Czech NGO: Town of Krupka discussing Romani integration with ultra-right party, not with Romani residents

The following is a press release from the Konexe NGO:

On 27 March, a working meeting was held in the town of Krupka between the local government and the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion about a strategic plan for social integration designed for the local Romani community, which is both numerous and strong. This was a key negotiation where those present had the opportunity to express their views on the priorities for integration and the measures designed to target the local Romani community in the years to come, to comment on those measures, to propose their own, and to discuss them. The director of the Agency, Martin Šimáček, attended the meeting.

The local Romani community was excluded from the negotiations even though there was great interest among local Romani people to participate and to express their views of the plans that have been prepared in discussion with the town councilors. Representatives of the local Romani community experienced the degradation of waiting in the hallway outside the meeting place only to be told they would not be allowed into the room.

Town councilors of Krupka elected for the neo-Nazi Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) had the opportunity to attend the meeting to comment on the social integration plan for Romani residents. The Konexe association protests the fact that officials of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion attended this meeting together with representatives of the DSSS and demands that the Agency boycott such meetings in the future.  

“We are of the opinion that a government institution negotiating with antigypsyists elected for the Workers’ Social Justice Party contributes toward the legitimization of wrong-headed opinions in society," said Čeněk Růžička, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holokaustu – VPORH). “Will the Agency and other public institutions discuss the terms of Romani integration in other municipalities with the neo-Nazis should they succeed in the next elections?" 

The negotiations regarding the strategic plan for the social integration of the Romani community in Krupka were closed to the public, which prompts serious questions. Can any solutions or the tools to achieve them ever work when the people for whom they are designed are not involved in their design and preparations and have no opportunity to express their views?  

It can be assumed that during the next municipal elections the DSSS will make it onto other town councils in places where the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is also active and will insist on gaining influence over the plans for integrating the Romani communities in those municipalities. What will the Agency do? Will it negotiate about Romani residents in other municipalities with the DSSS? Are Romani communities and individuals objects of integration policy for the Agency, or are they a (most important) partner for discussion?
How can we achieve changes in current practices when the integration of impoverished Romani communities is negotiated behind closed doors?

The Konexe association is a Romani organization representing the interests of the Romani community in Krupka. Our association has 37 members among the Romani residents of the Maršov housing estate there.