Czech Republic

videoCzech media, police accuse Romani family of inciting brawl with non-Roma at children's pool, Romea.cz first to report the Romani mother's testimony

13.8.2018 12:10 The Plivátko swimming facility in the Czech town of Dubí is probably the most famous one in the entire country right now. News server Romea.cz has reported that an apparently banal incident among some children playing at the children's pool there first sparked an argument and then a brawl between a Romani woman and a "white" woman.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court rejects complaint from neo-Nazi convicted of 2012 arson

9.8.2018 6:10 Czech Television reported on 7 August that the Czech Constitutional Court has rejected a complaint from neo-Nazi Tomáš Kopecký, who in 2012 committed arson against a residential hotel in the town of Aš where the tenants were Romani. At the time of his attack there were 18 people, eight of whom were children, in the building.  full story

Czech Police refute rumors that defecation in public pool was done by Roma - defamatory article sparked a racist wave online

7.8.2018 9:51 A wave of insults, racist posts, and vulgarities against the entire Romani community was sparked at the beginning of last week by an untruthful article written by Jan Vraný for the JV Press server in the Czech Republic. In the article he alleged that a 12-year-old Romani boy was responsible for contaminating the Brná swimming pool in the town of Ústí nad Labem.
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Eyewitnesses allege staff at Czech lake did not help Vietnamese mothers look for their children, who drowned

6.8.2018 9:50 Tragedy struck Lake Lhota near Prague in the Czech Republic last Thursday when two seven-year-old boys were lost - after two hours of searching, they were found, but it was too late. Both boys had drowned.  full story

Tomáš Ščuka: Romani people need competent representation first and foremost, not Romani representation at all costs

1.8.2018 10:04 I would like to discuss one of the big deficiencies in the Romani community, and that is the active participation of Romani people in political life. Thanks to the existence of online social networks, which make communications and the opportunity to share opinions so easy, we have recently been able to follow different calls to action, discussions, and similar inputs from the widest possible sample of Romani people across the Czech Republic who are frequently expressing their views of the necessity for higher participation by our community and sharing their perspectives.  full story

Edita Stejskalová calls on Czech Govt to create the position of Commissioner for Romani Affairs

1.8.2018 6:48 Speaking yesterday at a demonstration in Prague, Edita Stejskalová, a civil society member of the Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs, called for the Czech Government to immediately create the position of a Commissioner for Romani Affairs. "Romani people do not live in poverty and social exclusion by choice! Romani people are entitled to equal, fair treatment! Romani people do not want to live on the fringes of society! Romani people are demanding that EU institutions and their own Governments educate society to respect the rights of all citizens, and we ask the courts to thoroughly punish advocacy of political opinions based on theories of racial superiority! Romani people demand adequate protection of their lives and personalysecurity, as is guaranteed to all citizens! Romani people demand active, seriously-conceived participation from the national to the international level in decision-making processes," she called on the authorities in a speech that news server Romea.cz. is publishing in full translation below.  full story

PHOTO GALLERY of today's Prague demonstration of solidarity with Roma in Italy and Ukraine

31.7.2018 20:13 On 31 July 2018 Romani people from all over the Czech Republic traveled to the capital to protest the mistreatment and violence against Romani people in Italy and Ukraine. Full video of the protest is here.  full story

videoLIVE BROADCAST TODAY AT 16:00 in Prague: RomanoNet protests discrimination and racism against Roma in Europe, publishes manifesto Dost! Basta! Enough!

31.7.2018 13:53 Today at 16:00 a march will take place in Prague, Czech Republic to support the Roma of Ukraine. The event is part of a larger series of protests taking place in several European countries  full story

LIVE BROADCAST: RomanoNet delivers protest manifesto to the Italian Embassy about Italy's racist measures against Roma

30.7.2018 13:52 Representatives of RomanoNet will deliver a protest manifesto to the Ambassador of Italy to the Czech Republic, Aldo Amati, very shortly. The organizations are protesting against the situation of Romani in Italy, where the Italian Interior Minister and leader of the ultra-right Lega group, Matteo Salvini, is demanding a census of Romani people and the application of racist policies against them.

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Amateur photo contest won with images of Romani people sparks hateful reactions on Czech internet

30.7.2018 10:06 An amateur photography competition called "One Day in Přerov" was recently organized by that town in the Czech Republic, and of the more than 20 photographs submitted, the series capturing the life of Romani people there, taken by Iris Kopplhuber of Austria, won the award. The winner was chosen by visitors to the town's website, who voted for their favorites.  full story

Deadline to apply to Romani Studies program at Charles University now 19 August

29.7.2018 7:34 The two-year Bachelor's program in Romani Studies at Charles University is available either as a major or minor focus. The deadline for the extended application procedure is 19 August 2018.  full story

Czech Govt report on domestic human rights says debt collections proceedings are the country's biggest problem

28.7.2018 16:36 The Czech Republic has not yet managed to solve its problems with the personal debt trap and overindebtedness, and laws to improve the situation are lacking, which means the rules governing collections proceedings are being corrected by the courts instead. Systematic education of the public to boost their financial and legal literacy is developing only slowly.  full story

In Prague and other European cities, Romani people and their allies to protest recent violence against Roma in Ukraine

27.7.2018 9:41 On Tuesday 31 July at 16:00 a march to support Romani people in Ukraine will take place in Prague as part of a bigger protest being held in 10 European countries. The first in the series of demonstrations begins tomorrow in Bucharest, Romania, while other events referencing the current violence will also mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, 2 August, in Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and the UK, while 6 August will see events in Hungary and Macedonia.  full story

Czech expenditure on aid to those in material distress lowest for the last six years

26.7.2018 8:30 Expenditures on the set of welfare benefits known in the Czech Republic as "aid to those in material distress" have significantly fallen for the fourth year in a row and are at their lowest levels in six years. The number of persons receiving assistance from the state is also declining.  full story

Czech PM says Government not satisfied with pace at which EU funds are being drawn

25.7.2018 17:22 The Czech Government is not satisfied with how much EU money the Czech state is drawing and must dedicate more attention to the process than has been paid so far. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of the Council for the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), Czech PM Andrej Babiš (ANO) made the announcement today.  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

Independent Romani candidate collecting signatures to run for Czech Senate

23.7.2018 7:26 Petr Jano wants to become a senator representing the district of Chomutov. Like all other independent candidates, he needs to collect 1 000 petition signatures by 31 July 2018 to qualify for applying to run on the ballot.  full story

Young Czech journalist: School didn't teach me not to generalize, I had to learn that on my own

22.7.2018 13:10 Jakub Čech seems to be the incarnation of an "old soul" in the body of a teenager. Many people admire him for the constancy and toughness with which he has, since primary school, been fighting a dysfunctional or malfunctioning state administration, while others find him annoying.  full story

Analysis finds collections increasing in Czech Republic, affordable housing lacking

21.7.2018 9:41 The growing number of collections proceedings, unaffordable housing and the unequal positions of men and women are currently the most burning problems of Czech society, according to the annual National Report of the Czech Social Watch coalition. Authors of the analysis held a press conference on 19 July to warn that the strategic document UN Agenda 2030, which calls for the fulfillment of aims for sustainable development, are being ignored.  full story