The Government today took under advisement a report on the state of the Romani minority in the Czech Republic for the year 2011 but will not be taking any follow-up action to it. The aim of the report was to evaluate the development and fruitfulness of measures underway in this area.
Czech Deputy PM Karolína Peake informed the press of the report after the Government’s regular session today. Among other matters, the report mentions that state expenditures on Romani integration fell last year to CZK 85 million, CZK 1.5 million less than in 2010.
The report identified social exclusion as a serious problem for a significant part of the Czech Romani minority which could threaten the cohesion of Czech society. In that context, the report recalled last year’s civic unrest and increased social tensions in several places in the republic. "This problem appeared most visibly in the Šluknov foothills, thanks to the significant media attention given to it," the material reads.
The document said the overall deterioration in the socioeconomic position of local residents caused the deterioration in the situation in that part of the country. However, the escalation of problems could allegedly have been prevented, or their impact could have been ameliorated, had municipal authorities chosen to proceed in a timely manner "toward a penetrative policy of socially including those at risk of social exclusion".
The report said that last year was also characterized by a rise in the activities of extremist movements who exploited the social exclusion of Romani people as propaganda. "Part of these groups’ campaigns involved connecting the Romani minority to certain kinds of crimes or to locally higher crime rates. Some political representatives also deviated into anti-Romani rhetoric," the document recalls. According to the report, there were 69 crimes motivated by hatred against Romani people committed during 2011.
The material says that with respect to security policy and the Romani minority, not only is the question of extremism important, but crime and high-risk forms of behavior that could contribute to greater tensions in society are important as well. Allegedly such phenomena are often concealed in socially excluded Romani localities, which makes it more difficult to effectively resolve these issues.
During 2011 the Czech Interior Ministry financially supported a total of 32 crime prevention projects, according to the document, which said one such measure is the use of crime prevention assistants. During 2011, 104 crime prevention assistants were working in 17 towns throughout the country. Their aim was to reduce the number of crimes and misdemeanors committed, to ensure that the law was enforced, to prevent disputes between neighbors, to prevent potential illegal activity, and to change the majority society’s negative view of socially excluded persons.
During 2011, 164 Romani advisers – 26 fewer advisers than in 2010 – worked in communities with wider-ranging roles than in the past The willingness of municipalities to establish such positions was reportedly influenced by a reduction in funding for them.
