Czech Republic

David Beňák: Romani legislators would decidedly not get lost in the lower house

16.10.2017 11:04 News server Romea.cz is publishing interviews with each Romani candidate competing for a seat this year in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. This interview is with Czech Deputy Human Rights Minister David Beňák, who is running on the Prague candidate list of the Czech Social Democratic Party in 14th place.  full story

Czech Republic: Children's fight mischaracterized by media as "Roma gang violence"

16.10.2017 8:08 The Facebook social network has been circulating a video recording of an aggressive assault by a Romani youth on two schoolchildren in a park in the Czech town of Louny. The state police are investigating and have beefed up morning and afternoon patrols around schools there in collaboration with local police, and the Department of Social Affairs and Health Care of the local authority has also begun investigating.  full story

Anna Chválová, candidate for the Czech lower house: Romani candidates have the same chance as all others, it's not a disadvantage

15.10.2017 11:56 News server Romea.cz is publishing interviews with each Romani candidate competing for a seat this year in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Today our interview is with Anna Chválová, assistant to the Vice-Mayor of Prague 4 and coordinator of a project for integrating foreign nationals in Prague 5 who is running in Prague for the Green Party (Strana zelených - SZ) in 32nd place on the candidate list.  full story

David Tišer, candidate for Czech lower house: Roma interests can only be guaranteed by sitting in Parliament

14.10.2017 14:03 Despite the fact that no Romani movements or parties are fielding candidates in this year's Parliamentary elections, some Romani people are running on the candidate lists of other groups. News server Romea.cz is publishing interviews with each Romani candidate.  full story

Alena Gronzíková: Romale, don't be lazy, vote! Otherwise Okamura will govern us!

13.10.2017 9:18 There are just a couple of days left before the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic and the campaigns are in full swing and becoming more intense. The current estimates for the outcome, however, are not predicting anything positive.  full story

Ivan Kandráč: Roma seeking rentals are out of luck in the Czech Republic

12.10.2017 12:15 If you live in an excluded locality in the Czech Republic and you want to move away from it, you will obviously seek a rental elsewhere. You will look for one in a classified advertisement, call the manager, personally view the property, sign the contract and move in.  full story

Czech party apparently trolled into posting photo of its leader on Facebook with Nazi swastika

12.10.2017 10:59 More and more Czech parties are using hateful, racist slogans during the closing phase of their campaigns to be seated in Parliament. Public broadcaster Czech Television is running a hateful, anti-Islam advertisement from the "Bloc agains Islamicization" group, and on 7 October the official Facebook page of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party, headed by Tomio Okamura, posted their leader's photograph along with a Nazi swastika.  full story

Czech Internet parody about Roma allegedly getting free butter backfires - online hysteria as thousands believe it

12.10.2017 9:37 In recent weeks the Facebook social networking site has been disseminating an avalanche of Czech-language rumors alleging that Romani people do not have to pay for butter. The initial allegation read as follows: "I was in a shop to buy my children salami, spreadable cheese, etc. The minority were ahead of me, they chose some butter and then they got out a paper from the social welfare office... the sales clerk confirmed it for them and they left. I asked what it was and she told me they are socially vulnerable so the state pays for their butter."  full story

Czech Republic: Head of ROMEA receiving threats against his family, antigypsyism on the rise

11.10.2017 10:32 According to Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the Romani media agency ROMEA in the Czech Republic, hate speech against Romani people is reviving after a brief lull and is even more intensive than it was before. He also believes that the boundaries are being pushed in terms of the content of such hate speech and tolerance for it.  full story

Dr Erika Horváthová: Romani people's basic problem in the Czech Republic is low educational achievement, but it's improving

9.10.2017 10:12 In Erika Horváthová's family education comes first. Both of her parents have degrees, and she herself has just completed her medical degree at Charles University.  full story

Iveta Bílková: Romani people must vote - it is a citizen's most basic right

6.10.2017 9:05 The elections for the Czech lower house are coming up. The Chamber of Deputies is where decisions are made about how the republic should run, the direction the state should head in, and mainly, where the citizens of this state are headed, including minorities.  full story

Vojtěch Lavička: Czech municipalities fouling their own nests by cancelling housing benefits

5.10.2017 11:42 Almost 20 municipalities in the Czech Republic have decided to cancel the disbursal of welfare benefits issued to tenants living in problematic localities for their housing. This step - which to me is a stupid one, to put it mildly - has been facilitated by an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma combat drugs and prostitution in collapsing neighborhood, minors may be involved

4.10.2017 11:02 The Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic is probably justifiably perceived to be the country's most socially excluded locality. The vast majority of residents are Romani people, some of whom moved there voluntarily over the course of the 20th century, are mostly well-integrated and maintain their housing, and some of whom have ended up being concentrated there more recently as a consequence of the distorted form of the local rental housing market.  full story

Czech Police report low turnout for ultra-right event featuring speaker convicted of the racially-motivated murder of a Romani man

3.10.2017 7:14 The ultra-right Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS) called last week for a demonstration on Thursday 28 September, a state holiday. "Tomorrow, big action in Svitavy!!!" read its website on Wednesday, calling for what organizers said would be their "First St. Václav's Day Demonstration."  full story

Czech Police say threats to "bring Roma children to justice" are not criminal

2.10.2017 15:09 The last two of the more than 10 criminal reports that the ROMEA organization filed with police in March of this year involving racist commentaries and threats made through Facebook were dismissed in August after being sent to Prague 1 police by the District State Prosecutor. As in the cause of the preceding two reports, the police did not find that these two incidents rose to the level of a felony.  full story

Romani activist Čeněk Růžička receives prestigious Artis Bohemiae Amicis award, Czech Culture Minister promises current Govt will buy pig farm

30.9.2017 10:25 The Artis Bohemiae Amicis award was given yesterday to Romani activist Čeněk Růžička. Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman honored Mr Růžička's tireless efforts to achieve satisfaction for victims of the Romani Holocaust through his cultural activities, primarily his exhibitions on the topic.  full story

Commentary: Educator running for office confuses ideology with values

30.9.2017 9:25 So, what would you do in this situation: You are employed to work behind the counter of a department where the internal regulations forbid you to fill out forms on behalf of a client. Then an elderly lady comes to your counter whose body shakes so much that she cannot even hold a pen.  full story

Roma and Sinti Genocide Survivors, Descendants and Scholars Unite in Prague

26.9.2017 10:30 Roma and Sinti Genocide Survivors, Descendants and Scholars Unite in Prague By Clare Profous.  full story

Jan Horváth: We need a better President of the Czech Republic. Kampel amenge feder prezidentos

26.9.2017 7:39 The highest representative of any state should represent the nation. That means being its protector, its spokesperson, and defending the rights of all its citizens equally.  full story

Czech Republic: "Stumbling-stones" commemorate Romani Holocaust victims for the first time ever

26.9.2017 7:05 Attentive pedestrians walking through what was once a temporary settlement in Brno's Černovičky quarter will find an unobtrusive reminder of the Romani victims of the Holocaust there now. All they have to do is look down at the shiny metal memorial stones or "stolpersteins" ("stumbling stones") that have just been installed.  full story