News

Commentary: Czech social housing concept needs a total rewrite

Prague, 24.12.2013 0:21, (ROMEA) It seems the outgoing Rusnok cabinet wanted to manage the production of as many conceptual materials as possible before leaving office. Fortunately, they have resisted pressure to make a decision on whether to breach existing environmental protection limits on mining.  full story

Slovak prosecutor investigates police for brutality in raid on Romani settlement

Bratislava, Slovakia, 22.12.2013 21:36, (ROMEA) The Slovak Prosecutor-General has ordered an investigation into a June raid by police officers on a Romani settlement in eastern Slovakia that has been criticized by NGOs and Romani residents for its use of force. The prosecutor's statement implies that local police who participated in the intervention could face criminal prosecution.  full story

Slovakia: Car belonging to Fascist regional governor's media manager set on fire

Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, 22.12.2013 20:16, (ROMEA) Unidentified perpetrators set a luxury automobile on fire late Friday night or early Saturday morning belonging to Miroslav Belička, the right-hand man to the Fascist Regional Governor of the Bánská Bystrica Region in Slovakia, Marian Kotleba. A preliminary investigation has revealed that someone started the blaze under the left front wheel of Belička's striped Hummer when it was parked at the Podlavice housing estate.  full story

Czech ombudsman Varvařovský resigns, Křeček is his temporary replacement

Brno, 21.12.2013 20:10, (ROMEA) Czech ombudsman Pavel Varvařovský resigned from office yesterday. He did not give a reason for stepping down in the middle of his six-year term.  full story

Life expectancy for Slovak Roma less than in Africa

Bratislava/Prague, 21.12.2013 2:35, (ROMEA) Journalist Luboš Palata has reported for news server iDNES.cz that in the Romani settlements of Slovakia, where a large portion of that country's more than 400 000 Romani people live, the living standard is at the level of impoverished countries in the developing world. The average life expectancy for the Romani population corresponds to this fact and is currently at levels experienced by the majority population of Slovakia decades ago.  full story

International protest as Fascist regional governor takes office in Slovakia

Czech Republic / Slovakia, 21.12.2013 0:48, (ROMEA) Marian Kotleba, the leader of right-wing extremists in Slovakia, took office today as the head of the Banská Bystrica Region. Kotleba officially became Regional Governor (Administrator) by taking the oath of office at the first session of the Regional Council following November's elections.  full story

Analysis: Czech politicians don't understand the law and Roma pay the price

Prague, 21.12.2013 0:17, (ROMEA) After 1989, Czech society resolved to "build, protect and develop the Czech Republic in the spirit of the inalienable values of human dignity and freedom as the home of free citizens who are aware of their obligations towards others and of their responsibility to the community, as a free and democratic State founded on respect for human rights and on principles of civil society, as a member of the family of European and world democracies." This beautiful idea is incorporated into the preamble of the Czech Constitution.  full story

Racism, discrimination, intolerance and extremism: Learning from experiences in Greece and Hungary

Vienna, 21.12.2013 0:13, (ROMEA) Racism, discrimination, extremism and intolerance currently pose a great challenge for the European Union. In a new report, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights examines the responses of two Member States, taking these countries as case studies to demonstrate the need for more targeted and effective measures to combat these phenomena throughout the EU. The report ends by proposing a number of steps to improve the situation.  full story

Czech Republic: Mosque defaced with bones and pork

Brno, 20.12.2013 18:06, (ROMEA) Late last night or early this morning someone threw a pile of pork bones in front of the entrance to a mosque in Brno. The door handle was smeared with lard and a piece of pork was hung from it.  full story

Slovakia: Organic farm hiring Roma appreciated abroad, but not by the state

Rudlov u Vranově nad Topľou, Slovakia, 19.12.2013 17:35, (ROMEA) News server Romovia.sme.sk reports that yesterday the US Chamber of Commerce expressed its appreciation for an organic farm in the Slovak village of Rudlov u Vranově nad Topľou that is staffed by Romani people. For the past seven years, the Svatobor NGO has been teaching Romani residents how to farm there.  full story

Czech Radio: Inclusive education could cure Czechs' racial prejudice

Prague, 18.12.2013 22:06, (ROMEA) For six years the Czech Republic has been under fire from international critics about the education it provides young Roma. In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights gave the Czech Republic the message that it had violated the right to education of 18 Romani children by unjustifiably assigning them to attend "special schools".  full story

Slovakia: Romani woman couldn't find job, now owns her own store

Bratislava/Liptovský Mikuláš, 18.12.2013 17:47, (ROMEA) News server Romovia.sme.sk has reported the story of Jana Ferencová, a Romani woman who lived in residential hotels in the Czech Republic for years before starting her own business after returning to Slovakia (see http://romovia.sme.sk/c/7035901/romka-si-pracu-na-liptove-nenasla-dnes-ma-vlastny-obchod.html#ixzz2npHiVr32 - in Slovak only). This is her second year running a second-hand clothing shop in the town of Liptovský Hrádek.  full story

Czech Govt adopts seven measures to curtail social unrest

Prague, 18.12.2013 2:21, (ROMEA) On 11 December the Czech Government approved seven measures intended to help address the reasons behind a series of anti-Romani incidents that led to unrest this year in the towns of České Budějovice, Duchcov and Ostrava. The resolution tasks the ministries with undertaking specific legislative tasks.  full story

Swedish Police arrest 28 people after neo-Nazi attack

Stockholm, Sweden, 18.12.2013 1:14, (ROMEA) On 15 December, Swedish Police arrested 28 people after a group of right-wing extremists assaulted demonstrators protesting against neo-Nazism in a suburb of the capital, Stockholm. The right-wing radicals attacked the protesters with bottles, firecrackers and torches, the Associated Press reported on 16 December.  full story

Slovakia: Court acquits non-Romani youth of stabbing Romani man to death

Košice, Slovakia, 18.12.2013 0:50, (ROMEA) The District Court in the Slovak town of Košice has acquitted a non-Romani youth of stabbing a Romani man to death even though there is no question he committed the crime. Several psychiatrists testified that he was not responsible for his actions at the time, while other experts came to the opposite conclusion.  full story

Czech Senator Jiří Dienstbier might become Human Rights Minister

Prague, 17.12.2013 23:49, (ROMEA) Today the chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), Bohuslav Sobotka, once again reiterated that a Human Rights Ministry might well be part of his new government. Sobotka first mentioned the possibility over the weekend.  full story

UK: Babington Community College shows how to get Romani children out of the Czech "practical schools"

Great Britain, 17.12.2013 21:40, (ROMEA) Czech Radio has produced an extensive report on the opportunities for Romani children in England compared to conditions for them in the Czech Republic. News server Romea.cz here reprints in translation excerpts of the article posted on the website of Czech Radio (in Czech only at http://www.rozhlas.cz/plus/zaostreno/_zprava/babington-ukazuje-cestu-jak-dostat-romske-deti-ze-specialnich-skol--1293273 ).  full story

Czech Amnesty International holding seminar on human rights for educators

Prague, 17.12.2013 17:11, (ROMEA) Amnesty International Czech Republic will be holding a seminar for educators focused on the issues of discrimination, human rights and racism. The first part of the seminar will cover general human rights themes and provide in-depth information about the concept of human rights as well as materials and methodologies for easily including that concept as part of instruction; the second part will respond to educators' demands for a seminar to equip them with arguments, information, and methodologies to effectively respond to discrimination, displays of racism and xenophobia from their students and provide them with inspiration and materials for working with these themes during instruction.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion holds national Romani meeting

Prague, 17.12.2013 0:56, (ROMEA) On Thursday, 12 December, Romani representatives met with staff of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and the Office of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs at Lichtenstein Palace in Prague. The meeting was attended by 80 members of the Romani community from all over the country.  full story

Czech Social Democratic chair considering Human Rights Minister in new cabinet

Prague, 16.12.2013 17:38, (ROMEA) On Saturday, 14 December at a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) in Prague's Congress Center, the party as expected approved a coalition agreement with the ANO movement and the Christian Democrats. Party chair Bohuslav Sobotka told journalists there will be no further referendum inside the party.  full story