Czech Government "takes note" of Report on the State of the Romani Minority for 2016

The Czech Government at the beginning of this week discussed and took note of its “Report on the State of the Romani Minority for 2016”, which assesses the development of the situation for Romani people in the Czech Republic and the success of state measures to support Romani integration. Documents entitled “Information about the Fulfillment of the Roma Integration Strategy to 2020” and “Information about the Fulfillment of Government Decrees” on the integration of the Romani minority and the active approach of the state administration to implementing measures adopted by related Government decrees as of 31 December 2016 were part of the review.

According to the authors of the report, the estimated number of Romani people living in the Czech Republic in 2016 was around 245 800, of whom roughly half were Romani people integrated into society and half were Romani people living in social exclusion. A total of 606 socially excluded localities have been identified in the Czech Republic in which as many as 115 000 inhabitants live, the vast majority of them Romani.

During 2016 Romani people continued to be the minority viewed with the least sympathy in the Czech Republic, according to opinion polls. The report maps the activity of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, Romani representation in politics, the area of Romani culture and the Romanes language, the development of the situation on the question of the eventual buy-out and administration of the pig farm on the Romani genocide site at Lety u Písku, the recent amendment to the Education Act, unemployment, the creation of a so-called Working Group on Illegal Sterilizations as part of the Czech Government Council on Romani Community Affairs, and the areas of crime prevention and education.

Last year, according to the report, a total of 33 858 Romani pupils attended primary schools, comprising 3.7 % of the country’s 906 188 primary school pupils. Of those, 4 318 Romani pupils continued to be educated in programs for pupils with “mild mental disability” (according to two different official curricula) during the 2016/2017 school year, representing 30.9 % of the total of 13 983 pupils educated according to such curricular programs.

Compared to the previous year, there was a reduction in the overall number of Romani pupils and of all pupils educated according to those curricula, but on the other hand, there was a slight increase in the proportion of Romani pupils being educated that way. The security situation in relation to Romani people was assessed by the report as calm, without any significant anti-Romani demonstrations or marches, and antigypsyist displays by extremists were said to have been minimal in 2016, having been replaced by anti-immigrant or anti-Islam displays.

The state spent CZK 69.16 million [EUR 2,653,750] on Romani integration last year. That money was distributed by the Czech Culture Ministry, the Czech Education Ministry, and the Office of the Czech Government.