Commentary

Karel Holomek: Czech President's proposal to leave pig farm on genocide site is out of touch

13.7.2017 17:34 On 24 June, at the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety u Písku, representatives of Romani people from all over Europe assembled, supported by many official European actors in a group reportedly totalling at least 300 people. The initiators of the protest against the pig farm on that site were not Czech Roma, although members of Czech Romani communities did attend the gathering.  full story

David Beňák: Health inequality in the Czech Republic a topic now that Romani infant mortality double the national average

8.7.2017 17:24 Inequality and the discrimination flowing from it exists in the Czech Republic across a wide palette of variations. Inequality exists with respect to incomes, access to education and to information generally.
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Bernard Rorke: Bulgarian government sticks a middle finger at Europe and appoints a fascist to head integration unit

28.6.2017 16:45 The muted EU response to the appointment of Patriot Front henchman, Valeri Simeonov, to lead Bulgaria’s council on integration beggars belief. In an open letter on May 29, nearly 400 Bulgarian human rights activists and intellectuals, denounced the appointment of a "pronounced supporter of fascist and neo-Nazi ideology,"  full story

Marian Dancso: Czech justice through the eyes of Filip Grznár, who threatens Roma with murder

26.6.2017 9:58 "He took his legally licensed 9 millimeter and shot him, he did a good deed." That is how Filip Grznár has expressed his view of the recent shooting death of a young Romani man in Chomutov.  full story

Commentary: Social Exclusion is a Global Issue

23.6.2017 14:00

The issues the Roma face in Europe are issues that many minorities around the globe face as well. There is unequal distribution of education, employment, and housing.

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Thorbjorn Jagland Explains How Roma Empowerment Can Educate Us

12.6.2017 23:50 Speaking on 8 June 2017 in Berlin, Council fo Europe Secretary General Jagland expressed his support for the launch of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC). The Council of Europe views ERIAC as an independent organization through which the Roma can express their cultural achievements throughout history amidst the continual prejudice directed against them.   full story

George Soros Explains How Negative Stereotypes Against the Roma Affect Us All

12.6.2017 17:30 Speaking in Berlin on 8 June 2017, George Soros had several remarks for the opening of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC). The institute strives to help enable the Roma to become the primary advocates of their own futures.  full story

Michael Roth Gives Us Reason to Celebrate as ERIAC Launches

12.6.2017 17:20 Germany's Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth, has expressed confidence in the launch of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) in Berlin on 8 June 2017. According to Roth, “dealing with Roma issues as Minister of State for Europe has shown [him] there is a great lack of visibility concerning role models."  full story

Zeljko Jovanovic: ERIAC Empowers the Roma to Share Their Legacy

12.6.2017 16:50 In Berlin on 8 June 2017, Zeljko Jovanovic, Chair of the Board of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, welcomed the launch of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC). ERIAC is about Roma empowerment, but even more than that, ERIAC has been created to empower the Roma to tell their own history and shape their own futures.  full story

Julius Zajac: Czechs and Romani people don't like each other

5.6.2017 9:55 Czechs and Romani people have not liked each other for generations (generally speaking) and is is clear to see that future generations will not like each other either. While the situation is gradually improving, that fact is not visible, for the most part, because the tempo of improvement is too slow.  full story

Tomáš Ščuka: Unwritten social rules make racism against the Romani minority socially acceptable

4.6.2017 12:40 As we all well know, the written laws of any country legislate the generally binding rules for behavior in society and are enforceable. There are also unwritten laws, or legal customs, and they are also determined by the rules of behavior through which a society governs itself.  full story

Commentary on shooting of Romani man in Chomutov: How many more murder victims before the state learns how to respond?

1.6.2017 10:52 A young Romani man was murdered during the early morning hours of Saturday on Jirkovská Street in Chomutov, Czech Republic. A non-Romani man shot him dead with a
legally licensed weapon, bringing to an end an argument taking place in front of the apartment building where he had been sleeping.
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Stano Daniel: Slovak Roma have to let themselves be beaten up now, otherwise the fascists will be elected

30.5.2017 8:00 Among Romani people in Slovakia the feeling is prevailing that the biggest threat to their future is the fascist party chaired by Marian Kotleba. It is quite possible to agree with their sentiment.  full story

Stano Daniel: Will a renovated nursery school have to close in Romania? Support for Romani child development is crucial

29.5.2017 7:22 The creation of the Ready Set Go! project in Romania has supported over a thousand young Romani children and their families. However, as the funding is ending, the future of the project is in doubt. On the occasion of the International Roma Day on April 8, 2017, the Romani Early Years Network (REYN), the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) organized a roundtable discussion in Brussels to discuss the future of similar projects. The event hosted by the European Foundation Centre’s (EFC) Forum for Roma Inclusion highlighted the benefits of pilot actions and identified additional ways to bring European Union policies closer to Romani children, to make the changes more sustainable.PARA  full story

Robert Tonelli: Romani people must propose their own candidate for President of the Czech Republic

8.5.2017 6:54 Over the past few days we have been witnessing how political indiscretions can bend the entire political scene here in the Czech Republic. I am writing here as a person who takes an interest in public affairs across the board, not just in the question of human rights, about which I have written many articles.  full story

Czech survey on migration in socially excluded localities finds people move too frequently, either to escape debt or because the mafia evicts them

4.5.2017 11:40 The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, as part of its project called the "Campaign against Hate Violence and Racism", has published two surveys about loan-
sharking and migration inside of socially excluded localities. News server Romea.cz publishes here in full translatoin a commentary on their findings by Roman Matoušek, who summarizes their recommendations regarding internal migration in the Czech Republic.  full story

Karel Holomek: Inclusion in education is the same as equality

24.4.2017 10:26 Mr Marek Přibil is doing his best to convince us, for the umpteenth time, that inclusion in education is the ruin of the Czech schools. He also alleges that what he describes as an absolutely untrustworthy failure has been produced by the Social Democrats.  full story

Romani residents of excluded locality in northern Czech Republic organize cleanup of its public spaces

17.4.2017 9:49 From Thursday 30 March through Saturday, 1 April, the newly-created Amare Předlice ("Our Předlice") group held its "Úklid Předlic" (Předlice Cleanup) event in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. The event was historically an important breakthrough for this community living in social exclusion and primarily for the locality itself, which has long been socially excluded.  full story

Commentary: Ethnicity and social inclusion - some data, some Jedi Knights, and some methodological remarks

13.4.2017 12:09 Should data disaggregated by ethnicity be collected, or not? Is such data collection at all morally acceptable?  full story

Alexander Olah: Twenty years of poor Roma being integrated by Romani elites in the Czech Republic

11.4.2017 8:16 The law on national minorities in the Czech Republic - and basically the entire concept of minority protections - is desperately far from the actual needs of impoverished Romani people in socially excluded localities. The same applies (apart from the existence of the Office of the Public Defender of Rights) to the absolutely miserable provisions for the protection of these people from institutional discrimination.  full story