News

Czech EdMin wants zero non-disabled children in "practical primary schools"

Prague, 29.11.2012 1:28, (ROMEA) The Czech Education Ministry wants to prevent non-disabled, socially disadvantaged children from studying in the "practical primary schools" alongside children with mental disabilities. During the next two years, the ministry is preparing to introduce several measures into practice to prevent such enrollments. Those measures concern pupils' records, the methods used to evaluate "practical primary school" candidates, and the establishment of preparatory classes at such schools. The ministry is responding to a five-year-old judgment from the European Court of Human Rights which found 18 Romani pupils had been unjustifiably enrolled into what were previously called "special schools" in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: Parents protest closure of integrated school in Prague

Prague, 29.11.2012 0:23, (ROMEA) The parents of pupils attending the Grafická Primary School are protesting the plan of the Prague 5 municipal government to close it. In an open letter, the parents write that they greatly value that the school's environment produces "trouble-free collaboration between majority-population pupils and Romani pupils there. Our children get along nicely together, which is not at all usual in today's society... In recent years, pupils who were inappropriately enrolled into 'practical primary schools', even though their intellect did not require such enrollment, have managed to relocate here. These pupils, with the kind and meticulous support of their educators, have successfully handled the difficult transition back to the curriculum of a regular primary school." The parents are demanding that Prague 5 review its decision to close the school.  full story

Czech Senator Gajdůšková: Everyone must receive the same opportunity!

Prague, 28.11.2012 17:16, (ROMEA) I recently convened a round table in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the European Court of Human Rights handing down its judgment in the case of D.H. and others versus the Czech Republic. In November 2007, the court ruled that the "practical primary schools" (previously called the "special schools") in our country were disadvantaging Romani children.  full story

More than 40 future Roma professionals receive academic scholarships

Praha, 28.11.2012 11:09, (ROMEA) At 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 29, Prague’s theater D 21 will host a mid-afternoon gala to recognize Romani university students who won scholarships from the Roma Education Fund (REF) for the academic year 2012/2013. In its thirteenth year, the Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP) supports 44 Romani students in the Czech Republic in 2012 and has spent well over two million Euros on scholarships across the region since its establishment.
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Slovakia: Romani people can neither stay nor go

Slovakia, 27.11.2012 16:51, (ROMEA) The Slovak daily Sme reports that a group of Romani people in eastern Slovakia has found themselves in an absurd situation. The Košice town hall evicted them from an illegal settlement and helped them move to the remote village of Rakúsa - where the mayor has now sent them straight back to Košice.  full story

Fundamental Rights Agency: Hate crimes a reality in the EU

Prague, 27.11.2012 16:44, (ROMEA) The EU Fundamental Rights Agency has issued the following press release:  full story

Czech EdMin plan for implementing the D.H. judgment

Prague, 27.11.2012 16:01, (ROMEA) The Czech Education Ministry has issued the following press release, which news server Romea.cz presents here in translation:  full story

Commentary: "Yuck, the gypsies touched that!"

Prague, 27.11.2012 0:31, (ROMEA) "Yuck, the gypsies touched that!“ The cry came from the mother of a two-year-old infant. Startled, he burst into tears. He had taken an interest in something on top of a concrete trashcan on the square of a North Bohemian town. The first instruction to leave the trashcan alone didn't end his fascination - he seemed not to have understood it.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-Romani tensions escalating in Havířov

Havířov, 26.11.2012 17:46, (ROMEA) The “Hate is No Solution” Initiative (Iniciativa Nenávist není řešení - INNR) has recently begun providing legal representation to the victims of racially-motivated violence through its members, who have years of experience in the field of legal aid. Among other cases, they represented the victims of the arson attack in Vítkov on 18 April 2009. The perpetrators of that racist attack were given 20-year prison sentences and the victims were awarded almost ten million CZK. INNR is the only organization in the Czech Republic that actively seeks out the victims of racist violence, offers them legal aid, and represents them in court during hearings on their compensation.  full story

Sweden: Racist murderer of immigrants gets life in prison

Stockholm, Sweden, 25.11.2012 21:22, (ROMEA) The racist assailant who terrorized the inhabitants of the southern Swedish town of Malmö for two years has been sentenced to life in prison. Peter Mangs (age 40) shot at dark-skinned immigrants and long evaded police despite an intensive manhunt for him. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that he was arrested in 2010 and has now been sentenced on two counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and three counts of assault. The court also ruled that Mangs must pay the families of his victims compensation in the amount of 1.2 million Swedish crowns.  full story

Greek neo-Nazi party may be linked to planned attack on mosque

Athens, Greece, 24.11.2012 20:37, (ROMEA) The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reports that the Greek neo-Nazis who won seats in Parliament this year are evidently linked to a planned Molotov cocktail attack on a mosque there. Proof of this is the case of a 22-year-old man who was recently arrested in central Greece and told police he had planned to carry out such an attack on the basis of instructions received from the radical Golden Dawn party. The party had earned his "gratitude" mafia-style by finding him work.  full story

Czech teachers say Romani community not interested in school

Ostrava, 24.11.2012 20:16, (ROMEA) The parents of some Romani schoolchildren in Ostrava took to the streets there recently to protest in front of the New Town Hall. Some of the problems bothering them are the fact that Romani children are not offered the same conditions for education as other children, that they are discriminated against and excluded from mainstream schools, and that they are educated in Romani-only classes and schools. Czech news server Deník.cz has now published a report on the negative and positive experiences of those who teach Romani people in the schools. News server Romea.cz presents it here in translation.  full story

Commentary: Sleeping Czech HR Commissioner wakes up too late

Prague, 23.11.2012 22:16, (ROMEA) In the most recent issue of the Insider weekly, Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková has overcome her own limits and decided to take the unusual step of publicly speaking out against planned cuts to the state administration. Surprisingly, what is at issue is criticism of the Human Rights Section, which the Commissioner manages, not a more systemic critique of the mindless cuts across the entire public sphere, as one might expect.  full story

Romani people, remember your right to dignity!

Prague, 23.11.2012 21:18, (ROMEA) Do you come home from work after sundown every day only to be met with mistrust at every turn? Do you fall asleep to news reports complaining about our "fellow citizens on welfare"? Don't feel like "adapting" yourself to the general mood of indifference and suspicion? SPEAK UP!  full story

Romani student had to leave Czech schools for success

Prague, 23.11.2012 20:46, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz has published the following interview with Magdaléna Karvayová, a Romani woman who has made it to higher education despite enduring discrimination because of her skin color in the Czech Republic. From an early age she faced hatred, never had many friends at school, and was slighted by her teachers even though her grades showed she was a gifted pupil. She enrolled in an international academic high school in order to escape that unpleasant environment and enjoyed success there. For a long time no one believed she could do it, but in the end she has blazed a viable trail for her younger brothers to follow. News server Romea.cz publishes the interview in translation below (the original, in Czech only, is available at http://www.novinky.cz/veda-skoly/285216-romka-zazila-ostrou-sikanu-presto-se-dostala-na-gymnazium-a-ucitele-prekvapila.html).  full story

Thousands sign Czech petition for "practical schools"

Prague, 23.11.2012 19:42, (ROMEA) Some parents and teachers are defending the Czech Republic's former "special schools", which are still attended in large numbers by Romani children today, including children who are not disabled. A petition to preserve the schools has received more than 75 000 signatures. Authors of the petition plan to deliver it to the Czech Education Ministry today.  full story

Poland: Jewish cemetery desecrated in Łódź

Warsaw, 21.11.2012 20:53, (ROMEA) Unidentified vandals have knocked over about 20 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in the Polish town of Łódź. Agence France-Presse reports that representatives of the local Jewish community there say most of the tombstones will be renovated soon thanks to foreign sponsors.  full story

Czech mayor, fearing theft, rejects Romani volunteers

Nový Bor, 21.11.2012 20:21, (ROMEA) The town hall in Nový Bor has rejected a group of Romani residents who have offered to clean up a local cemetery before winter. The mayor is afraid they would steal something.  full story

Advisor to Romanian PM: "Romani people must change their mentality"

Europe, 21.11.2012 19:04, (ROMEA) Romani people must change their mentality and financial gifts don't help them. Those claims were recently made by the head of the Romanian Government Office for Romani Affairs in an exclusive interview for Czech Radio.  full story

Romani people deported from France say they are starving in Romania

Timisoara, Romania, 21.11.2012 18:09, (ROMEA) Czech Radio reports that Romani people who have been deported from France to Romania are saying they will die of hunger if they stay there. They blame the Romanian authorities and view the decisions of several EU countries to forcibly deport them back to their native country as based in populism  full story