Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Hooligans physically attack customer of café supporting refugees in Brno

1.7.2015 1:24 For expressing solidarity with refugees on social networking sites, the Brno-based Tři Ocásci café has endured a wave of insulting reactions and threats online. Last Saturday the situation culminated in hooligans physically attacking a customer there.  full story

Czech trial hears recording of real estate broker rejecting Romani customer

27.6.2015 20:12 A court in Litoměřice began to review an alleged case of discrimination this past Wednesday against a Romani woman, Lenka Balogová. The plaintiff is seeking a public apology from real estate broker Eliška Nosková and CZK 100 000 (EUR 3 670) in compensation because Nosková's brokerage refused to discuss leasing an apartment to Balogová because of her ethnicity.  full story

Czech riot police keep anti-immigrant, ultra-right demonstrators separate from counter-protesters in Brno

27.6.2015 0:34 Police riot units had to separate the participants of two demonstrations in Brno from each other today, one against the reception of immigrants to the Czech Republic, the other expressing solidarity with refugees. Both events took place at the same place and time just a few hundred meters away from each other.  full story

Czech School Inspectorate unequivocally supports collecting "ethnic" statistics

25.6.2015 22:57 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

Commentary: Czech Labor Minister and ombud at odds over housing benefit law, mayor says state administration is "collapsing"

25.6.2015 19:35 The threat of tens of thousands of new homeless people, including families with children, ending up "on the streets" over the next few months has forced Czech Government politicians to re-evaluate the interpretation of an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress adopted last fall by legislators, but it is not yet clear what the next steps will be. Only one thing is clear: Based on the developments of recent months and weeks, there is no guarantee that legislators will adopt another amendment on this issue in time that will be good enough to not be changed again several months from now.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court says MP's anti-Romani remarks not covered by immunity

25.6.2015 17:01 The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint filed by former MP Otto Chaloupka demanding immunity from prosecution. Last year the Czech Supreme Court rejected his appeal after he was given a suspended six-month sentence and put on probation for one year because of hateful remarks about Romani people that he posted to the Facebook social networking site.  full story

David Beňák: Without "ethnic statistics", we are de facto blind

24.6.2015 22:21 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

Czech Interior Minister calls for housing benefits law to change, gives new interpretation of existing regulations

23.6.2015 21:44 The current crisis around the disbursal of housing benefits to people living in residential hotels in the Czech Republic might have a surprisingly simple solution, at least temporarily. According to Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, a municipality's disagreement with the disbursal of benefits does not have to be considered a binding decision.  full story

Czech-language Facebook page of non-existent group falsifies photo of banner carried by Romani people

23.6.2015 20:42 The fake Czech-language Facebook group "Roma against Islam" (Romové proti Islámu) has published an altered version of a photo taken of a Romani demonstration in September 2013 in front of the Office of the Czech Government. On one the banners, instead of the Romani flag which was actually being held, the photo has been doctored to show a text that attacks refugees.  full story

Czech Chamber of Commerce considers local branch's call for Army to patrol Roma unacceptable

23.6.2015 17:46 An "Open Call" demanding a solution to the "negative immigration of inadaptables" and the deployment of the Czech Army to patrol Romani residents in excluded localities was published several days ago by the District Chamber of Commerce (OHK) in the town of Ústí nad Labem. News server Romea.cz reported yesterday that the leadership of the national Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic did not respond to our questions regarding the "Open Call".  full story

Czech management professional on hiring of Roma

21.6.2015 2:36 Right at the start of my work with the Civil Society Studies Department at Charles University in Prague I became involved in a new area in which I had not done much research, that of disadvantaged candidates and minorities on the labor market. My specialization is personnel management, and here I must state that the issue of employing people from these groups is not focused on by many experts, with the exception of those social enterprises that specifically target the employment of the disadvantaged or minorities.  full story

Slovak President honors victims of Nazi massacre at Lidice for first time ever

21.6.2015 0:49 Slovak President Andrej Kiska laid wreaths in honor of the victims of the Second World War at the Lidice memorial in the Czech Republic on 10 June. The wreaths were laid at the mass grave of the victims of the Lidice massacre and at the memorial to the child victims.  full story

Commentary: Czech Human Rights Minister wakes up on homelessness - better late than later?

20.6.2015 0:04 The crisis around the implementation of the amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress, which could result in forcing thousands, including families with children, onto the streets, is a testament to the horrible chaos and lack of conceptual clarity in Czech politics. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier warned yesterday that as many as 17 000 people could lose their "homes" in residential hotels as a result of the legislation.  full story

Czech Republic: 17 000 to lose benefits for tenancy in residential hotels

18.6.2015 23:01 As many as 17 000 applicants for housing benefits, people in need who are living in residential hotels, could lose the roofs over their heads after local authorities reject their applications. The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion reported the findings today.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Housing benefits legislation is unsustainable and must be changed

18.6.2015 21:22 Today at 9:30 AM a session of the Czech Government's Legislative Council began at which Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier added the agenda item of discussing the approval of housing benefits. Dienstbier intends to publish an analysis of the constitutionality of recently-adopted legislation according to which municipalities, not the state, approve the disbursal of these public benefits.  full story

Czech Labor Office says it cannot tell municipalities how to award housing benefits

17.6.2015 23:41 As of May, when an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress took effect, municipalities, not the state's Labor Offices, have been tasked with deciding on whether to accept or reject applications for housing benefits. Municipalities around the country have begun using these new powers and the number of rejected applications for these benefits is rising.
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Čeněk Růžička: If society is to aid the Roma, it must have data

17.6.2015 16:59 Ethnic data collection became the subject of debate at Monday's seminar organized by the Platform for Human Rights and the ROMEA organization at the Czech Parliament. Čeněk Růžička of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH) and Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the ROMEA organization, expressed support for the collection of statistical data about Romani people.  full story

Czech PM Sobotka does not want more homelessness, demands law be changed

17.6.2015 0:03 "I am of the opinion that it is essential for the Labor Minister to respond by drafting another amendment to the law where we establish clear rules to prevent people from ending up on the street en masse who are not entitled to any state support," said Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka after yesterday's cabinet session. His remarks were made in response to the situation prompted by a recently-adopted amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress which means that as of May, applications for housing benefits filed by people living in residential hotels are approved by local authorities, not the state's Labor Offices.  full story

Human rights and hate violence seminar at Czech Parliament attended by only one MP

16.6.2015 21:24 Yesterday the Platform for Human Rights and ROMEA, o.p.s. convened a seminar on "Human Rights and Hate Violence in the Czech Republic - civil society and policy" in the Czech lower house under the auspices of Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier and Czech MP Markéta Adamová. The seminar was opened by the actress and politician Táňa Fischerová.  full story

Human rights activist: The Czech state is holding impoverished people hostage, the ombud will do what she can

15.6.2015 23:13 Local councils across the Czech Republic have begun taking advantage of an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress that has shifted the power to decide on the awarding of housing benefits from local branches of the state's Labor Offices to municipalities. This is the result of declared efforts to combat residential hotels that are not up to code and the "traffickers in poverty" who run them, but in many towns this has instead become a fight against the impoverished people who are living in these facilities  full story