Czech Republic

Czech Television considers ending controversial "debate" program

24.2.2016 18:07 The "You Have the Floor" ("Máte slovo") program, in comparison to Czech Television's other current events programs, is the very worst in terms of quality. Czech daily Lidové noviny's online edition, Lidovky.cz, reports that is the conclusion of a rapid analysis requested by a new member of the public broadcaster's board, Zdeněk Šarapatka, who is a big critic of the program moderated by Michaela Jílková.  full story

Czech foundation says tabloid is bolstering media hysteria about school reforms

23.2.2016 18:15 According to a survey performed for the tabloid daily Blesk in the Czech Republic by the SANEP agency, a large proportion of people are concerned about and disagree with upcoming changes that mean children with special educational needs will be educated together with other children in the same schools. According to Blesk, more than 90 % of a representative sample of more than 2 000 people believe the change will worsen the level of education in the country, while less than 10 % believe it will improve education.  full story

Czech Republic: Discussion of adoption and foster care for Romani children tomorrow at Klinika

22.2.2016 17:22 On Tuesday, 23 February, at 18:30 there will be a lecture and debate on the topic of foster family care for Romani children at the Klinika Autonomous Social Center (Jeseniova 60, Prague 3). This is the third such evening lecture in a series called "Getting a Good Start" (Mít dobrý start) and will be led by Martina Vančáková, a family counselor, foster parent, and psychologist who founded the "Our Romani Child" project at the Foster Care Center in Prague.  full story

Czech Interior Minister: Police committed "minor excesses" during recent demonstrations

21.2.2016 19:54 The Czech Police, who are facing criticism over the approach they took to recent demonstrations against Islam and in support of refugee reception, are officially said to have managed the situation well, save for a few "minor excesses". Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) gave that assessment to journalists yesterday in Prague.  full story

Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry's amendment counts on reducing benefits for residential hotel tenants

20.2.2016 20:28 The Czech Labor Ministry is preparing to reduce the amount of housing benefits disbursed to people living in residential hotels. The amount of the benefit should be calculated based on lower base rates than have been used to date.  full story

Czech principal: Children have the least problem with inclusion because they have yet to absorb adult prejudice

19.2.2016 20:41 "Inclusion is not some sort of rash project, it's about a process of change that many schools have already absolutely naturally put into practice," says Vladimír Foist, the principal of a primary school in the Czech town of Poběžovice, in an interview for the Czech daily Deník.cz. News server Romea.cz publishes a brief excerpt of that interview in full translation here:  full story

Czech Deputy Public Defender of Rights inserts himself into scandal over refugee interview

19.2.2016 19:01 According to Stanislav Křeček, the Deputy Public Defender of Rights, the Iraqi Christian refugee George Batto, who was offered an apartment in the Czech town of Jihlava and was then interviewed by TV Prima, did not compare that apartment to a "cowshed" or "barn for animals". In its first report about the refugees, Prima broadcast a misinterpretation of Batto's words that included a reference to a "cowshed" and juxtaposed the audio with an image of the apartments at issue.  full story

17 Czech senators say tv report on refugees constitutes illegal incitement to hatred

18.2.2016 23:13 News server Marketing&Media reports that on Wednesday, 18 February, 17 members of the Senate of the Czech Republic filed a complaint with the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting over reporting by the Prima television station about Iraqi refugees from Erbil. According to the senators, the reporting may have violated Act No. 231/2001 on the operation of radio and television broadcasting, especially the obligation to not engage in incitement to hatred.  full story

Czech Government approves social exclusion strategy for 2016-2020

18.2.2016 17:33 The Czech Government has adopted a document focused on addressing the existence of socially excluded localities and preventing the creation of new ones, including introducing a system for regularly monitoring the phenomenon of social exclusion in collaboration with all of the relevant ministries. According to the most recent research published by the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry in 2015, there are between 95 000 and 115 000 socially excluded persons living in the Czech Republic concentrated in 606 socially excluded localities.  full story

Czech Republic: Racist murderer of Romani man is ultra-right's candidate in regional elections

17.2.2016 18:59 Vlastimil Pechanec, who was convicted in 2003 of racially-motivated murder, will run in the Czech Republic's regional elections this autumn as a candidate for the Worker's Social Justice Party (Dělnická stranu sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Pechanec, who was characterized during his trial by expert witnesses as a recidivist whom it would be hard to reform, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the racist murder of a Romani man, Otto Absolon, in the town of Svitavy, and was then released on parole after serving 12 years of that sentence.  full story

Council of Europe's ROMACT project is seeking facilitators - deadline THURSDAY

15.2.2016 22:17 The ROMACT project is seeking facilitators to collaborate with local authorities and Romani communities in the Czech Republic - the deadline for applying is 18 February 2016. At this moment the call for applications concerns the areas of Budišov nad Budišovkou, Litvínov, Rokycany and Vítkov.  full story

Czech Education Minister does not anticipate a "revolution" in the instruction of the "mildly mentally disabled"

15.2.2016 21:40 The innovations that have been designed and adopted in the Czech Republic with respect to the education of children with "mild mental disability" may not even be significantly apparent in practice. Czech Education Minister Kateřina Valachová (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) has said she does not presume there will be any significant changes beginning in September as a result of the modifications.  full story

Czech Republic: Interpreter confirms TV Prima manipulated footage of refugee interview

15.2.2016 20:35 A new development has arisen in the scandal around the manipulative reporting by the Prima television station about Christian refugees from Iraq who came to the Czech Republic several weeks ago with the aid of the Generation 21 Foundation. A translator hired by Prima whose work was used during a second report broadcast on Saturday, one that the station intended to disprove the allegations of manipulation, has now revealed details that show Prima did indeed manipulate its initial reporting and suppressed important information in its follow-up reporting.  full story

Czech Republic: TV Prima releases more footage in its defense, but doubts remain about its interview with refugee

15.2.2016 4:36 The Prima television station in the Czech Republic responded during its main news show Saturday to the criticism it received after previously broadcasting a report about Christian refugees from Iraq who came to the country several weeks ago with the aid of the Generation 21 Foundation. Prima asserts in its reporting that the refugees are complaining about the apartments they have been offered and have compared them to cowsheds.  full story

Czech Republic: Television station issues statement about interview with refugee that sparked online hatred

12.2.2016 23:53 The TV Prima television station in the Czech Republic has issued a statement about an interview broadcast on 11 February with a refugee in which the interpretation of what the refugee said was inaccurate. News server Romea.cz is providing the statement here in full translation.  full story

Czech Republic: Manipulative television report sparks hatred against Christian refugees from Iraq

12.2.2016 19:51 A report by the Prima television station broadcast on 11 February 2016 in its main news program has sparked many hateful online posts in the Czech Republic. The report featured a refugee who arrived in the Czech Republic several weeks ago with the aid of the Generation 21 Foundation (NF G21) and who was alleged to have expressed many criticisms of the accommodation he was offered in the town of Jihlava.  full story

Czech Republic: ROMEA trains police on working in excluded localities

11.2.2016 19:14 From 8 - 10 February 2016, yet another set of lectures was held in Beroun, Czech Republic to prepare 60 police officers from four different regions with higher numbers of socially excluded localities in how to work with members of the Romani minority. The aim of the pilot education project is to introduce officers from district departments into the field who have knowledge of the Romani environment so they will be able to establish mutually beneficial communication with them.  full story

Blog administrator at Czech daily gets death threats after shutting down "Bloc against Islam" bloggers

10.2.2016 18:57 Cyber-bullying, death threats, racist insults. Patrik Banga, who is charge of administering blogs for the Czech daily iDNES.cz, has been facing all of those since Monday when, after several warnings, he closed down the blog of Martin Konvička, the leader of the populist, xenophobic "Bloc against Islam" group.  full story

Czech demonstrations confirm the radicalization of society, experts believe

9.2.2016 22:30 Saturday's demonstrations about migration confirmed radicalizing trends and are a reflection of the distribution of various moods in Czech society with respect to the migration issue. They also demonstrated the growing aggression, hatred, and violence taking place here at an interpersonal level.  full story

Karel Holomek: Our children, Czech and Romani, need to go to school together now more than ever

9.2.2016 21:02 Here in the Czech Republic we have all been talking about the terminology being used to describe the education of children in the primary schools. Of course, it is the impact of these education programs that has such a basic, determining influence on all of society once the children educated in these programs grow up.  full story