World

How to vote in the second round of the Czech presidential election

23.1.2013 14:43, (ROMEA) Voting in the second round of the presidential elections in the Czech Republic will take place on Friday 25 January 2013 from 14:00 - 22:00 CET and on Saturday 26 January 2013 from 08:00 - 14:00 CET. Voters can choose between candidates Karel Schwarzenberg and Miloš Zeman.  full story

Canada advises Romani people to stay home in Hungary

Budapest, Hungary, 22.1.2013 22:05, (ROMEA) Czech Radio reports that the Canadian Embassy to Hungary is urging Romani people not to attempt an overseas move. Since this past weekend, the embassy has been conducting a campaign in the poorest of Hungary's regions, specifically in the town of Miskolc, which has the country's highest population of Romani residents. Canada has tightened its immigration laws and has reduced the opportunity for people to receive asylum there.  full story

China: Yet another Tibetan self-immolates to protest human rights violations

Prague, 18.1.2013 22:46, (ROMEA) Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that the first Tibetan to self-immolate in 2013 set himself on fire in China a few days ago to protest Chinese policy in Tibet. Since 2009, a total of 96 Tibetans have self-immolated so far.  full story

Romania: Police investigate group offering Romani women money for sterilization

Bucharest, Romania, 15.1.2013 17:15, (ROMEA) Agence France-Presse reported today that the prosecutor in Timisoara, Romania has begun investigating a nationalist group called NAT88 for soliciting Romani women to undergo sterilizations. The group will be investigated on suspicion of "public promotion of a fascist and racist ideology".  full story

videoHungary: Hundreds protest governing party over anti-Romani commentary

Budapest, Hungary, 14.1.2013 16:42, (ROMEA - UPDATED) Several hundred supporters of the opposition in Hungary demonstrated yesterday against racist statements made about the Romani minority by a co-founder of the conservative governing party Fidesz in front of the party's headquarters in Budapest. The protest was organized by the Democratic Coalition group of former socialist PM Ferenc Gyurcsányi.  full story

videoGermany: Thousands prevent neo-Nazi march through center of Magdeburg

Magdeburg, Germany, 12.1.2013 23:59, (ROMEA) Thousands of citizens in the German town of Magdeburg prevented a neo-Nazi march through the center of town today. Approximately 800 neo-Nazis carrying black flags had to settle for marching through the Salbke quarter on the town's southern border.  full story

Hungarian Government increases pensions for Holocaust victims

Hungary, 3.1.2013 16:57, (ROMEA) Agence France-Presse reports that as of 1 January the Hungarian Government has raised by 50 % the pensions it pays to the Jewish victims of crimes committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The wire service report points out that the opposition has frequently criticized the conservative cabinet of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán in the past for his alleged indifference to antisemitism  full story

videoSlovakia: Romani man decapitated while still alive

Žihárec, Slovakia, 1.1.2013 0:05, (ROMEA) Slovakia has been shaken by the brutal murder of 37-year-old Daniel Horváth, a Romani man who was decapitated while still alive, according to a court autopsy. Last Friday police charged three men aged 17, 18 and 39 with Horvath's murder. "The suspects face between 20 and 25 years in prison, with the possibility of life in prison," said Nitra police spokesperson Renáta Čuháková.  full story

Canada may lift Czech visas once asylum process speeds up

Ottawa, 21.12.2012 18:27, (ROMEA) The Canadian media is reporting that Canada will accelerate the administration of asylum-seekers' requests for citizens of the Czech Republic. That country and 26 others are now on a list of so-called "safe states" where the Canadians believe people are not usually at risk of persecution, unlike people in other parts of the world.  full story

ROMEA acceptance speeches at Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award ceremony

Prague, 13.12.2012 6:24, (ROMEA) Today US Ambassador Norman Eisen gave the 2012 Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award to representatives of the ROMEA civic association at the American Center in Prague on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.  full story

Czech Republic: Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award goes to ROMEA this year

Prague, 10.12.2012 16:25, (ROMEA) On the occasion of the anniversary of International Human Rights Day, US Ambassador Norman Eisen will present the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award to representatives of the ROMEA civic association on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 at 18:00 CET in the American Center in Prague. The US Embassy in Prague is giving the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award for 2012 to the ROMEA association for its longtime promotion of human rights matters of concern to Romani people in the Czech Republic.  full story

France cancels payments to Romani migrants in exchange for their departure

Paris, 11.12.2012 17:18, (ROMEA) The online news server of the French political weekly Le Point reports that on 7 December the French Government announced it had abolished the financial aid it had been giving to migrant Romani people who agree to return to their country of origin. The change concerns mainly Romani people from Romania, whose country is an EU member but is not yet included in the Schengen area providing for the free movement of people within the EU.  full story

Hitler's selected speeches published in Czech translation

Brno, 8.12.2012 18:04, (ROMEA) A selection of speeches made by the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler between 1939 and 1942 has been released in the Czech language. Publisher and translator Pavel Kamas told the Czech Press Agency that he wanted to provide people with these speeches, which have been practically unavailable before now, so they could freely form their own opinions of them. Experts contacted by the Czech Press Agency have pointed out that the speeches are propaganda tools and could be misleading if not accompanied by expert commentary.  full story

Germany will try to ban extremist NPD once again

Berlin, 7.12.2012 0:30, (ROMEA) After meeting on 5 December, the Interior Ministers of all 16 German states recommended initiating a new attempt to have the courts ban the ultra-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). It is not clear whether the federal government will also join such a step. The first attempt to ban the NPD foundered at the Constitutional Court in 2003 and concerns predominate that the failure of another attempt could just strengthen the extremists.  full story

Romani scholar: Czech press reports on Romani origins oversimplify, promote stereotypes

Prague, 5.12.2012 17:57, (ROMEA) The Czech Press Agency has published an article on the genetic origins of Romani people in Europe which seems to be very imprecise. According to the wire service, Romani people in Europe are descended from the "Dalit caste" in India, which reportedly represents the lowest level in the professional caste hierarchy there. The ancestors of today's Romani people are said to have left the Indian subcontinent 1 000 years ago. The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph has also reported that these claims have been proven by a new genetic study.  full story

Greek neo-Nazis again attack immigrants, injuring one

Athens, Greece, 4.12.2012 16:59, (ROMEA) Greek news servers reported yesterday that a group of Greek neo-Nazis has once again attacked immigrant stall-keepers in Athens. One victim suffered injuries and was transported to hospital.  full story

videoGreece: Bomb explodes in front of Golden Dawn headquarters

Athens, Greece, 4.12.2012 16:06, (ROMEA) Reuters reports that a bomb exploded early this morning in front of the headquarters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which is seated in parliament. No one was injured in the explosion in a suburb of Athens, which caused only material damage.  full story

Spiegel: Rhetoric of the extreme right in Hungary has hit rock bottom

Budapest, Hungary, 3.12.2012 17:17, (ROMEA) Czech Radio has published a translation from German into Czech of an article published online by the German magazine Speigel about the ultra-right in Hungary. The magazine reports that Hungarian MP Márton Gyöngyösi of the extreme-right party "Movement for a Better Hungary" (Jobbik) declared last week in parliament that since citizens of Jewish origin pose a "security risk", a nationwide list of them should be compiled. "His statements prompted an enormous wave of indignation, but the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán distanced itself from the MP very slowly," Spiegel reports.  full story

Slovaks selling land cheap to Romani settlement residents

Slovakia, 30.11.2012 0:26, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the Slovaks are contemplating what to do with illegal Romani settlements in their country. One such settlement is in the village of Krásnohorské Podhradie, where part of the land is owned by neo-Nazi Marián Kotleba, who has threatened to demolish all of the small Romani homes currently on his property. Now Erika Gažiková, a member of the Romani community there, made enough extra money gathering berries and mushrooms this summer to purchase the land around her home in the Romani settlement from the village, as have other Romani residents.  full story

Hungary: Jobbik MP wants to compile a list of Jewish politicians

Budapest, Hungary, 29.11.2012 1:46, (ROMEA) An MP with the chauvinist (radical nationalist) political formation called Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik) has declared in the Hungarian Parliament that he wants to create a list of Jewish MPs and members of the cabinet. His proposal was condemned by the Hungarian Government. The international Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has also protested against it.  full story