma strategies.  full story

videoSpeech by President Barroso at the European Roma Summit

BRUSSELS, 4.4.2014 11:00, (ROMEA) Six years ago, at the time of the first Roma Summit, I spoke about Roma inclusion for the first time at European level.  full story

UNICEF: Prioritize children to speed up Roma inclusion in Europe

BRUSSELS/GENEVA, 4.4.2014 10:31, (ROMEA) On the eve of the third Roma summit in Brussels today, UNICEF calls on European governments to firmly place children at the centre of Roma inclusion policies.  full story

Czech Republic: Museum of Romani Culture exhibit shows myths about "gypsies"

Brno, 3.4.2014 21:25, (ROMEA) On 8 April, International Romani Day, the Museum of Romani Culture in the Czech Republic will open a new exhibit. The topic of this latest offering will be the difference between the actual form of Romani people's way of life and the often romantic ideas that have been created about them in the past by the majority society.  full story

Czech Republic: Eminent Romani activist says police, not Roma, must keep the peace

Prague, 3.4.2014 20:30, (ROMEA) News server Prvnizpravy.cz has reported today that "those in the Czech Republic who worship the Nazi ideology have announced that they will continue yet another series of anti-Romani marches in various places around the country this year. Experience from recent years has shown us that the responsible authorities are incapable of implementing effective prevention so that such excesses do not take place."  full story

Czech petition launched against verdict in Romani man's death

Prague, 3.4.2014 19:38, (ROMEA) An online petition has been created to express disagreement with the recent verdict of the Regional Court in the trial of Stanislav Sýkora. The 31-year-old Czech man attacked three Romani men on 24 May 2013.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma say they want English, not Romanes in schools

Prague, 3.4.2014 18:38, (ROMEA) A proposal by MPs from the TOP 09 party in the Czech Republic for primary school instruction to be partially conducted in Romanes with Romani children is considered dubious by many Romani people. Czech MP Anna Putnová put forward the idea, saying that teaching some subjects in Romanes would make it easier for children from Romani families to transition into the "Czech" schools.  full story

Czech PM to meet with the Statewide Association of Romani People

Prague, 2.4.2014 22:42, (ROMEA) The leadership of the Statewide Association of Romani People in the Czech Republic (Celostátní asociace Romů v ČR - CAR ČR) will meet on 3 April with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and with Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier. Cyril Koky of the CAR ČR informed news server Romea.cz of the planned meeting.  full story

Czech NGOs complain to broadcast oversight board about coverage of Romani man's death

Prague, 2.4.2014 22:10, (ROMEA) The In IUSTITIA and ROMEA organizations in the Czech Republic have jointly filed a complaint with the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání - RRTV) over recent news reporting by TV NOVA. The reportage at issue concerned the verdict in the case of the death of a Romani man in Teplice.  full story

Czech senator fined for racist verbal attack, will appeal

Prague, 2.4.2014 21:47, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml (previously a member of the Czech Social Democrats and the Citizens' Rights Party for Zeman), who is the director of the Vrchlabí Hospital, was fined today by the Senate Committee on Parliamentary Immunity for committing a racist verbal attack on a Yemeni physician. The senator intends to appeal the verdict.  full story

Czech Radio: TOP 09 party proposes teaching Romani children in Romanes

Prague, 2.4.2014 21:00, (ROMEA) Czech Radio reports that the TOP 09 party is proposing that Romani children be partially educated in the language they speak with their families, which the party believes is Romanes. Proponents say the move would break down linguistic barriers and make instruction easier.  full story

Czech Republic: US firms offer internships to Romani students

Prague, 2.4.2014 19:54, (ROMEA) The Open Society Fund Prague, in collaboration with the Embassy of the United States of America and the American Chamber of Commerce in Prague, are offering young Romani people internships of several months' duration with successful American firms doing business in the Czech Republic. The internships are intended for Romani students enrolled in either on-campus or distance studies at colleges and high schools, as well as for college and high school graduates up to age 30.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani activist Čeněk Růžička nominated for state honors

Prague, 2.4.2014 18:46, (ROMEA) The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament has received 25 suggestions of figures to propose for state honors so far this year. In addition to eminent figures such as cardiologist Jan Pirk, clergyman Josef Toufar, who was tortured to death by the communist State Security services, and veteran Pavol Švec, one of those nominees is Mr. Čeněk Růžička, who has been fighting for redress for the Romani victims of the Holocaust.  full story

Slovakia: Demolition of building in Romani settlement cancelled

Bratislava, Slovakia, 2.4.2014 17:51, (ROMEA) The demolition of an illegally-erected building in a Romani settlement in the village of Krásnohorské Podhradie in eastern Slovakia which was to have become a precedent for similar constructions throughout the country has been delayed. Authorities have overturned a decision taken last year by the municipality which was to have formed the basis for getting rid of the so-called "black building" owned by the Darvaš family.  full story