News

Czech Republic: 30 Romani people living without utilities in a restaurant

Čáslav, 9.11.2012 20:41, (ROMEA) Lubomír Vilímek of the Čáslav Police told the Czech Press Agency today that the former U Rajských restaurant in Čáslav is now home to 30 Romani people. With one exception, the families, including children, are living there without any electricity, functioning toilets, or hookups to running water. Police officers and patrolmen who are monitoring the situation have drawn it to the attention of the Building Works Authority of the Čáslav town hall and to social workers. Police said it was not clear to them whether the restaurant has also been licensed for use as housing.  full story

Analysis: Kristallnacht and its connection to Europe today

Prague, 9.11.2012 20:03, (ROMEA) During the late night hours of 9 November and the early morning hours of 10 November 1938, the Nazis in occupied Austria, the occupied border region of the Czech lands, and Germany murdered Jewish people and captured them for the concentration camps. A total of 267 synagogues were burned down or otherwise demolished, 7 500 Jewish apartments and shops were ransacked, 91 Jewish people were directly murdered during the pogrom, and 30 000 ended up in death camps.  full story

Czech Labor Ministry to take Romani agenda from Office of the Government

Prague, 8.11.2012 23:33, (ROMEA) The Insider daily news server (www.denikinsider.cz) reports that reorganizations are being prepared at the Office of the Government that will affect its Human Rights Section. Matters concerning the Romani minority will be transferred to the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry.  full story

Police abuses against Roma, migrants and activists: Russia’s record before the UN Committee against Torture

Moscow, 8.11.2012 21:29, (ROMEA) Russia’s record of torture and ill-treatment is up for review by the UN Committee against Torture. On Friday 9th and Monday 12th November, the Committee will hear Russian officials and engage in a dialogue to monitor the Russian Federation’s compliance with the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.  full story

Django Reinhardt tribute

Napa, California, 8.11.2012 21:16, (ROMEA) Dorado Schmitt, acclaimed Manouche gypsy guitarist from the Strasbourg region of France, is returning to the Bay Area next week to present a tribute to jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.  full story

Cambridgeshire councillor's apology for 'stupid Gypsy joke'

Cambridgeshire, UK, 8.11.2012 20:30, (ROMEA) A councillor considering plans to reopen a Cambridgeshire travellers' site has apologised for sending an email which disparages Gypsies.  full story

How Czech dailies are commenting on Obama's re-election

Prague, 8.11.2012 18:18, (ROMEA) Czech daily papers have commented on Tuesday's re-election of the Democratic Party candidate for President of the USA, saying the voters found Barack Obama to be the more comprehensible, reliable candidate despite the constrained results of his government so far. According to the Czech press, Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney correctly bet on people's dissatisfaction with Obama's effectiveness throughout the country, but failed to offer a better alternative.  full story

Thousands of children illegally in Czech "practical primary schools"

Prague, 8.11.2012 17:39, (ROMEA) Czech Radio reports that thousands of children who could attend normal primary schools are being instructed according to curricula designed for pupils with "light mental disability" even though such instruction is against the law. On the other hand, some schools in the Czech Republic today are managing to educate Romani pupils together with everyone else. While this depends on teachers' approaches, it primarily depends on pupils' parents.  full story

AI, ERRC: Czech Government still discriminates against Romani school children

Brussels, 8.11.2012 13:01, (ROMEA) Five years after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that sending Romani children in the Czech Republic to ‘special’ and Roma-only schools is discriminatory, Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have urged the European Union to press the Czech Government to comply with EU anti-discrimination laws, including the Race Equality Directive, backed by the threat of action for non-compliance.  full story

British football fan does prison time, gets lifetime ban for racism

Manchester, 7.11.2012 21:38, (ROMEA) News server SuperSpy.cz reports that a Chelsea football fan committed the offense earlier this week of imitating a monkey during a match in order to racially abuse a dark-skinned Manchester United footballer. Police arrested him and he will not be seen at the stadium again.  full story

Independent Romani protest against Czech "special schools"

Ostrava, 7.11.2012 20:56, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that dozens of Romani people marched through Ostrava today demanding equal access to education. The protesters wanted to draw attention to the fact that the school system in the Czech Republic is arranged to their disadvantage and results in discrimination against Romani people. At the end of peaceful event, the demonstrators marched from the town hall through the town center to the building of the Czech School Inspection Authority carrying signs reading "Stop segregation!" and "Inclusive education".  full story

videoThe Guardian: Greece lets fascism grow in security forces

7.11.2012 20:09, (ROMEA) News server Ežurnál.cz reports that The Guardian newspaper has quoted a Greek police officer who claims the Greek Government is closing its eyes to fascists and that the ultra-right will probably use this fact to provoke clashes with demonstrators.  full story

Czech senator leaves club over fellow lawmakers' antigypsyism

Brno, 7.11.2012 19:05, (ROMEA) Newly-elected senator and former Constitutional Court Justice Eliška Wagnerová is no longer a member of the Senate's "Club for the Renewal of Democracy" (Klub pro obnovenou demokracii). The opinions of club members Jiří Čunek and Tomio Okamura about Romani people bother her too greatly for her to stay.  full story

Czech town decides to repurchase privatized housing

Přerov, 6.11.2012 22:18, (ROMEA) The Přerov town hall wants to repurchase some of the buildings on Škodova street which it sold to a private investor five years ago. The landlord in the locality has not met the terms of the original purchase agreement, in which he promised to transform the Romani-occupied ghetto into a modern quarter. Town councilors also approved a motion to levy sanctions of CZK 500 000 against the investor and pledged to take care of the Romani people who continue to live in the half-demolished buildings. However, only tenants who have no outstanding debts with the town will be awarded leases for substitute apartments.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani march to mark D.H. anniversary

Ostrava, 6.11.2012 21:29, (ROMEA) On 7 November 2012, a group of Romani residents will peacefully march in Ostrava to mark the anniversary of the judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the matter of "D.H. and Others versus the Czech Republic". That judgment confirmed that Romani children were being discriminated against in their access to education.  full story

Czech activist: NGO more loyal to local govt than to the poor

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 6.11.2012 20:41, (ROMEA) Miroslav Brož of the civic association Konexe has written an open letter to the People in Need (Člověk v tísni) public benefit corporation regarding the way in which the Romani minority is being integrated and the situation in the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem. News server Romea.cz is publishing the letter in full translation below.  full story

Spanish gypsies lament after homes demolished

Madrid, 6.11.2012 11:19, (ROMEA) Photographer Susana Vera documented the demolition of a long-standing gypsy community in Spain over the course of several months. She has created diptychs that pair images from before and after the demolition, as well as tell the story of the effect on the communities, showing the demolition of houses and the displacement of families.  full story

Clinton, Ashton Should Seek Reforms by Bosnia and Serbia and Kosovo

Washington, 5.11.2012 22:23, (ROMEA) United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton should emphasize the importance of improving human rights records in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Serbia and Kosovo during their Western Balkan tour, Human Rights Watch said today. The visits are scheduled from October 30 to November 2, 2012.  full story

Template for Civil Society Monitoring of National Roma Integration Strategies and Decade Action Plans

Budapest, 5.11.2012 22:18, (ROMEA) The Decade Secretariat has prepared a monitoring template in order to encourage civil society coalitions to monitor the implementation of National Roma Integration Strategies and Decade Action Plans.  full story

Father Patrick Desbois to Present New Findings on Treatment of Roma People During World War II at UN Kristallnacht Event

New York, 5.11.2012 22:04, (ROMEA) On Wednesday, 7 November, the United Nations Department of Public Information, in partnership with Yahad-In Unum, will mark the anniversary of the Kristallnacht Pogrom of November 1938 with a roundtable discussion entitled “The Holocaust by Bullets: Uncovering the Reality of Genocide”.  full story