Features and Commentary

Commentary: Czech mayoral candidate would use EU money on the wrong problem

Prague, 7.10.2014 18:54, (ROMEA) Martin Štěpánek, a candidate for mayor in the upcoming local elections in Ostrava, has recently explained the vision behind his campaign slogan, "I reject trafficking in poverty", in an interview for the Czech daily Mladá fronta DNES (published Monday 22 September). At first glance it might seem that this striking slogan is aimed at the abuse of welfare by the owners of residential hotels for the socially vulnerable - the "traffickers in poverty".  full story

Violeta Naydenova: Jourová must be more active on Romani issues than her predecessor

Brussels, 2.10.2014 23:42, (ROMEA) Violeta Naydenova, a Bulgarian Romani analyst for the Open Society Foundations, has commented in the EU Observer that Věra Jourová, the Czech EU Commissioner-designate for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, should be much more active when it comes to addressing Romani issues in EU countries. Naydenova says Jourová should do more than her predecessor to combat anti-Romani attitudes and discrimination.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma claim police apply double standard

Kadaň, 1.10.2014 20:01, (ROMEA) Fear of going out onto the street alone, terror after being threatened with having one's throat cut and run over by a car, a feeling of hopelessness that neither the police nor anyone else can guarantee justice and the right to a dignified life. Police indifference to Romani residents and sympathy for the local skinhead brawlers who terrorize Roma living in the Czech town of Kadaň - all of this is leading local Romani residents to feel that a double standard applies to law and order there.  full story

Czech ombud says her deputy's article was totally out of line

Brno, 1.10.2014 18:15, (ROMEA) Anna Šabatová, the Czech Public Defender of Rights (the ombud) has sharply criticized her deputy, Stanislav Křeček, for authoring an article critiquing the work of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. "[Mr Křeček's article] contravenes all of the principles of the work of the ombud, which are to maintain competence and confidentiality, to have a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances of a case, to listen to the other side, and what is most important, to propose measures for improving a situation should it be unsatisfactory," she has written in the daily Lidové noviny, which published Křeček's critique.  full story

Czech Agency for Social Inclusion director responds to Deputy Ombud's critique

Brno/Prague, 1.10.2014 17:25, (ROMEA) Czech Deputy Ombud Stanislav Křeček has written a critique of the activity of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in the town of Duchcov for the daily Lidové noviny (Agentura, která nepomůže, LN 25. 9.) I would welcome it if next time he would spend more time studying our work, as it is evident from his article that he knows almost nothing about it or the situation in Duchcov.  full story

Czech NGO's hands tied on hopeless situation of Romani migrants from Slovakia

Prague, 30.9.2014 20:34, (ROMEA) In recent weeks the field social workers at the Prague branch of the People in Need association have been confronted with the desperate situations of Romani people from Slovakia who, in fear for their lives, decided to leave their home country with the unclear notion that they might find assistance in Prague. The following is a description of a dramatic two days in the life of the Prague branch of that NGO, as described by one of its social workers.  full story

Czech ultra-right leader rails against Arab spa clients

Teplice, 29.9.2014 22:15, (ROMEA) Several people were arrested by police on Saturday during an assembly convened in the town of Teplice by the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Police spokesperson Dan Vítek announced the arrests.  full story

Renata Berkyová on wall demolition in Slovakia: What principles do we honor?

Prague, 18.9.2014 17:54, (ROMEA) Several days ago a report came out about the demolition of a wall at the Luník VIII housing estate in Košice, Slovakia and a visit paid by activists to the residents of Ostrovany there. The media reports that this was the work of activists from abroad, including the Czech Republic.  full story

Interview with Romani psychologist Andrea Tibenská

Hradec Králové, 16.9.2014 19:06, (ROMEA) ANDREA TIBENSKÁ is from the town of Prievidza in Western Slovakia. She works as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist at the Psychiatric Clinic of the Teaching Hospital in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.  full story

Gwendolyn Albert: Seven UN agencies issue joint statement on stopping forced, coercive, and involuntary sterilization

Imperial Beach, California (USA), 20.8.2014 15:20, (ROMEA) In May 2014, seven UN agencies - the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNAIDS, the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund, UN Women and the World Health Organization – jointly issued an interagency statement on eliminating forced, coercive and involuntary sterilization. The document reviews the many circumstances under which children, men and women have been sterilized against their will around the world and provides clear guidance to governments and the medical profession on how to bring these human rights abuses to an end.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: Okamura and those like him speak the language of criminals

Prague, 4.8.2014 21:17, (ROMEA) To tell you the truth, we traditional Czech Romani and Sinti people are no longer surprised by the remarks made by the Okamuras, Klauses, Čuněks, Doubravas, Řápkovás or Janáčkovás. During the time we have been living in the Czech lands, we have gotten used to quite a lot.  full story

Commentary: Behind Europe's trend of aggression, intolerance and stupidity

Prague, 24.7.2014 22:02, (ROMEA) As this year's elections to the European Parliament have confirmed, it is no accident that populism and right-wing extremism are gaining strength throughout Europe. This is part of a trend we have been able observe for the last five to 10 years.  full story

Rytmus: It's narrow-minded to be upset by my photos with the Gypsies

Prague, 23.7.2014 19:27, (ROMEA) Slovak recording artists Patrik "Rytmus" Vrbovský and Dara Rolins are featured on the cover of the August issue of the Czech edition of ELLE. Their controversial photo shoot in a Romani settlement has prompted a wide range of responses.  full story

videoRomani opera singer Miro Bartoš: You can't save the world, but you can help individuals

Prague, 21.7.2014 23:35, (ROMEA) Miro Bartoš and his sister Bohunka are among the few Romani people who have managed to escape an environment that did not give them much of a chance. Both siblings have graduated from music conservatories.  full story

Analysis: The Czech state's response to the "Year of Extremism"

Prague, 18.7.2014 22:18, (ROMEA) Last year extremists in the Czech Republic convened a total of 272 events, 136 fewer than in 2012 - at least according to the Czech Interior Ministry. So, did we all just imagine those frequent street battles between demonstrators and police last year, or is someone intentionally making fun of us here?  full story

Analysis: Vlastimil Pechanec - neo-Nazi martyr or hard-core murderer?

Prague, 17.7.2014 18:37, (ROMEA) On 21 July 2014 it will be 13 years since Otto Absolon, a father of two young children, died at the hands of a local neo-Nazi, Vlastimil Pechanec, in the East Bohemian town of Svitavy. At the end of last month, Mr Absolon's murderer was conditionally released from prison.  full story

videoBBC: England team's first Romany footballer 'deserves recognition'

London, 19.6.2014 17:01, (ROMEA) In 1895 Rabbi Howell made history as the first Romany footballer to play for England, but 119 years on the pioneering player lies buried in an unmarked grave. Now as an appeal to raise funds for a headstone begins, what is the story behind Howell's ground-breaking career and have sporting attitudes to the Romany community changed?  full story

Violeta Naydenova: For Roma in France, Is Climate of Intolerance Fueling Violence?

Bucharest/Paris, 19.6.2014 0:45, (ROMEA) Somewhere in a hospital in Paris tonight, a Roma teenager lies in a coma fighting for his life. Accounts suggest that the boy, known to us only as Darius, was accused of burglary by residents of a poverty-stricken public housing development in Pierefitte-sur-Sienne; they subsequently abducted him, beat him into a coma in a basement, and dumped his body in a shopping trolley.  full story

Commentary: Czech Roma Strategy should support the Romani intelligentsia more

Prague, 18.6.2014 0:37, (ROMEA) Despite all of the concepts and efforts expended to date, the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic is deteriorating. According to estimates, 80 000 - 100 000 Romani people (an estimated one-third of all Roma living in the Czech Republic) are grappling with burdensome problems of social exclusion.  full story

Meet the EU Parliament’s (Likely) First-Elected Feminist Party Member

Stockholm, 24.5.2014 17:36, (ROMEA) Europe's parliamentary elections are expected to end this weekend with a surprising first: The first-ever member elected from a feminist party to the European Parliament. Less surprising is the likely MEP’s country of origin, Sweden. The bastion of gender equality has a nine-year-old feminist political party, the Feminist Initiative (which also has outposts in Germany and France), and it is on track to secure the 4 percent of the country’s vote necessary to send a representative to the EU’s legislative body. At the top of the party’s batting order is Soraya Post, 57, a longtime human rights activist who spoke to the Cut from Stockholm, where she’s wrapping up her campaign.  full story