Jana Baudyšová

Civil society members of Czech Govt Roma Council call on public broadcaster to hold a real debate about Romani issues

16.10.2018 10:58  full story

Czech politicians respond to President's antigypsyism: He divides us so we won't unite against him

10.10.2018 8:10 Some other Czech politicians have begun to respond to Czech President Miloš Zeman's remarks about Romani people avoiding work - remarks which prompted
Romani people all over Europe to post photographs of themselves at work to Facebook. "When my son Nick was born, my Romani friends came to visit all the
way from Ostrava to give him a medallion of the Madonna. They call me frequently to see whether I might have a job or work for them, to ask how I am, to
tell me how they are. They're business people. Miloš, what the hell have you ever done for them and who gave you the right to insult them like this? former
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek (Civic Democratic Party - ODS) tweeted.
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Czech local election billboards referencing "riff-raff" reported to police

3.10.2018 8:04 The "Most Residents for Most" (Mostečané Mostu) association will be reported to police because of their campaign slogan "We Will Build a Village for the Riff-Raff", which has been used on their billboards and posters. Monika Mihaličková of the ROMEA organization has initiated the accusation.  full story

Czech civil society groups, Romani ones included, protest students inviting ultra-right candidate to debates ahead of elections

26.9.2018 20:08 The Ústecký Parliament of Children and Youth (ÚPDM) is holding an event today entitled "Political Debate with Representatives of All Parties Running Locally" as part of a project called "Young People Vote". Tomáš Vandas, the candidate invited to represent the "Clean Ústí" movement, is also the co-founder of the ultra-right Workers' Party (DS), which was dissolved by the Supreme Administrative Court in 2010, and is still chair of its successor party, the current Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS).  full story

Russian social network blocks "Miss Hitler" beauty contest after Israeli media contact

22.9.2018 9:56 The news server timesofisrael.com reports that Russia's online social network Vkontakte (VK), which is similar to the US-based social network Facebook, has blocked a page dedicated to Adolf Hitler that was hosting an online beauty competition called "Miss Hitler". Hundreds of people voted online in the contest and, according to the Hadashot television station in Israel, it was participated in by contestants from Germany, Italy, Russia and the  full story

Slovakia now has an MP from the Romani minority, Štefan Vavrek

19.9.2018 9:14 Wire services report that Slovakia's unicameral legislature has just seated a new MP. After MP Edita Pfundtnerová (Most-Híd) relinquished her seat in order to become a state secretary at the Justice Ministry, Romani community member Štefan Vavrek has now replaced her.  full story

Czech Police charge right-wing extremists who assaulted citizens of India

6.9.2018 7:40 The Czech Police have charged three men from the group of right-wing extremists who assaulted a group of Indian citizens in the town of Písek at the end of July. If convicted they face between one and five years in prison.  full story

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day marks the Nazi murder of Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz on 2-3 August 1944

2.8.2018 9:27 On 2 and 3 August 1944 the Nazis murdered 2 898 Roma and Sinti in the gas chambers of the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Roma and Sinti all over Europe, therefore, commemorate 2 August as Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.  full story

Now that evictees are housed, Czech local government attacks NGOs and the poor

25.7.2018 12:20 The last remaining evictees from two closed residential hotels have finally moved out of the gym at a school in the excluded locality of Předlice and into rental housing. After their previous contracts were not extended, 25 tenants evicted from the Modrá residential hotel in the Střekov quarter of Ústí nad Labem ended up living in the gym temporarily at the beginning of July.
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Czech landlord pressured to leave Civic Democratic Party for trafficking in poverty, he denies the accusation

25.7.2018 5:59 Martin Kuba, the chair of the South Bohemian regional association of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), has met with his party colleague, Jan Zedník, seeking an explanation of Zedník's business enterprises leasing apartment units in socially excluded localities. News server lidovky.cz reports that Kuba has proposed cancelling Zedník's party membership.  full story

Czech court rules in favor of songwriter's widow, xenophobic band loses prize named after him without authorization

22.6.2018 8:40 The Czech organization that gave a music award named after the songwriter Karel Kryl to the frontman for the xenophobic Ortel band, Tomáš Ortel, have lost their appeal of the lawsuit filed against them by the songwriter's widow. The Gold Award for the Legacy of Karel Kryl was given to Ortel last spring by a group called People for the People (Lidé lidem) that actually was not authorized to use the songwriter's name at all.
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Czech Supreme Court closes case of vote-buying at Romani housing estate, public interest of secret recording was key

5.6.2018 10:05 The Czech Supreme Court has closed a case about vote-buying in the runup to local elections in 2014 at the Chanov housing estate. The case charged Hana Jeníčková, the former Vice-Mayor of Most from the "Association of Most Residents for Most" who later became an opposition city councilmember, and Jan Hašek, former director of the city's sports hall, with attempting to buy votes from local residents.  full story

Romani community member David Beňák now director of the Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion

2.6.2018 19:16 As of yesterday, the director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is David Beňák, previously vice-minister for the Human Rights Section at the Office of the Government. He will take over the job after its having been entrusted to acting director Radka Soukupová for the last seven months.  full story

Residential hotels closing in Czech city, Romani tenants have yet to find substitute accommodation

1.6.2018 19:22 The inhabitants of two residential hotels in the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem that will close at the end of June still do not know where they will be moving. During their housing search they are encountering the need to pay deposits they cannot afford, as well as discrimination from landlords.
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EU Agency for Fundamental Rights finds Czech Republic the place that rejects Romani people the most

30.4.2018 15:29 The lives of many Romani people in Europe are similar to the lives of people living in the poorer countries of the world, according to a report released earlier this month by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) entitled "A persisting concern: anti-Gypsyism as a barrier to Roma inclusion". The main problems Romani people face daily in the EU include hunger, poor hygienic conditions, and youth unemployment, according to the report.  full story

Brutal assailant attacks Romani woman in front of her children, Czech Police can't get their stories straight

23.3.2018 16:48

A brutal assailant attacked Lucie Badyová in front of her seven-year-old son and three-year-old daughter last Thursday afternoon on Kapitána Jaroše Street in the Czech town of Kadaň. He punched her, knocking her to the ground and continued his brutal assault as she was prone.

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Slovakia: Second Romani schoolchild dies after February car accident

23.3.2018 15:26 A tragic car accident that happened in February near Poprad, Slovakia in the village of Spišské Bystré has now claimed its second victim at the hospital in Martin. One week after the accident a 12-year-old girl named Vanesa succumbed to her injuries there, and now her 14-year-old sister Alžběta has succumbed to her own injuries as well.  full story

Czech MP from the far right is a trafficker in poverty

19.3.2018 8:29 Lubomír Volný, an MP in Tomio Okamura's "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement and a regional assembly member, has been renting properties for five years to the same impoverished families that the SPD customarily labels as "inadaptables" or "parasites", making money from the very welfare system that the SPD otherwise rejects as costly and dysfunctional. Public broadcaster Czech Television has reported on his business dealings in detail during an episode of Reportéři ČT that aired on 12 March.  full story

Czech anti-immigration activist launches book on the premises of the lower house, ultra-conservatives support it

18.3.2018 10:19 Petr Hampl, the anti-immigration and anti-Islam activist and sociologist, has launched his new book about Islam and the alleged "Islamicization" of society on the premises of the Czech Chamber of Deputies. Hampl is known for having publicly expressed support for the father who filmed himself urging his preschool-aged daughter to hit a pillow with a baseball bat while pretending she was hitting a Muslim or a Romani person, and his book launch was attended by the son of former Czech President Václav Klaus and by other MPs.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry's quarterly report on extremism: Politicians exploited fears of immigration

19.2.2018 8:19 The Czech Interior Ministry's report on extremism for the final quarter of 2017 says a total of 54 events organized by extremists took place last year in the Czech Republic. Of those, 47 were organized by left-wing extremist entities, 20 events more than compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.  full story