News

Czech students, German volunteers launch anti-racism campaign tomorrow

Prague, 20.3.2014 23:03, (ROMEA) In 1966, the UN General Assembly declared 21 March the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day was chosen to protest the brutal murder of 69 people in 1960 who had been demonstrating in the South African city of Sharpeville against apartheid.  full story

Jan Josef Rosenberg: Roma are now doctors and teachers, but we can't forget about morality

Prague, 20.3.2014 22:03, (ROMEA) Jan Josef Rosenberg is a journalist and photographer who works in film, radio and theater. On 8 April 2014, International Romani Day, the public will once again have the opportunity to see one of his unique exhibitions, "Roma Today as They Were Centuries Ago" ("Romové dnes jako před staletími").  full story

EU Commissioner László Andor: Czech Govt must not ignore jobs, preschools, Roma

Brussels, 20.3.2014 18:39, (ROMEA) The Czech Government should not ignore the issues of the position of the Romani minority, preschool education, and youth unemployment. EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor made those remarks to the Czech News Agency and Czech Radio during his visit to Prague last Friday.  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: Avoiding failing again -The EU Roma Summit – problems and solutions

Bucharest, 20.3.2014 11:57, (ROMEA) The biggest problems in the Roma Social Inclusion process are related to the inability, incompetence and lack of political will at the level of the national governments. There are ways to address these problems but due to strong anti-Gypsyism and corruption addressing these problems is a much more complicated process than solving the existing problems within the European Commission (EC).  The EC  needs to pressure states into reform but has no legitimacy to do so if it doesn’t first change itself.  full story

Commentary: The Roma and the Vietnamese, or the "evil" and the "good" aliens

Prague, 19.3.2014 19:39, (ROMEA) Opinions on the so-called "Roma question" are encoded in the generally popular comparisons of Romani and Vietnamese people that we hear being made in the Czech Republic. In these figures of speech, where Vietnamese people play a purely rhetorical role, the "Roma question" is actually the main topic of discussion; such tropes are essentially just a more sophisticated form of "cursing the Gypsies" here.  full story

Slovak capital distances itself from the Fascist past with a flag and a march

Bratislava, Slovakia, 19.3.2014 15:43, (ROMEA) On 14 March a flag featuring a crossed-out Nazi swastika flew over the office of the mayor of Bratislava to symbolize that the Slovak capital is a city of peace and tolerance. The flag was flown all weekend.  full story

Czech Republic: Verdicts announced in case that sparked 2013 anti-Romani violence

Ústí nad Labem, 19.3.2014 15:05, (ROMEA) Today the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem handed down sentences against the five people involved in last year's brutal assault on a married couple in the town of Duchcov (Teplice district) ranging from one year on probation to three years in prison. The one juvenile assailant involved, who was the most brutal, will spend two years in prison for committing grievous bodily harm, rioting, and attempted theft.  full story

Repairing the Damage of a Roma Eviction

Bucharest, 19.3.2014 10:15, (ROMEA) In early December 2010, over 70 Roma families lived on Coastei Street in downtown Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s second biggest city. Many had been in this long-established community for years.  full story

Cyril Koky: Ukraine, where are you heading?

Prague, 18.3.2014 23:36, (ROMEA) Everyone is closely watching what is happening in Ukraine today with horror and an appropriate dose of fear. Ukraine has been seething since November, when its government halted preparations for signing an association agreement with the EU and called for expanding economic cooperation with Russia.  full story

Latvia: SS veterans celebrate, minister who joined them is fired

Riga, Latvia, 18.3.2014 23:02, (ROMEA) On Sunday, 16 March, hundreds of Latvians attended a traditional march in Riga celebrating Latvian veterans who fought alongside German Nazis during WWII. The Associated Press reports that a government minister was fired for stating his intention to attend the event.  full story

Czech Republic: Equal Opportunities Party and Roma Democratic Party field EP candidates

Prague, 18.3.2014 22:09, (ROMEA) A total of 39 political groups have registered their candidates for this year's elections to the European Parliament with the Czech Interior Ministry. There are six more candidates this time than there were during the last EP elections five years ago.  full story

Hungarian filmmaker: Attacks persist, Roma live in fear

Prague, 18.3.2014 20:27, (ROMEA) Starting in March 2011, documentary filmmaker Eszter Hajdú spent more than 170 days in a courtroom filming what would become the documentary "Judgment in Hungary", which tells the story of the trial of four right-wing extremists charged with murdering six Romani people. During that time, she said the hardest thing was to see how the relatives of the victims who testified in court were suffering.  full story

Czech PM promises Council of Europe to address root causes of Roma discrimination

Prague/Strasbourg, 18.3.2014 19:30, (ROMEA) In a letter to Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Nils Muižnieks, recently expressed concern over anti-Romani events and rhetoric in the Czech Republic. In his reply, the Czech PM now says his government will be standing up to discrimination and violence against Romani people and will do its best to address the root causes of their marginalization in the Czech Republic.  full story

Gabriela Hrabaňová: Third EU Roma summit once more "about Roma without Roma"

Brussels, 18.3.2014 17:41, (ROMEA) The European Commission (EC) is convening its third European Roma Summit. With not quite three weeks to go before 4 April, the program of the summit remains unknown and invitations were only just now sent out to Romani organizations.  full story

Czech Republic: urgent action needed to protect Roma from racist extremism

Strasbourg, 18.3.2014 10:42, (ROMEA) “I am deeply concerned about the emerging pattern of anti-Roma events in the Czech Republic – many led by racist extremists groups and organised simultaneously in different localities across the country. Their increased frequency and determined rhetoric against the Roma community call for a comprehensive response from the Czech authorities,” said today Nis Muižnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, publishing a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr Bohuslav Sobotka.  full story

Commentary: The new era of the Czech tabloid martyr

Prague, 17.3.2014 19:04, (ROMEA) During the past two weeks the Czech tabloid daily Blesk has undertaken a new practice that might be increasing its readership, but is also contributing to worsening the already bad relations between the majority society and the Romani minority. The editors at Blesk have published two articles in a brief space of time featuring detailed photographs of the faces of assault victims.  full story

Czech festival gives highest prize to documentary about racist murders of Roma in Hungary

Prague, 17.3.2014 17:36, (ROMEA) "Judgment in Hungary" has won the prize for Best Film at the One World human rights documentary film festival in the Czech Republic. The main jury said director Eszter Hajdú's recording of the trial of four right-wing extremists charged with murdering Romani people provides audiences with a devastating view of contemporary society.  full story

Commentary: The mythical "decent gypsies" of the Czech Republic

Prague, 14.3.2014 17:39, (ROMEA) Everyone who isn't a racist knows a few decent gypsies - at least, that's what I read in internet discussions and that's what I hear from friends and strangers alike: "I'm not a racist, I even know a couple of decent gypsies..." I hear and read this so often that it has led me to reflect on who this mythical "couple of gypsies" really are, these people who are mentioned by anyone and everyone who is just about to pronounce some more racist nonsense.  full story

Commentary: Czech media exaggerate significance of crimes involving Roma

Prague, 14.3.2014 2:58, (ROMEA) Hundreds of serious violent crimes, including murders, are committed annually in the Czech Republic, but during the past few months no other case has received as much media coverage as that of a nighttime conflict between several drunken citizens in the small northern town of Duchcov. Everyone involved in the incident, including the state prosecutor, agrees that the conflict resulted not just in grave physical harm but, as both the state prosecutor and the attorney for the victims agree, it resulted in grave psychological harm to one of the victims, who has been prevented from returning to normal life for some time now.  full story

Analysis: If the Czech state buys residential hotels, only the traffickers in poverty will win

Prague, 13.3.2014 22:10, (ROMEA) Deputy Ombud Stanislav Křeček believes that the Czech state should start running residential hotels because they represent an immoral business that no one else can fix. That sounds logical, overall - we do have this problem here, and the state should see to its solution  full story