Czech Republic

Czech town approves plan to buy run-down apartments back from private owner, Romani tenants to be affected

3.4.2017 8:00 Local assembly members in the Czech town of Sokolov have approved a plan to buy the partially derelict apartment buildings located above the Alfa cinema there. The purhase will be definitively decided at the next assembly session in May after all the conditions of the purchase have been investigated.  full story

video VIDEO: Exhibition about Romani jewelry in Brno on view until the end of April

3.4.2017 7:06 An exhibition of Romani jewelry entitled "Romani Treasure - Amare somnaka" (Poklad Romů) is underway at the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno. It features not just unique pieces in gold and silver, but also jewelry from Romani designers all over Europe.  full story

Czech Cardinal on International Romani Day: We are all members of the same Christian family

2.4.2017 8:31 News server Romea.cz has asked Cardinal Dominik Duka about his motivation for accepting a request to celebrate Mass on International Romani Day in Prague. His entire
response is presented in translation below.  full story

Prague 14 to begin April with the Cultural Encounters festival (Setkání kultur)

1.4.2017 18:27 The Prague 14 Municipal Department will come to life during the first week of April with its Cultural Encounters festival (Setkání kultur). On Thursday, 6 April, in the Plechárna recreation center at 18:30, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic, Čeněk Růžička, will hold a discussion on the topic of Czech-Roma coexistence.  full story

Czech prosecutor to review police procedure in case of Romani man who died in pizzeria

1.4.2017 10:26 The regional-level Office of the State Prosecutor will be reviewing the case of 26-year-old Miroslav Demeter, Jr., who died on 18 October 2016 at the Panamera Pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec. The father of the deceased has informed news server Romea.cz of the development.  full story

Commentary: Paradoxes in the war on political correctness

31.3.2017 21:01 The war against political correctness is a long-term process that was begun in the Czech Republic by ultra-right extremists during the 1990s. Their motive was apparent: They wanted to legitimize racism and xenophobia so their own "politics" would be acceptable to the broadest possible circle of voters.  full story

Czech Republic's second-largest city awarded funds to keep students from failing school

30.3.2017 7:21 The City of Brno has published on its website that the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has recommended it receive funding for a project called "Preventing failure at primary schools in the City of Brno". The city's request for funding has now been fully approved.  full story

Karel Holomek: New name of memorial at Hodonín u Kunštátu does not reflect the fact of the Romani genocide

29.3.2017 11:58 On 16 March, the daily Právo published an article about transferring responsibility for the "memorial to Romani suffering during the Second World War" to the management of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno. The memorial commemorates the camp at Hodonín u Kunštát where predominantly Romani people who were living in Moravia at that time - 1 400 of them - were imprisoned from mid-1942 until the end of 1943.  full story

First issue of Romano voďi magazine features Romani author Oksana Marafioti on the life of Roma in Georgia

29.3.2017 10:56 Whether we like it or not, since time immemorial stories have wielded great power over our lives. They can be legends, myths, or the narratives of political regimes and religions.  full story

Czech Culture Ministry's Subsidy Commission for National Minorities issues statement against growing intolerance

29.3.2017 10:11 Earlier this month the representatives of national minorities who advise the Czech Culture Ministry on its Subsidy Commission for the Department of Audiovisual and Media Products issued a statement against growing national, religious and racial intolerance in Czech society. The national minority representatives expressed their concern and unease over the hateful attacks that more and more people have recently faced just because their ethnic origin, gender orientation or religious convictions are different from the mainstream.  full story

Czech Republic: Parents of children who killed flamingo have apologized and will pay damages

29.3.2017 8:51 The parents of the children who killed a flamingo at the zoo in Jihlava are willing to pay damages or work them off. Zoo director Eliška Kubíková informed the public of the developments in an interview with news server Lidovky.cz.  full story

Anna Dunčeková: I do my best to humanize social services

28.3.2017 15:28 The staff of the Český západ organization considers the principles of community and social work to be their main guidelines. When they facilitate aid to the inhabitants of socially excluded localities, they place an emphasis on the assistance affecting the community as a whole, not just individuals.  full story

"TOGETHER WE CAN" - celebrations of International Romani Day in Prague focus on interethnic cooperation

28.3.2017 12:54 An exhibition, an interactive video projection in the center of Prague, panel discussions and theatrical performances. All this is being offered for this year's celebrations of International Romani Day (8 April) in Prague.  full story

Commentary: Czech Foreign Minister is all over the map when it comes to the issue of freedom of movement - why?

28.3.2017 11:04 My favorite demagogue, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek, is once again shining like a supernova in the night sky. He has declared war on the free movement of persons on the labor market inside the European Union.
 full story

Czech survey finds most people not opposed to inclusion, but children living with disabilities or Romani children raise concerns

27.3.2017 17:28 Most people in the Czech Republic (53 %) are not against including children living with disabilities into mainstream classes as long as certain conditions are fulfilled. The groups of people who have extreme opinions about inclusion - whether against it or for it - are smaller.  full story

Testimonies of survivors of the Nazi-era concentration camp for Roma at Lety in Czech Republic still not discussed

27.3.2017 7:53 On 15 March 1939, Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler proclaimed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in those regions of occupied Czechoslovakia. His representatives
proceeded to violate the provisions of the Czechoslovak Constitution concerning human rights for the duration of the Protectorate and, in addition to imposing binding,
discriminatory regulations targeting Jews, the Protectorate Government, led by Rudolf Beran under the direction of Nazi Germany, also targeted persons living on the fringes of society.  full story

Czech nonprofit real estate agency helps people facing discrimination find housing

26.3.2017 9:46 Iveta Horváthová grew up in a children's home in Moravia. After she graduated from high school she moved to Prague in order to work.  full story

ROMEA reports 10+ criminal incidents involving racist commentaries and threats on Facebook to the Czech Police

23.3.2017 16:36 During the past two months, the ROMEA organization has reported more than 10 suspected crimes involving racist posts and threats made through the Internet in which some people discussing online have verbally assaulted minorities, Roma included. In four of these cases, however, the police have not responded within the timeframe established by law for informing those who report suspected crimes as to whether police have taken any measures at all in those matters.  full story

Czech Republic pays billions of crowns to nonprofits - who gets most of it?

23.3.2017 15:58 According to Czech President Miloš Zeman, nonprofit organizations are "leeches on the state budget", and other Czech politicians are now deciding to ride his wave of criticism of the nonprofit sector or of "political nonprofits". Investigative news server HlídacíPes.org has published a new overview of where the public financing for the nonprofit sector in the Czech Republic actually goes.  full story

VIDEO: Romani students spend the weekend in Brno's Cejl neighborhood

21.3.2017 9:33 A video has been produced of the Baruvas meeting of Romani college and high school students to show what the atmosphere and course of such a meeting is like. Romani college student Tereza Heková, who attended the meeting, contributed to filming the footage and to its postproduction processing.  full story