News

Romani family files complaint against Czech investigation of death

13.1.2017 17:13 The family of Miroslav Demeter, who died on 18 October 2016 at a pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec under still-unclarified circumstances, has filed a complaint against the district State Prosecutor's Office in Louny. The bereaved are convinced, by the course of the investigation to date, that the police are not investigating the case thoroughly because the deceased was dependent on drugs.
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Human Rights Watch: Success of populists in Europe and US endangers human rights

13.1.2017 11:15 The electoral success of Donald Trump in the USA and the triumphs of populists in Europe represent a serious threat to the protection of fundamental human rights. Today the international organization for human rights protection, Human Rights Watch (HRW), presented that finding in its annual report.  full story

Hungarian PM attacks nonprofits supported by Soros, wants to close them

13.1.2017 9:24 The BBC and the Bloomberg wire service reported yesterday that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is said to be intent on taking aggressive action against NGOs financed by billionaire George Soros. The Hungarian PM has previously been criticized by the EU and the USA for his attacks on such organizations.  full story

Czech historian gets death threats after saying migration is a natural phenomenon

13.1.2017 7:35 News server Lidovky.cz reports that Charles University's Faculty of Arts issued a statement on 10 January publicly backing one of its academics, Matěj Spurný, an historian and specialist in modern nationalism and the history of modern European dictatorships. He became the target of death threats and racist abuse on online social networks after giving an interview to Týden magazine about migration at the beginning of January.  full story

Carmen Russo: The Fight For a Better Future. Battling Racism in Czech Schools

12.1.2017 12:15 A small group of American interns at The New Presence office were exploring the answer to a seemingly difficult question: Why are some Czechs so outwardly racist?  full story

Czech Deputy Ombudsman: We cannot treat people as individuals

12.1.2017 7:44 "Human rights and security are communicating vessels. A person who is not secure is not free. The degree of danger that is now being felt in Europe must have an influence on how human rights are conceived of," the lawyer and Deputy Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček has said in an interview for the Czech magazine RESPEKT.  full story

Czech Republic: Investigation into Romani man's death continues as interethnic gulf widens

11.1.2017 7:13 Last fall was marked for thousands of Romani people in the Czech Republic by the mysterious, still-unclarified death of a young man, Miroslav Demeter, in a pizzeria in Žatec. During 20 demonstrations and memorial assemblies around the country and abroad, Romani people took to the streets with the aim of expressing their opinion that the case must be properly investigated.  full story

Slovak President gives state honors to 20 figures, including Czech politician

10.1.2017 11:45 High state honors were awarded yesterday in Slovakia to film director Juraj Herz, in memoriam to the longtime editor of the Romano nevo l'il newspaper Daniela Hivešová-Šilanová, and to the Czech politician Michael Kocáb. They were among 20 such figures honored by Slovak President Andrej Kiska at the castle in Bratislava.  full story

Germany: Berlinale Film Festival opens with film about Django Reinhardt

10.1.2017 10:55 The 67th annual incarnation of one of the most significant film festivals in the world, Germany's Berlinale, will open this year with the world premier of "Django". The feature-length film about the genius Sinti jazz musician is a directorial debut for French producer and screenwriter Etienne Comar, who is known primarily thanks to his work on the screenplay for the critically-acclaimed 2015 film "Mon Roi" (My King).  full story

Albín Balát: The curious New Year's maneuvers of the Czech Police

10.1.2017 9:48 Recently photographs and video footage have been appearing on online social networking sites showing various interventions by the Czech Police. These amateur photos and recordings have been viewed several thousand times.  full story

England: Families of girls who died after hit-and-run give thanks for support, ask Romani community not to raise any more money

10.1.2017 8:26 The families of the Romani girls who were killed in England on New Year's Eve by an irresponsible hit-and-run driver have sent a video message through the Facebook profile of one of their relatives asking the public not to organize any more fundraising drives to support them. In the roughly three-minute message, the family members each express their gratitude to everybody who has already provided them with financial, moral and psychological support.  full story

Social housing law sparks dispute between ministers for ANO and Czech Social Democrats

10.1.2017 7:36 On 24 November 2016, the demolition of two dilapidated prefabricated apartment buildings at the Chanov housing estate in the Czech town of Most was begun in the presence of Czech Regional Development Minister Karla Šlechtová (ANO) (pictured above) and the Mayor of Most, Jan Paparega. The town is one of the successful applicants for subsidies from a program financing the demolition of decrepit buildings offered by the Regional Development Ministry.  full story

Civil March for Aleppo crosses into the Czech Republic

9.1.2017 17:24 Hundreds of people left Berlin, Germany at the end of 2016 on a 4 000 kilometer long march to Aleppo, Syria. Those participating will continue through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey to Syria.  full story

Poll shows 71 % of Czechs support adoption of a social housing law

9.1.2017 9:35 The Platform for Social Housing reports that most Czechs believe a law should exist establishing an obligation for municipalities to maintain a certain number of social apartments to offer to citizens in need of housing. Those are the findings of a representative public opinion poll implemented by the MEDIAN agency for the Association of the Child and Family and the Platform for Social Housing.  full story

Czech Republic: ARA ART launches campaign to support LGBT Roma

9.1.2017 8:32 The ARA ART organization has launched a campaign to support Romani gays and lesbians who face hateful, homophobic, racist or vulgar abuse. The association has published a brief video online in which Romani gays and lesbians talk about what it meant to them to come out about their sexual orientation.  full story

Commentary: Too soon to assess inclusive reforms in education

9.1.2017 7:57 The number of Romani pupils being educated with assessments of "mild mental disability" remains essentially the same this year as it did last year. Current data from the Czech Education Ministry basically confirm the previous findings from enrollments into first grade regarding the reassigment of children from the former "practical schools" into mainstream ones - namely, that no massive transfers of pupils have happened.  full story

Model is shocked by Czech racists' response to him, incident now an international embarrassment

9.1.2017 7:26 The scandal of racist commentaries being posted to Facebook in response to the international Lidl retail chain's use of a black model in an advertising flier in the Czech Republic has drawn media attention in many European countries including Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. The news has reached the model himself, who lives in Hamburg, Germany.  full story

Charter 77 veterans critique Czech Government for forgetting about human rights

9.1.2017 6:50

The signatories of the Charter 77 document gathered in Prague's Lucerna complex on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its creation Saturday, as did other dissidents who played a key role in its organization. The conference, called "The Charter through Its Own Eyes", was preceded by a celebration featuring not just recollections of the circumstances of the creation and operation of the opposition initiative, but also a critique of the current Czech Government as deviating away from an active defense of human rights abroad.

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Czech officials will not prosecute complaints that election advertisement was racist

7.1.2017 10:03 A campaign video produced by the TOP 09/ Live Brno (Žít Brno) ticket for use in last year's regional elections has been assessed by the Brno State Prosecutor as not racist. Czech Television reported the decision on 4 January, referencing Ivo Hahn, a spokeperson for the prosecutor's office.  full story

Czech Republic: Number of Romani pupils educated according to reduced standards is practically unchanged

6.1.2017 12:41 The number of Romani children educated according to reduced standards remains practically unchanged this school year compared to last, according to a report about the "qualified estimates" of the number of Romani children in the primary schools published yesterday by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. "In the primary schools, according to current estimates, 85.4 % of Romani pupils are being educated within the framework of the mainstream standards, 12.8 % of Romani pupils are being educated in programs designed for pupils with 'mild mental disability', and the remaining 1.8 % of Romani pupils are being educated according to the Framework Education Program for Special Primary School, designed for a more profound degree of mental disability," says a press release from the ministry.  full story