František Bikár

Czech Govt Human Rights Commissioner says she will criticize politicians who are racist and resign rather than be censored

20.7.2018 14:39 Speaking in an interview for ROMEA TV, the newly-appointed Czech Government Commissioner for Human Rights, Martina Štěpánková, who answers directly to Czech
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the head of the ANO movement, said that "Politicians create the climate in society to a significant degree. For that reason it is very important for many more politicians here to condemn racism and discrimination."  full story

Czech Public Health Institute focuses on Romani children's health, odds are against those in social exclusion

16.7.2018 5:33 The health of Romani people is worse than that of the majority population in the Czech Republic. This fact is caused primarily, for socially excluded Romani people, by their insufficient awareness about healthful lifestyles, their lower educations, and their lower incomes.  full story

videoCivil society members of Czech Govt Roma Council leave meeting in protest against housing benefit-free zones

19.6.2018 15:03 Romani civil society members of the Czech Govt Council for Romani Minority affairs have left the Council meeting today to protest the current Government's social policy. They are demanding the abolition of housing benefit-free zones and the withdrawal of a bill to amend the Act on Aid to Those in Material Distress even further in a restrictive direction.  full story

videoLIVE: Civil society members of Czech Govt Council for Romani Minority Affairs make statement

19.6.2018 13:24 At 13:30 the civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs will give a statement about the introduction of the legal provision for municipalities to declare areas on their territories as "localities with an increased incidence of socially undesirable phenomena", the so-called "housing benefit-free zones". The Council already called this legal provision in the law on aid to those in material distress discriminatory during its 8 November 2017 session.  full story

videoKarel Karika: We will rehouse all 70 people from the residential hotel on Klíšská Street

18.6.2018 15:29 The Vice-Mayor of the central municipal department in the city of Ústí nad Labem, Karel Karika, told news server Romea.cz during the 14 June demonstration against the closure of the residential hotels there that he will arrange accommodation for all inhabitants of the Klíšská residential hotel by the end of this month. "We warned about this situation one year ago, we were the only movement in Ústí to disagree with announcing zones where housing benefits are not able to be disbursed," Karika told ROMEA TV.  full story

Germany: Wife of WWII-era Nazi has failed to show up for prison after conviction for inciting hatred

9.5.2018 7:50 An infamous German Holocaust denier, 89-year-old Ursula Haverbeck, was sentenced last year to two years in prison for inciting hatred. She has yet to set foot in jail.  full story

Czech Police apprehend youth who desecrated Romani genocide memorial with pig's head

8.5.2018 6:50 Detectives in Písek have managed to solve a case from February involving somebody placing a pig's head at the memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims in the community of Lety u Písku. Detectives initially worked with a minimum of information, thoroughly investigating each clue and minor detail until they accessed more specific information for assessment.  full story

videoMEP Soraya Post for ROMEA TV: Antigypsyism exists everywhere in Europe

29.4.2018 8:51 According to Romani MEP Soraya Post, antigypsyism and discrimination against Romani people are a problem in every European country. In Sweden, where she comes from, the general living conditions for Romani people are, in her opinion, much better than in Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.

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videoCzech MEP Zdechovský for ROMEA TV: Romani projects must have concrete outputs like the Romani scholarships do

29.4.2018 7:29 According to Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský (Christian Democrats - KDU-ČSL) the main aim of the EU Roma Week, which began on the occasion of International Romani Day in Brussels, is to familiarize the larger public with the Romani community. "Many people have Romani neighbors, but they know nothing about Romani culture. I believe that's a shame," he said in an interview for the Romani internet television station ROMEA TV.  full story

videoEP Vice President Lívia Járóka for ROMEA TV: There are more Romani MEPs than people realize

28.4.2018 11:02 "Our biggest challenge is to keep our children in the best education," said Lívia Járóka, first-ever Roma Vice President of the European Parliament (EP), in an interview for the Roma internet television station ROMEA TV. Speaking in Brussels during EU Roma Week, the EP Vice President said that her biggest success to date has been the adoption of the European Union's Roma Strategy.

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videoRoma Week at the European Parliament: 40 young Roma discuss antigypsyism with MEPs

27.4.2018 8:07 Activists, experts, organizations working to combat persistent hatred of Romani people in Europe, and politicians have finished the third annual Roma Week at the European Parliament and other EU institutions, which began on 8 April 2018, International Romani Day. According to the organizers, the aim of Roma Week is to bring together Romani activists, experts and youth from the European states in order to contribute to developing a European strategy against antigypsyism and to discussing options for addressing the situation of Romani people throughout Europe.  full story

videoMichal Miko to the Czech Regional Development Minister: Live in a container yourself and then we'll see what you think of it

21.4.2018 11:51 The proposal of the Czech Regional Development Minister to build 55 000 "container" units of housing has outraged various civic activists. Michal Miko, project coordinator for the Slovo 21, z.s. NGO, has taken an unequivocally negative stance on the issue: "The fact that the Government wants to adopt a law making it possible to build 'container' apartment units is unacceptable to me as a civic activist."  full story

Czech Republic: Theme of International Romani Day celebrations this year is Romipen

2.4.2018 7:06 On Sunday 8 April International Romani Day will be celebrated in the Czech Republic for the 18th time. The Prague celebrations will last three days and are being directed by the ART ART organization  full story

Czech Govt to build 55 000 "cells" for the poor, Platform for Social Housing says thousands of new ghettos will result

30.3.2018 20:28 According to a new proposal from the Czech Regional Development Ministry, the Czech Government wants to build a new type of accommodation for the country's impoverished inhabitants, so-called "social homes". There could be as many as 55 000 "cells" involved.

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Czech city names first-ever public place after Romani figure

29.3.2018 12:36 The City of Brno is the first to name a public location in the Czech Republic after a Romani figure. On 27 March the name of the Hvězdička Park was officially changed to Eugen Horváth Park.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Pigs finally leave Romani genocide site

17.3.2018 8:28 On Thursday, 14 March 2018, at 8:18 AM a truck drove away with the last 150 pigs from the farm in Lety that is located on the site of the WWII-era concentration camp for Roma at Lety. The AGPI firm, which owns the pig farm, transported the 330 animals left that day away from the grounds.  full story

Czech Justice Minister: State has no solution for social exclusion, Romani children not on an equal footing with others

13.3.2018 6:18 Speaking in an interview for ROMEA TV, Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán (ANO) said the state has not yet managed to introduce even a hint of a solution for addressing the problems that arise in socially excluded localities. "This is a big problem for the people living in such localities, but it is also a problem for those living nearby," he said.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Mayor of Brno joins march against denial of the Holocaust of the Roma

16.2.2018 8:04 Romani residents of Brno organized a march against denial of the Holocaust of the Roma on Thursday, 15 February calling for the memory of Romani victims to be honored. The main reason for the initiative is to take a stand against remarks by representatives of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" party (SPD) about the concentration camp at Lety.  full story

Slovak President Kiska discusses Romani settlements and Interior Ministry's plans for repression

31.1.2018 6:53 Slovak President Andrej Kiska organized a public panel discussion on the subject of including Romani people into society on Thursday, 26 January at the Evangelical College in Prešov that aimed to point out that verified solutions exist to some of the most essential problems in this area. The discussion also aimed to describe the genesis of the current state of affairs in connection with the planned repressive measures to be undertaken by police.  full story

Czech MP marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day by doubting what happened at Romani genocide site

30.1.2018 7:08 The Czech Museum of Romani Culture is asking that Czech MP Tomio Okamura, a vice-chair of the lower house, publicly apologize for his remark about the WWII-era concentration camp for Romani people at Lety u Písku. In an interview for the online DVTV television channel on Saturday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Okamura referenced a book that he alleged has described the camp as having not been fenced and people being free to come and go from it.  full story