Amnesty International

Amnesty International criticizes closures of Romani settlements in Bulgaria and Slovakia as part of COVID-19 response

22.4.2020 7:12  full story

Amnesty International criticizes Czech discrimination of Roma, Public Defender of Rights says AI is "biased"

20.4.2020 8:45  full story

Amnesty International: No justice one year after attack on a Romani camp in Ukraine

29.4.2019 6:25  full story

Czech city says evictees who "really" want aid will get it, the rest are "aggressive" and "under the influence of activists"

16.6.2018 15:15 According to representatives of the City of Ústí nad Labem, the evictees from two residential hotels there that will close as of 30 June are under the influence of activists and the unrealistic idea that somebody besides they themselves will take care of arranging their relocations. On 13 June, the city issued a press release entitled "Aid will come to those who actually want it."  full story

Italian police forcibly evict yet another Roma camp

31.3.2018 13:40

According to Italian news site La Stampa, Italian police in Beinasco demolished a Roma camp on 7 March, forcing five families to leave their homes. Almost all the camp’s inhabitants had already left the location in recent days, complying with an ordinance issued on 20 December 2017 by the municipality. One elderly woman remained in her home, only to be driven out by bulldozers.

 full story

Slovak anti-Romani law protested by Amnesty International, Justice Minister and Plenipotentiary for Roma Affairs

17.1.2018 19:37 Amnesty International Slovakia is criticizing proposed measures for combating so-called "Romani crime" which were presented last week by Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer) and Police President Tibor Gašpar. According to AI, the measures are aimed against ethnic Roma as a group and violated international and national legal regulations about discrimination and equal opportunity, which means they are illegal.  full story

Amnesty International: We demand justice for the victims of the Slovak Police raid on the Roma settlement of Moldava nad Bodvou

19.9.2017 12:11 Amnesty International (AI) finds the approach taken by the authorities toward investigating charges of police violence from 2013 in the Romani community living on Budulovská Street in Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia to be unjust. AI believes the authorities' handling of this case has violated binding international treaties on human rights.
 full story

Amnesty International and European Roma Rights Centre: Situation for Romani children in Slovakia is not improving

9.3.2017 10:09 According to non-governmental human rights organizations, Romani children in Slovakia are being systematically denied their right to education and to protection from discrimination in compulsory education. Most of these children are segregated into all-Romani classes or all-Romani schools or into "special schools" intended for children with "mild mental disability", warn Amnesty International (AI) and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in a joint report.  full story

Czech Justice Minister will not discipline state prosecutor accused of protecting racists

16.2.2017 9:10 Nine months ago the online daily Deník Referendum (DR) filed a motion with the Czech Justice Ministry for disciplinary proceedings to begin against Prague 1 District Attorney JUDr. Zdeňka Galková. Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán rejected that motion on 7 February.  full story

Amnesty International: Just 10 countries handle most of the world's refugees, wealthiest doing the least

4.10.2016 13:47 According to a report published today by the human rights organization Amnesty International, the burden of the global refugee crisis on various countries is disproportionately distributed, with most of the world's refugees living in just 10 states. The report called on wealthy states to increase the aid they are providing and to receive the number of refugees that corresponds to their capacity to provide protection.  full story

Amnesty International: How are the Czech schools educating Romani children?

3.9.2016 8:20 Amnesty International Czech Republic issued the following press release on 1 September to mark the start of the new school year:  full story

Analysis: Apartheid and segregation are being applied to Romani schoolchildren in the Czech Republic

24.3.2016 2:03 Romani children comprise almost one-third of the pupils who now attend schools previously referred to as "special schools" (zvláštní školy) even though less than 3 % of the population of the Czech Republic is Romani. That fact was reported by the international human rights protection organization Amnesty International (AI) in February in a report entitled "Must Try Harder - Ethnic Discrimination of Romani Children in Czech Schools".  full story

Czech prosecutor said Amnesty International report about discrimination of Roma in schools was "pseudo-research"

9.3.2016 19:07 The Czech daily Právo published a news item today citing an official notification released by State Prosecutor Zdeňka Galková last year in the matter of a report of suspected criminal behavior filed against the leadership of Amnesty International (AI) by the head of the Department of Education and European Funds at the Prague 9 municipal department, Martin Odehnal, who was previously the director of the Special Education Department at the Czech Education Ministry. Odehnal contacted police because of an AI report published last year called "Must Try Harder - Ethnic Discrimination of Romani Children in Czech Schools" ("Chce to více snahy - Etnická diskriminace romských dětí v českých školách").  full story

Amnesty International: EU refugee summit lacked courage, chaos will continue

25.9.2015 19:12 European politicians have been criticized by human rights NGOs over the results of their extraordinary summit on migration. Amnesty International (AI) believes the summit's emphasis on protecting the EU's external borders ignores both the reality of the global migration crisis and those countries' obligations to offer protection to those who cannot find it elsewhere.  full story

Amnesty International petition against discrimination of Roma in Czech schools signed by 38 000

2.9.2015 16:40 A petition against the discrimination of Romani children in the Czech schools was signed by 38 334 people from 94 countries between April and August of this year. Amnesty International closed its online campaign yesterday by organizing a "happening" outside the Czech Education Ministry.  full story

Amnesty International campaign for equal access to education for Roma in the Czech Republic

19.5.2015 16:47 A campaign called "Letters in the Streets" (Dopisy v ulicích) by the Amnesty International (AI) organization is focusing on the right to education in the Czech Republic. Students at 10 schools from various parts of the Czech Republic will be taking to the streets with cards for people to sign asking for the assurance of equal access to education for people in the Czech Republic, Iran, and Sierra Leone.  full story

Roma demand apology from Czech Education Minister on Facebook for his insulting remarks on television

7.5.2015 15:42 Romani activist Miroslav Klempár is using his Facebook profile to call on Romani people to sign an open letter to Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek. Klempár refers in the letter to the minister's recent appearance on Czech Television, where he responded to a critical report by Amnesty International in part as follows: We are doing our best today just to get children from excluded localities into the schools. Many representatives of the schools go to their homes to drag them out of bed. They are doing their best to teach them the basics of hygiene, to speak Czech correctly, and also to teach them that it's just not normal for someone to stay in bed until noon and then smoke a pack of cigarettes - in other words, that people also go to work."  full story

Slovakia must explain discrimination of Roma in the schools to the European Commission

2.5.2015 15:39 Slovakia has two months to answer several questions about its laws and practices leading to the discrimination of Romani children in the schools. The European Commission (EC) launched an infringement proceedings against Bratislava on 30 April that theoretically could end up before the European Court of Justice.  full story

European Commission to decide whether proceedings against Czech Republic over Roma discrimination will continue

Brussels, 1.5.2015 21:22 The European Commission should decide next week whether to continue its infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic over discrimination against Romani children in the schools. EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová made the announcement in an interview with the Czech media yesterday.  full story

Analysis: Czech PM must clarify Government's stance on discrimination in education

27.4.2015 16:37 A report by Amnesty International (AI) released last week reminded us of more than the fact that the discrimination of Romani children persists in the Czech schools. The differing reactions to the report from Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek and Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier once again showed that despite declarations of unity, the approaches taken by governing politicians to the future of inclusive education and the "practical schools" are very different.  full story