World

Research shows Slovaks take stricter approach to judging Romani people than to judging Hungarians - or themselves

11.11.2015 19:06 News server DenníkN.sk reports that a team of Slovak scholars, led by sociologist Andrej Findor from Comenius University, have conducted research to ascertain how respondents assess the commission of a misdemeanor depending on whether it is committed by an ethnic Hungarian, Roma or Slovak. Compared to the other groups, it is absolutely clear that respondents assess Romani people most strictly.  full story

European Court of Human Rights: Freedom of speech does not include Holocaust denial

11.11.2015 18:17 The European Court of Human Rights has rejected an appeal from comedian Dieudonné Mbala Mbala against the fact that the French justice system has fined him for disseminating hatred. Freedom of speech, according to the Court, does not cover anti-Semitism or Holocaust denial.  full story

AEDH calls on African and European leaders to put human rights at the center of migration policies

10.11.2015 23:14 The European Association for the Defence of Human Rights (AEDH) issued the following press release today:  full story

Luxembourgian Foreign Minister says EU might fall apart over refugee crisis

9.11.2015 18:10 "The European Union can fall apart," Luxembourgian Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has warned in an interview for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). "That could happen unbelievably quickly if isolation, not solidarity, becomes the rule for both extra- and intra-EU affairs."  full story

Professor Igor Lukeš: Lies in the public arena and the beginnings of Fascism

9.11.2015 5:57 With the permission of the author, news server Romea.cz has republished a blog written by Boston University Professor Igor Lukeš for news server Aktuálně.cz about the dissemination of hatred and lies. In the piece he draws attention to an extremist text against Islam and warns that "this is how Fascism began in the 20th century".  full story

EU Justice Commissioner: Whoever says refugees don't deserve aid has never spoken with one

9.11.2015 3:18 The dissemination of hatred on the Internet, the refugee crisis and xenophobia in Czech society were the main topics of discussion between EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová and Czech MEP Stanislav Polčák on a recent episode Czech Television's "Václav Moravec's Qustions" program. "We do not have, not the Union, which is to say the Commission or the Parliament, and not the Member States - we ourselves do not have a solution to this in hand. The European Union is not a federation that could entrust the resolution of asylum policy from on high to the Member States of the Union. We must address this together, and I would really appeal for us to listen to each other, for the West to listen to the East, which is saying: 'We are concerned that we will have to... face the problem that the West has because it is a multicultural society'," the Commissioner said when asked to explain her view of the redistribution of refugees within the EU.  full story

Artist wakes Europe's conscience with a minute of silence symbolizing deafness to the cause of refugees

8.11.2015 20:56 Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that when the news spread at the end of October that another 11 children had drowned attempting to reach Greece, the actor Benedict Cumberbatch suddenly exploded: "Fuck the politicians," the otherwise meticulously cultivated actor told the upper classes of the theater-going public in London after a performance of "Hamlet". He followed that with an urgent intercession on behalf of the thousands of refugees who are disembarking daily on the beaches of Europe.  full story

Swedish Police force Romani migrants to vacate camp, PM says they are not the country's responsibility

6.11.2015 19:42 Swedish newspaper TheLocal.se reports in a detailed article that hundreds of Romani migrants in Sweden found themselves with nowhere to spend the night recently after police forced them to vacate a large "shantytown" in Malmö. Swedish PM Stefan Löftven announced the news and added that Sweden is not responsible for such people.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum asks Pope to revise his rhetoric on Roma

6.11.2015 17:52 In a letter addressed to the Pope today, the President of the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) Mr Gheorghe Raducanu welcomes the Catholic Church's recent initiatives to combat discrimination against Roma, Sinti and Travellers, but regrets that some of the Pope's well-intentioned remarks are likely to instead promote the sentiments that promote such discrimination by the majority population. “Asking the audience to be good Christians 'avoiding all that is not worthy of this name: lies, frauds, swindles, altercation', is excellent advice to be addressed to all Christians but, in the context of an audience with Roma and Sinti, this advice seems to be addressed exclusively to them," the letter notes.  full story

German state of Bavaria prepares to sue federal government over alleged mishandling of the refugee crisis

4.11.2015 22:39 The German daily Tagesspiegel reports that the German state of Bavaria is preparing a Constitutional complaint against the German Government over the current influx of refugees into the country. The country's largest state is of the opinion that the federal government is not meeting its obligations during the refugee crisis by not attempting to restrict the arrival of immigrants to the country.  full story

Slovakia: Roma build new homes with EU money

3.11.2015 22:08 The Office of the Slovak Government's Plenipotentiary for Romani Community Affairs allocated financing last year for three local administrations to build lower-standard small apartment buildings. That successful project can now continue thanks to a subsidy in the amount of EUR 70 million to be provided to Slovakia by the European Union for the purpose of building more such dwellings.  full story

Analysis: Did the Hungarian Justice Minister really warn that Roma could join jihadists in Syria?

2.11.2015 17:31 Brussels-based news server EU Observer reported recently that Hungarian Justice Minister László Trócsányi allegedly spoke at a recent conference in Brussels of the danger of the possible radicalization of Romani people, who could become the next jihadists in Syria. However, what precisely he said and what he meant is now the subject of ongoing discussion and speculation.  full story

videoEXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Romani police officer originally from Czech Republic becomes a Member of the British Empire

31.10.2015 17:46 On 29 October, police officer Petr Torák received the honor of being appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) from the UK Home Office. The high civilian honor was awarded to him by Queen Elizabeth II for his community work in the town of Peterborough.  full story

Slovakia: Artists protest Governor after he blocks anti-xenophobia project funding

31.10.2015 16:02 In the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia artists are protesting the actions of Governor Marián Kotleba, who is known for his admiration of the WWII-era clerical Fascist Slovak State, his anti-Romani posturing, and his extremist political opinions. The Governor has refused to sign already-approved subsidies for projects aiming to warn young people against the dangers of extremism and xenophobia.  full story

Romani participant in international pilgrimage: Meeting the Pope is the experience of a lifetime

31.10.2015 14:49 Anna Bystrá was a participant in the recent meeting with Pope Francis as part of the International Pilgrimage of Gypsies in Rome. News server Romea.cz interviewed her about her experience there.  full story

Austrian Chancellor: Fences will not solve the problem of refugees

30.10.2015 20:46 The building of fences on borders is not the solution to the current refugee crisis. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann made that statement during a debate televised by the ORF station on Wednesday evening.  full story

UN migration representative: Lack of agreement on refugees risks the European project

28.10.2015 9:07 Peter Sutherland, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for International Migration, warned last month that failure to agree on a united response to the current asylum-seeker crisis poses a danger to the very concept of European unity. “If there is no agreement to share refugees between the countries of the European Union, it risks undermining the very essence of the European project,” he told The Guardian.  full story

UK: Traveller people have to "prove" their ethnicity under new planning rules

28.10.2015 7:44 Dan Allen, a lecturer in Social Work at the University of Salford, reported for The Conversation last month that recent actions by the UK Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) might make the lives of Traveller communities worse. The department has introduced new planning rules that Allen says will adversely directly affect the health of these people.  full story

Refugees to have their own team at Rio under the Olympic flag

28.10.2015 6:30 Leading athletes who are also refugees and therefore technically unable to represent any country will be able to compete in the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. Thomas Bach, the chair of the International Olympic Committee, announced the development at Monday's session of the UN General Assembly.  full story

Pope Francis to Roma: Your nation deserves a new story

27.10.2015 10:11 Yesterday Pope Francis received more than 5 000 Romani people from the Americas, Asia and Europe at the Vatican. The meeting was part of the International Pilgrimage of Gypsies, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples from 23 to 26 October on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of a visit paid to Romani people in Pomezia, Italy, by Pope Paul VI.  full story