Czech Most to improve life in Romany ghettoes

The Czech town of Most, in which a large Romany community is based, today officially joined a declaration on local partnership that is to improve life in socially excluded localities, Czech Minister for Human Rights and Minorities, Dzamila Stehlikova, told journalists.

The local partnership project was initiated by the government Agency for Social Integration that was founded by Stehlikova’s office and has been functioning since April.

Most is one of 12 Czech locations in which the agency has been gradually establishing its branches.

Stehlikova said the declaration has already been signed in all the locations except for the city of Ostrava, north Moravia, where the signing is scheduled for August 25.

Apart from coordinating the steps by municipalities taken towards gradual elimination of ghettoes, the government agency is also to help draw money from EU funds to improve the situation in education, employment, accommodation and health of Romanies as well as fight crime and drug addiction in the community.

In Most, the partnership comprises the municipal office, the labour office and nongovernmental organisations, Stehlikova said.

The participants in the Most partnership will assess individual projects aiming at slowing down and later eliminating social exclusion in ill-famed localities like the Chanov housing estate.

Marek Podlaha, the agency’s director, said the first thing to be done is a field study that needs to be enclosed to an application for a subsidy.