Czech figures say Senate session on Roma integration full of collective blame, hatred, ignorance and racism

29 November 2013

11 minute read

As news server Romea.cz reported earlier this week, the recent session of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on EU recommendations for Romani integration measures included statements by some senators that were a testament to their antigypsyism, their crassness, their ignorance of the issue, and their sense of superiority combined with a need to ridicule others. News server Romea.cz has reached out to several leading figures from the NGO sphere and politics and asked them for their opinions of the Senate’s performance.

"The Czech Helsinki Committee has long defended human rights here, included the rights of Romani people. On the matter of integration, were are unequivocally in favor of an inclusive approach. During that session, several senators delivered a mixed bag of ignorance, populism and prejudice. They showed that Romani people are still viewed according to the principle of collective blame," Táňa Fischerová, chair of the Czech Helsinki Committee, told news server Romea.cz.

Her opinion is shared by Czech Senator Eliška Wagnerová. "Some of the statements by my colleagues were dishonorable indeed," Wagnerová said.

Robert Basch, director of the Open Society Fund Prague, told news server Romea.cz: "I was shocked by many of the speeches by the senators during the discussion of the agenda item on the Council [of the EU’s] recommendations for effective measures in the area of Romani integration in the Member States. Their remarks are evidence not only of their total ignorance of the issue, but also of a gross ignorance of the lives of ordinary people who are pushed to the margins in this society. Some remarks reached the level of hate speech, covering a wide range of generalizations and stereotypes," (Full statement at the end of this piece).

Cyril Koky, Central Bohemian Coordinator for Romani Affairs and Alien Integration, told news server Romea.cz: "Some senators gave speeches in a petty bourgeois style typical of the lowest-class kind. Unfortunately. Instead of inflammatory, intense remarks bordering on insults, they should take advantage of their legislative initiative and contribute toward resolving this complicated, sensitive issue. However, I’m concerned that, with a few honorable exceptions, we will probably never live to see that come to pass. I’m not surprised that chamber enjoys so little trust among the broader public. Annually its work costs the taxpayers many millions of crowns, and this is the result."

Ondřej Liška, chair of the Green Party (Strana zelených – SZ), said "the Senate has experienced a sad avalanche of not only ignorance and narrow-mindedness, but in some cases also pure antigypsyism, arrogance and racism." (Full statement at the end of this piece).

Some of the figures contacted by news server Romea.cz also expressed detailed views on the content of what some senators said. They primarily mentioned their denial that discrimination exists on the labor market and in the schools, as well as their claim that the Council of the European Union was proposing "positive discrimination" (and describing it as dangerous and incorrect).

"In the draft bill from the Senate committee on which we voted there were several formulations with which I could not agree, which is why I was ultimately against it," Wagnerová said. Prior to the session, Senator Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democrats) proposed removing the following point from the bill:

The Senate rejects the groundless charge against the Czech Republic of discrimination by ethnicity in the education system, as in its opinion the assignment of individuals into various branches of the education system is decided primarily by whether the individual has the prerequisites to complete the program and whether the individual has the relevant social habits.

"In my view, this is unnecessary whining, because the draft recommendations we are discussing which are the subject of this resolution contain no such critique of the Czech Republic, so I don’t know why a point like this even made it into the draft resolution in the context of those recommendations. Moreover, I am of the opinion that such a critique is justified to a certain extent, because in this country the exclusion of some children from regular education does indeed take place on the basis of their social habits. I do not believe that the social habits of a child beginning his or her mandatory schooling should be a reason for him or her to receive less of a chance than everyone else at a comparable education. On the contrary, I am of the opinion that this is a reason for such children to be provided with care," Dienstbier said during the Senate debate.

Former Education Minister Liška disputed two of the senators’ statements:

Senator Jaroslav Doubrava: "I know [the Roma] basically have a more complicated time of it. However, I am also convinced that those who want to work will find jobs. The problem here relates to education. What employer can hire someone who doesn’t know how to count, read, or write?"

Senátor Jaroslav Kubera: "Now to the practical advice on what we might do. The first thing we should do is to restrict the production of children for the purpose of profit. This is no one’s fault, it’s our fault. We set up the systems so that it pays to produce children for the purpose of profit, so who wouldn’t produce them?

The reality of many of the more impoverished regions of the Czech Republic, according to Liška, is about something else entirely: "For every job available there are 100 or more applicants, every fifth resident capable of work is jobless. To find a job in such a place, therefore, is often not a question of not wanting or wanting work, but of actual opportunities. The positions of people with low educations, combined with employers’ concerns and the bad reputation attributed to Romani people, reduces the chances for many of them to find a job to the bare minimum. In excluded localities, unemployment reaches the staggering level of more than 70 %. More than 60 % of young Romani people remain jobless after finishing school, and it’s not because they don’t want to work. If we want to achieve change, we must educate not just Romani children, we must primarily educate many of our politicians, starting with Senators Doubrava and Kubera."

According to Basch, the Senate should study the research performed by the Czech School Inspectorate and the Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman), which in 2010, 2012 and 2013 repeatedly confirmed, on the basis of hard data, that Romani children are discriminated against in their access to education. "A team of people from the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute and the Institute of Economic Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University analyzed hundreds of job interviews in 2012 and determined that with just a Romani name alone you have a three times lower chance of being called for a job interview. A similar investigation was implemented in 2009 by the People in Need corporation. That research focused on school counseling facilities and determined that a Romani boy is three times more likely to end up in a practical school for pupils with medical disabilities than his majority-society friend with the completely same diagnosis," Basch said.

The Open Society Fund Prague director said the foundation is supporting many projects aiming at the inclusion of socially excluded Romani people and considers a fair, quality education one of the key prerequisites for the cultural and economic development of Czech society and the state. "More and more schools in the Czech Republic with whom we collaborate are introducing the principles of inclusive education and they are some of the most high-quality schools in the country. They are proving that inclusive education is possible in the Czech environment and that it is also very beneficial. I hope the senators will go take a look at some of those schools before their next session," Basch said.

According to Martin Šimáček, director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, the EU recommendations do not say that some sort of "positive discrimination" of Romani people must take place. "The recommendations aim primarily at equalizing opportunity and state the objective fact that Romani children in the Czech Republic are discriminated against in access to education and housing. That has also been stated by the Czech School Inspectorate, the Education Ministry, and the ombudsman. One-third of Romani children are unnecessarily assigned to the ‘practical schools’," Šimáček told Czech Radio.

The Agency director believes there is a need to support schools to manage the inclusion of children with various disadvantages, not just Romani children, but children with various kinds of specific educational needs in general. "The recommendations from the Commission are recommendations for equalizing opportunities for everyone who is disadvantaged, they will aid social cohesion. These are the best ways to prevent the decline into poverty and social exclusion," Šimáček said.

Quotes in full

Robert Basch, director, OSF Prague:

I was shocked by many of the speeches by the senators during the discussion of the agenda item on the Council [of the EU’s] recommendations for effective measures in the area of Romani integration in the Member States. Their remarks are evidence not only of total ignorance of the issue, but also of a gross ignorance of the lives of ordinary people who are pushed to the margins in this society. Some remarks reached the level of hate speech, covering a wide range of generalizations and stereotypes.

The Senate should study the research performed by the Czech School Inspectorate and the Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman) which in 2010, 2012 and 2013 repeatedly confirmed, on the basis of hard data, that Romani children are discriminated against in their access to education. The Senate should do its best to deliver balanced information and should speak not only with representatives of towns and villages but with nonprofit organizations’ field workers and social workers, and best of all should speak with socially excluded Romani people themselves. Its eyes might then be opened as to how discrimination dominates the labor market and how Romani people are excluded from the rental housing market.

For example, a team of people from the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute and the Institute of Economic Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University analyzed hundreds of job interviews in 2012 and determined that with just a Romani name alone you have a three times lower chance of being called for a job interview. A similar investigation was implemented in 2009 by the People in Need corporation. That research focused on school counseling facilities and determined that a Romani boy is three times more likely to end up in a practical school for pupils with medical disabilities than his majority-society friend with the completely same diagnosis.

The Open Society Fund Prague is supporting many projects aiming at the inclusion of socially excluded Romani people and considers a fair, quality education one of the key prerequisites for the cultural and economic development of Czech society and the state. More and more schools in the Czech Republic with whom we collaborate are introducing the principles of inclusive education and they are some of the most high-quality schools in the country. They are proving that inclusive education is possible in the Czech environment and that it is also very beneficial. I hope the senators will go take a look at some of those schools before their next session

Ondřej Liška, SZ chair, former Education Minister:

The Senate today has experienced a sad avalanche of not only ignorance and narrow-mindedness, but in some cases also pure antigypsyism, arrogance and racism. That body was discussing proposals from the European Commission in support of Romani integration. What are we to make of the authors of the following statements?

Gentlemen, watch out. The reality of many of the more impoverished regions of the Czech Republic speaks to something different entirely. For every job available there are 100 or more applicants, every fifth resident capable of work is jobless. To find a job in such a place, therefore, is often not a question of not wanting or wanting work, but of actual opportunities. The positions of people with low educations, combined with employers’
concerns and the bad reputation attributed to Romani people, reduces the
chances for many of them to find a job to the bare minimum. In excluded
localities, unemployment reaches the staggering level of more than 70
%. More than 60 % of young Romani people remain jobless after finishing
school, and it’s not because they don’t want to work.

If we want to achieve change, we must educate not just Romani children,
we must primarily educate many of our politicians, starting with
Senators Doubrava and Kubera.