World

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

Fundamental Rights Agency: Hate crimes a reality in the EU

Prague, 27.11.2012 16:44, (ROMEA) The EU Fundamental Rights Agency has issued the following press release:  full story

Sweden: Racist murderer of immigrants gets life in prison

Stockholm, Sweden, 25.11.2012 21:22, (ROMEA) The racist assailant who terrorized the inhabitants of the southern Swedish town of Malmö for two years has been sentenced to life in prison. Peter Mangs (age 40) shot at dark-skinned immigrants and long evaded police despite an intensive manhunt for him. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that he was arrested in 2010 and has now been sentenced on two counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and three counts of assault. The court also ruled that Mangs must pay the families of his victims compensation in the amount of 1.2 million Swedish crowns.  full story

Greek neo-Nazi party may be linked to planned attack on mosque

Athens, Greece, 24.11.2012 20:37, (ROMEA) The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reports that the Greek neo-Nazis who won seats in Parliament this year are evidently linked to a planned Molotov cocktail attack on a mosque there. Proof of this is the case of a 22-year-old man who was recently arrested in central Greece and told police he had planned to carry out such an attack on the basis of instructions received from the radical Golden Dawn party. The party had earned his "gratitude" mafia-style by finding him work.  full story

Thousands sign Czech petition for "practical schools"

Prague, 23.11.2012 19:42, (ROMEA) Some parents and teachers are defending the Czech Republic's former "special schools", which are still attended in large numbers by Romani children today, including children who are not disabled. A petition to preserve the schools has received more than 75 000 signatures. Authors of the petition plan to deliver it to the Czech Education Ministry today.  full story

Romani people deported from France say they are starving in Romania

Timisoara, Romania, 21.11.2012 18:09, (ROMEA) Czech Radio reports that Romani people who have been deported from France to Romania are saying they will die of hunger if they stay there. They blame the Romanian authorities and view the decisions of several EU countries to forcibly deport them back to their native country as based in populism  full story

Poland: Breivik-inspired terrorist attack by antisemitic xenophobe foiled

Warsaw, 20.11.2012 22:32, (ROMEA) The Office of the Public Prosecutor of Cracow has announced that Polish police have foiled a planned bomb attack against high representatives of the country. The would-be assassin has been arrested in the southern city of Cracow.  full story

Estonia: Denial of Stalin-era deportations could become a crime

Tallinn, 20.11.2012 17:42, (ROMEA) The Estonian Justice Ministry has prepared a bill that would make it a crime to deny the Stalin-ordered deportations which affected thousands of people in the country during the Soviet era. The Delfi press agency, based in the Baltics, reports that Estonian courts would be able to sanction the approval or denial of the deportations to Siberia during the rule of dictator Joseph Stalin with prison sentences of up three years without the possibility of parole.  full story

USA warns its citizens of racist violence in Greece

Athens, Greece, 19.11.2012 16:52, (ROMEA) The Embassy of the United States of America in Athens has warned US citizens traveling to Greece that racist violence has revived there. Agence France-Presse reports that NGOs are ascribing the violence to Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi party currently seated in the Greek Parliament.  full story