World

UN Committee tells Czech Republic: Compensate victims of forced sterilization and punish those responsible

11.3.2016 17:49 For the purpose of improving the position of women in the Czech Republic, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued its Concluding Observations to the Czech Republic on 7 March, based on the Czech Government's Sixth Periodic Report to the Committee on upholding the UN Convention on Eliminating All Forms of Discrimination against Women. A delegation from the Czech Republic defended that report before the Committee in Geneva on 23 February.  full story

Slovakia: Thousands protest Kotleba and clerical fascism in Bratislava

7.3.2016 23:40 Slovak Police say more than 1 000 people assembled today in the center of Bratislava before marching through the streets of the capital to protest the ultra-right party of Marian Kotleba, the People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), which scored gains in parliamentary elections this past weekend. The march was gradually joined by others and organizers estimate it reached between 2 000 and 3 000 people by the time it ended.  full story

Czech Republic should consider Nazi electoral gains in Slovakia a warning

7.3.2016 22:12 The election results in Slovakia this past weekend have sparked a great deal of response beyond the country's borders and have been commented on by Czech politicians and by Czech and international media. The elections overall were won by the Social Democratic party of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Směr–SD, but compared to the elections four years ago, that party has suffered significant losses in terms of its share of the electorate, and has lost its majority in the unicameral legislature.  full story

Slovakia: Romani soldier survives Afghanistan only to die after police intervention back home

26.2.2016 18:40 The Slovak courts are continuing to review the case of a 44-year-old professional soldier, Ivan Koliščák, who died in April 2013 after police intervened against him in a restaurant in the town of Trebišov. He died on the spot; emergency medical technicians called to the scene did not manage to revive him.  full story

videoCzech Government to answer questions about illegal sterilizations, mostly of Romani women, from UN Committee tomorrow

22.2.2016 23:10 Tomorrow, 23 February, a delegation from the Czech Republic will answer questions before the UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Czech Republic should inform the Committee of the steps it has taken for the purpose of fulfilling the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  full story

Poland wants prison time for those who refer to Nazi-era camps as "Polish"

16.2.2016 18:48 The Polish Government wants to punish anyone using the expression "Polish extermination camp" when referring to the Nazi camps that were located in occupied Poland with up to five years in prison. The Polish Justice Ministry submitted a bill for that purpose to the Government today.  full story

Bulgaria: Romani "imam" arrested last year for allegedly joining the so-called Islamic State

5.2.2016 23:05 Islamist fundamentalists are attempting to exploit the situation of impoverished Romani people in the Balkans and the radical movement of the so-called Islamic State is actively recruiting them into its service. Darko Trifunović, the Serbian representative of the International Strategic Studies Association told news server setimes.com that the radicals want Romani people living in settlements in Bulgaria to replace their national minority identity with a religious one.  full story

Czech anti-racism initiative says assault on Syrian man caused by xenophobic atmosphere

4.2.2016 19:35 According to the anti-Fascists in the "No to Racism" Initiative, which is convening a demonstration in Prague this coming Saturday against hatred, the recently-reported assault on a Syrian man there is one consequence of the atmosphere being created by xenophobic movements in Czech society. "No to Racism" will be assembling to denounce such hatred.  full story

EXCLUSIVE: Romani figure skater Ivan Righini, three-time Italian champion, competes for the European Championship

27.1.2016 19:59 The 2016 European Figure Skating Championships begin today in Bratislava, Slovakia. At 17:30 CET, Ivan Righini, a figure skater with Italian, Romani and Russian roots, will compete for Italy in the men's short program with the starting number of 28.  full story

Slovakia: Three children burn to death in Romani settlement

25.1.2016 18:18 Three children died around in the early morning hours of Sunday in the Romani settlement in the municipality of Lomnička (Stará Ľubovňa district) in eastern Slovakia. A two-year-old boy, four-year-old boy and five-year-old girl tragically burned to death.  full story

Attila Balogh Hidvégi on serial murders in Hungary: Even brutal crimes did not spark Romani solidarity

19.1.2016 21:10 In connection with the recent verdict of the Hungarian Supreme Court upholding life sentences for three perpetrators of the serial murders of Romani people in Hungary and a 13-year sentence for their accomplice, news server Romea.cz is presenting in translation the following commentary by Romani journalist Attila Balogh Hidvégi who, according to his account, has followed this scandal intensively from the beginning and is completely, thoroughly familiar not just with the text of the indictment, but also with the events that occurred between the various hearings in the case. Hidvégi published his commentary on www.romnet.hu and we are reprinting it in translation here in a shortened form with their kind permission:  full story

Analysis: Hungarian court verdict upholding life sentences for racist murders has taken effect

17.1.2016 1:45 In Budapest on 12 January, Hungary's Supreme Court rejected an appeal from three men accused of having committed a series of racist attacks as members of an organized group from 2008-2009 in nine locations around the country resulting in six deaths and five seriously injured victims. Árpád Kiss, his brother István Kiss, and Zsolt Pető were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while their accomplice István Csontos will go to prison for 13 years.  full story

videoHighest-paid Hungarian footballer of all time is Romani

14.1.2016 19:50 What has been suspected for several days has now been officially confirmed. Hungarian footballer Norbert Balogh will continue his career as a player in the highest Italian competition, the A Series, as a member of Palermo.  full story

Media image of Romani people in Slovakia: Generalizations and stereotypes

13.1.2016 23:06 The civic association Romano kher - Rómsky dom (Roma House) has produced an analysis of selected Slovak media outlets in collaboration with the Media Academy, focusing on those outlets that significantly contribute to creating the image of various minorities for the Slovak public. The survey monitored the period from the beginning of June to the end of October 2015.  full story

EU Justice Ministers call on Facebook to be stricter about removing hoaxes and threats

14.12.2015 20:20 The European Union's council of Member State Justice Ministers announced on 3 December that they are planning to jointly call on Facebook to be faster and stricter about removing hateful threats and hoaxes from the social networking site. "We are seriously debating this at the council of ministers. Here in the Czech Republic we are not very interesting [to Facebook] because we are a small market, and that is why we are doing our best to get Europe as a whole to agree to tell Facebook these matters need to be overseen," Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán told news server Aktuálně.cz.  full story

Commentary: Is Czech society about to rid itself of anti-Gypsyist MEP Miloslav Ransdorf?

10.12.2015 4:32 I have known Miloslav Ransdorf since June 1990, when we were both elected as legislators in the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia - he for the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, I for Civic Forum (Občanské fórum). We did not see eye to eye there despite my cooperation with most of his comrades in that parliament.  full story

Questions and answers about the 2015 migration crisis: 894 000 refugees and a divided EU

8.12.2015 21:01 When did the refugee crisis start this year?  full story

Inclusive education in Canada is a reality

5.12.2015 20:29 When Harland Sanders began selling fried chicken, he was no different from anyone else. What turned his efforts into the famous KFC restaurant was a few small details, among them the secret ingredients of his spice mix.  full story

Austria's "word of the year" contest shows impact of refugee crisis

4.12.2015 22:35 "Willkommenskultur" ("the culture of welcome") has been voted Austria's 2015 "word of the year" in an online survey in which almost 34 000 people voted and an expert commission then chose what word to designate with this honor. The "misnomer of the year", on the other hand, is "special building measures", which Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner used to described a planned fence on the border with Slovenia.  full story

Fortieth anniversary of the death of Hannah Arendt

3.12.2015 17:35 One of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, the author, philosopher and political theorist of German origin Hannah Arendt, died 40 years ago on 4 December 1975 in her New York office. Thanks to her "desire to understand", she described the roots of the success of modern dictatorships (Fascism and Communism) and the fatal failures of modern elites during those systems' rise to power in her three-volume work "The Origins of Totalitarianism".  full story