Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Record numbers of parents seek after-school tutoring for their children from Museum of Romani Culture

20.7.2016 8:45 During the past school year the trend of Romani parents seeking tutoring for their children has reached an all-time high in Brno, Czech Republic. The observation that
the Romani community is becoming more and more aware of how necessary an education is to a successful future is being confirmed.  full story

Klaudia Vospálková: Investing into education pays off

19.7.2016 7:11 Klaudia Vospálková has always dreamed that one day she would become the most powerful woman on the planet. Those ambitions of hers just became a bit more achievable.  full story

Commentary: Integration of impoverished Roma must begin immediately in the Czech Republic

18.7.2016 8:17 Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman has said good-faith, intensive negotiations are underway with stockholders to remove the pig farm from the site of the former concentration camp at Lety where Romani people died. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has said he believes a law on social housing can still be approved before the next elections.  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion begins work with mayor who keeps attacking Roma

17.7.2016 15:37 Representatives of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and the leadership of the town of Vsetín signed a so-called Memorandum of Collaboration last Wednesday confirming their mutual obligations for the next three years. Local leaders will now collaborate with the Agency within the framework of its "Coordinated Approach" to addressing socially excluded localities.  full story

Czech PM asks MP to apologize for homophobic remarks, she refuses and will no longer run for office

16.7.2016 11:06 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, head of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), has called on MP Pavlína Nytrová to apologize for her "inappropriate and offensive remarks about homosexuals". If she continues to make such statements then she will no longer be able to run on the party ticket.  full story

Czech town of Kroměříž plans to demolish Romani-occupied buildings in approach reminiscent of previous evictions

16.7.2016 9:27 The town hall of Kroměříž has been inspired by the approach taken by towns such as Holešov or Vsetín and reportedly plans to demolish buildings currently serving as social housing in the Račín settlement, where roughly 100 "socially vulnerable" residents live in the quarter called "Dolní zahrady" (Lower Gardens), most of whom are Romani. After the demolition, apartments for senior citizens are supposed to be built there, and the current residents, according to Vice-Mayor Pavel Motyčka, will be moved into other localities.  full story

Czech Social Democratic MP says "homosexuals" want to legalize sex with children, PM not yet calling for her resignation

15.7.2016 16:08 Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the chair of the governing Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), says he wants to meet with Czech MP Pavlina Nytrová (also ČSSD)
to discuss her recent remarks about "homosexuals". The PM says he does not want her to continue making such comments.  full story

Czech Republic: Christian refugees from Iraq slowly find housing and jobs

15.7.2016 14:24 The 40 Iraqi Christians who were brought to the Czech Republic a couple of months ago by the Generation 21 Foundation have moved into rental housing and are learning Czech. Some of the adults are also beginning to work.  full story

Romani civil society member of advisory body to Czech Government resigns over failure to remove pig farm from genocide site

15.7.2016 9:21 Miroslav Zima, the director of Drom, a Romani Center, resigned last month from the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission on Roma Community Affairs. One of the
reasons for his resignation is the fact that the pig farm has not yet been removed from the site of the WWII era "Gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek.
 full story

Czech Police to get new powers to disperse assemblies, spontaneous demonstrations will not have legal protection

14.7.2016 9:23 The option of being able to hold a spontaneous public assembly without first announcing it to the authorities will not be enshrined in law as the Government previously
proposed. The parameters for those entitled to announce such a public gathering to local authorities will also not be expanded, but police officers will be given new powers to disperse an assembly directly.  full story

Commentary: Czech anti-immigrant MP has a math problem

12.7.2016 8:36 The Czech politician Tomio Okamura has reported through Facebook and Twitter, as well as through his video blog, that "Muslim migrants are primarily responsible for the number of rapes in Sweden growing by a multiple of more than 1 500". Since such a claim naturally attracts our attention, let's take a look at it.  full story

Czech Republic: Autonomous Social Center Klinika is again open to the public, court overturns preliminary injunction

11.7.2016 14:27 The Autonomous Social Center Klinika in Prague opened to the public again on 7 July after several weeks of closure. The Municipal Court in Prague has overturned a preliminary injunction banning the center from operating.  full story

Half of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in social exclusion, members of the middle class face ethnic intolerance

11.7.2016 6:47 Half of the Romani people living in the Czech Republic are socially excluded. According to qualified estimates made by the coordinators for Romani minority affairs who work at local and regional level, that is more than 113 000 people.  full story

Czech politician files criminal report against activist who set a copy of the Quran on fire

10.7.2016 12:07 The Brno-based politician Svatopluk Bartík (Žít Brno) has filed criminal charges against Martin Konvička, head of an Islamophobic initiative now named after himself ("The Initiative of Martin Konvička"), who provoked outrage last week in front of a mosque in Brno. Konvička and his followers said they were "defending Czech culture" by setting fire to the Quran, holding a fashion show of scantily-clad women, drinking beer, and eating goulash and hot dogs.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma report racism to Facebook after calls for "gypsies" to be set on fire are posted

8.7.2016 8:34 A person presenting herself on Facebook as "Bára Fictumová" now awaits criminal investigation after two Romani people, the well-known activist Jan Čonka and journalist Patrik Banga, filed a report of criminal activity over a post on that page. Fictumová has sadly now become famous on Facebook by posting the following message:  full story

The online hoax phenomenon and how to address it

29.6.2016 8:05 Modern media and communications technology are connecting people across the global village, facilitating the dissemination and sharing of information without any of the
previous obstacles posed by space and time. The demand for open communications and the concurrent flood of information, however, increasingly require us to be able to
think critically and verify the information we receive.  full story

Czech mayor rejects ombudsperson's proposal on how to end discrimination of Romani children in local school

28.6.2016 19:19 The Czech Public Defender of Rights (ombudsperson), Anna Šabatová, considers discriminatory the approach taken by Ivana Preyová, the principal of the primary school in the town of Krásná Lípa who divided up first-graders at the beginning of this school year to create a classroom comprised solely of Romani children. Šabatová has recommended the establisher of the school take several steps to prevent discrimination this fall and minimize the risk of anti-discrimination lawsuits being filed against them.  full story

František Kostlán: Brexit is unwelcome because the British are great. Let's not be vindictive.

28.6.2016 7:14 The main reason Brexit is unwelcome hasn't been said yet: The British are great - they are simply themselves, with their experienced, ingrained democracy and their bravery, dedication and humanity. In other words, they have all the things we lack.  full story

Petr Uhl: British Tories and the Czech ODS are two Trojan horses inside the EU

27.6.2016 14:47 The European Union should change. The form of that change, however, will now be the subject of much discussion, as there are very different ideas for it being proposed.  full story

Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister meets with homeless people

27.6.2016 6:55 On 23 June an active group of homeless people from three Czech cities met in Prague with Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová and a representative of the Regional Development Ministry, Housing Policy Department Director Jiří Klíma. Roughly 40 people gathered to discuss the planned law on social housing.  full story