Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Amaro Records recording studio opens in Brno

8.4.2016 15:31 Yesterday the IQ Roma servis (IQRS) nonprofit organization opened the Amaro Records recording studio in the site of a former gambling parlor located between the "Romani ghetto" and the "normal" city center of Brno. "We were inspired by Barcelona, where a similar recording studio serves foreign nationals and migrants, but our studio is for anyone and everyone," Katarína Klamková, director of IQ Roma servis, explained to the Czech daily Mladá front DNES  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister on International Romani Day: Quality education, more awareness of Romani culture, history, language all important

8.4.2016 11:56 According to Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier, a quality education is an essential prerequisite for improving the position of Romani people in society. It is also important to increase awareness of Romani culture, history and language.  full story

Jan Husák: Educating everyone together challenges each of us to adapt

7.4.2016 12:02 When it comes to the 2007 judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the matter of D.H. and Others versus the Czech Republic, contradictory positions are currently being taken on this issue in Czech society, with some publicly condemning this judgment while others defend it. Even though both sides of this dispute predominantly connect it with the obligation to abolish the "special schools" and lay the groundwork for educating everyone together, after familiarizing myself with this unique judgment I see its essential message as being something else, namely, its interpretation of indirect discrimination.  full story

Commentary: Romipen is democratic, enriching not just Romani people but Czech society, Europe and the world

4.4.2016 21:27 Friday 8 April will be International Romani Day. In the Czech Republic the largest number of events on this day will be held in Brno.  full story

videoCzech Republic: NGO campaign draws attention to anti-Romani prejudice

2.4.2016 20:43 A new campaign against prejudice toward Romani people has been launched in the Czech Republic to mark International Romani Day this year by the ARA ART organization. The campaign is called #PrayForPrej and one of its main ideas is that Romani people do not live according to prejudiced expectations, but fully participate in Czech society, and people should not believe the lies disseminated about them.  full story

Local councilor convicted of drugs charge, Czech Constitutional Court says he should not have held been in custody

1.4.2016 20:43 Marcel Cichý, a local councilor and educator in the Czech town of Trmice charged with contributing to international drug sales, was convicted and sentenced on Friday to two years in prison, conditionally suspended for four years. His cousin Ladislav Cichý, who was also charged in the case, will be going to prison for eight and a half years, while another cousin, Pavel Kišš, got a three-year prison sentence suspended for five years.  full story

Karel Holomek: Migration crisis not new, Roma migrated from Slovakia post-WWII and to Canada post-1989

31.3.2016 17:14 Last weekend the international "Dialogue in the Center of Europe" (Dialog uprostřed Evropy) conference was held in Brno, one that has traditionally been held there for many years. This year's topic was "Historical and European perspectives on the approach to refugees".  full story

Czech Supreme Audit Office: People who are not disadvantaged at all are being awarded "social housing"

29.3.2016 23:27 State-subsidized apartments are being leased by people in the Czech Republic who are not living with any kind of medical or social disadvantage. What's more, the Czech Regional Development Ministry is not keeping track of who is actually taking advantage of such subsidized properties.  full story

Czech Republic: Interest in tutoring for Romani children in Brno exceeds supply of volunteers

29.3.2016 21:24 News server iDNES.cz reports that the Romani residents of Brno are expressing increasing interest every year in the long-term tutoring of their children. This year a minimum of 250 Romani children are augmenting their regular education in this way.  full story

Czech Republic: International Romani Day celebration to honor the invisible in Prague

29.3.2016 19:08 The Romani association ARA ART will be holding its second annual celebrations of International Romani Day on 8 April. This year's theme is "Honoring the Invisible".  full story

videoCzech town offers Romani family accommodation in uninhabitable residential hotel

28.3.2016 9:51 The Gorol family of the Czech town of Slaný recently requested an apartment from local officials after their previous rental arrangement came to an end. The local council approved a place in its residential hotel for them, which is comprised of three adjacent buildings.  full story

videoUltra-right extremists riot in center of Prague, Czech Police intervene and arrest racist activist

27.3.2016 3:15 Police in Prague arrested the chair of the right-wing extremist National Democracy (ND) party, Adam B. Bartoš, on Saturday, 26 May at a demonstration against "Islamicization". Four other demonstrators were arrested later in the day.  full story

Yveta Kenety: Czech daily again manipulates public with biased, outdated information about Roma

24.3.2016 17:14 One of the most recent examples of manipulative journalism that breaks all the rules on writing a quality article is the Právo daily's piece published on 21 March on their online news server Novinky.cz with the misleading headline "European Judges: Czech Republic was basically punished for trying to educate Roma". The report is about the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the case of D.H. and Others versus Czech Republic and quotes three judges who voted against that judgment as if it were a hot news item the journalist had to go straight to Strasbourg to get.  full story

Analysis: Apartheid and segregation are being applied to Romani schoolchildren in the Czech Republic

24.3.2016 2:03 Romani children comprise almost one-third of the pupils who now attend schools previously referred to as "special schools" (zvláštní školy) even though less than 3 % of the population of the Czech Republic is Romani. That fact was reported by the international human rights protection organization Amnesty International (AI) in February in a report entitled "Must Try Harder - Ethnic Discrimination of Romani Children in Czech Schools".  full story

Czech Police given suspended sentences along with civilian who beat Romani youth and threatened to kill him

23.3.2016 23:23 Yesterday a court in the Czech Republic handed down three suspended sentences against the perpetrators of an assault on a Romani youth that happened at the end of January 2015 and was first reported by news server Romea.cz. The trial did not prove that the two defendants who were police officers were responsible for the attack, but did punish them for merely observing the behavior of the third defendant who perpetrated the violence.  full story

David Beňák on the Czech inclusive education debate, the invisible, and the unheard

23.3.2016 21:27 Educating all children together is a basic, normal approach to education that must be the standard in the Czech Republic. It is a good standard to set ourselves.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry not allowing party to add "Bloc against Islam" to its name

22.3.2016 19:58 The Czech Interior Ministry has denied permission to the Úsvit-Národní koalice (Dawn-National Coalition) political party to change its name to "Úsvit s Blokem proti islámu" (Dawn with the Bloc against Islam). Party chair Miroslav Lidinský informed journalists of the decision today.  full story

Analysis: Czech daily reprints eight-year-old dissenting opinions of Strasbourg judgment on racial discrimination in education

22.3.2016 18:20 The Czech daily Právo has published a report on the dissenting opinions of judges on the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg stating that the Czech Republic lost the D.H. case at that venue in 2007 because the state had attempted to educate Romani people. The fact that the statements are eight years old did not prevent the daily from making them the main story of yesterday's edition.  full story

Analysis: Czech tabloid launches campaign against inclusive education

20.3.2016 18:30 The Czech tabloid Blesk launched a campaign against inclusive education several weeks ago. It began by spending a week depicting inclusive education to its readers by way of clichés, lies and myths about the destruction of the Czech school system.  full story

International experts: Friendly approach from teachers toward families essential to successful inclusive education

18.3.2016 18:17 International experts who presented at the recent "School for All" conference in the Czech Republic described several factors key to the success of educating children living with disabilities together with other children. Those factors include collaborating with families, a friendly approach from teachers, the involvement of other experts, emphasis on the progress of each pupil, and the societal perception that the inclusive model of education is the correct way forward.  full story