Člověk v tísni

Indebted minors could enjoy easier conditions for relief if Czech amendment passes

8.5.2019 11:08  full story

Now that evictees are housed, Czech local government attacks NGOs and the poor

25.7.2018 12:20 The last remaining evictees from two closed residential hotels have finally moved out of the gym at a school in the excluded locality of Předlice and into rental housing. After their previous contracts were not extended, 25 tenants evicted from the Modrá residential hotel in the Střekov quarter of Ústí nad Labem ended up living in the gym temporarily at the beginning of July.
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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

Czech Police respond to incident between NGO social workers and Romani parents about impending evictions

8.6.2018 13:06

The situation at one of the residential hotels in Ústí nad Labem slated for closure as of the end of this month escalated on 5 June to such an extent that police were called to the scene after a verbal conflict transpired between the tenants of the residential hotel on Klíšská Street and social workers from the People In Need organization who proposed to a mother with five children that she could increase her chances of finding new housing if she would just place two of her children with the Klokánek project, which offers temporary foster care. "Two social workers from People in Need came here, and one lady looking for housing was offered the alternative solution of placing two of her children with the Klokánek project and keeping the other three with her so she can find housing," Marek Kondáš, who is also a tenant at the residential hotel, described the beginning of the conflict to news server Romea.cz.

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Head of Czech development aid organization notices situation in Romani ghettos all but unchanged

28.7.2017 9:21 "Always, naturally, somebody can be found who doesn't care for this part of our work. Even in that aspect, however, the situation is changing. Previously the absolute majority of people had a simplified reaction: 'Why, for God's sake, are you aiding the gypsies? It would be better to go to Africa to aid the black people.' Today most people comprehend that this is a problem that must be solved," said Šimon Pánek, a former student leader of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution who is director of the People in Need development organization in an interview for news server Deník.cz marking its 25th anniversary.  full story

"Truth Matters": Media Education Weeks begin in the Czech schools

26.5.2017 7:24 On Monday, 22 May, an educational action by the People in Need - One World in the Schools organization (Člověk v tísni – Jeden svět na školách) called "Media Education Weeks 2017" is beginning with the motto "Truth Matters". The weeks will last until 30 June and are focused on Czech elementary and secondary schools.  full story

Czech Republic: Analysis finds online hate rising, adult males perpetrate the most

13.4.2016 13:24 During 2015 a noticeable growth occurred in the amount of hate speech on Czech-language online social networks and other communications platforms such as discussion forums linked to articles on news servers. Those are the results of an analysis produced by the People in Need (Člověk v tísni) called "Hate Speech in the Online Environment and Social Networks" (Projevy nenávisti v online prostoru a sociálních sítích).  full story

Nine aid workers of Czech NGO murdered in Afghanistan

2.6.2015 13:49 Nine Afghani employees of the Czech organization People in Need were killed last night during an attack perpetrated by armed men in the north of Afghanistan. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported the news, citing a local representative, and the Czech News Agency confirmed the reports with the organization's director, Šimon Pánek.  full story

Commentary: Who has gone nuts? Holomek is misinformed

24.5.2015 23:29 In connection with the gradual destruction of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion by Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier's team, as well as the discussion about the new format for state interventions that those promoting exclusively "Romani" measures want to promote in public policy, many contradictory claims are being made about who has thought what and what was supposed to work for whom. It is a bit tendentious and unfair for some members of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs and for Romani publicists to claim that People in Need somehow denies Romanipen and the ethnic dimension of the situation of the Romani minority in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court backs activist in dispute with MP

Prague, 13.2.2015 22:00, (ROMEA) "The illegal behavior of MP Řápková has generated CZK 8 million of debt for the town of Chomutov so, to be honest, it is rather ridiculous for her to try to combat 'inadpatables' when she has proven so 'inadaptable' herself," said Daniel Hůle. The staffer with the NGO People in Need was commenting on a proposal brought by MP Lenka Kohoutová and MP Řápková to it legal for collections agencies to attach an individual's welfare benefits, which would leave the insolvent with only the legally-defined subsistence minimum as income.  full story

Czech NGO says legal provision could lead to overuse of the concept of "mild mental disability"

Prague, 10.2.2015 21:44, (ROMEA) Tomorrow, 11 February, the Czech Chamber of Deputies will undertake a third reading of an amendment to the Schools Act. If adopted, the amendment would introduce a system of support measures for pupils with special educational needs, a system that has been given a consistently positive reception by experts across the board.  full story

Will the Czech catalog of support measures eliminate injustice in education?

Czech Republic, 11.12.2014 20:52, (ROMEA) Writing in the fourth issue of Škola all inclusive magazine, Petra Klimková reports that the catalog of support measures announced by the Czech Education Ministry is a breakthrough in many respects. Not only will teachers be able to have, for the first time, a clear, single list of all of the professional experience accumulated to date regarding the education of disadvantaged pupils, but the document will also aid in eliminating the many injustices to which some children are exposed in the schools.  full story

Czech daycare club helps Romani parents who can't afford preschool

Ústí nad Labem, 6.11.2014 1:20, (ROMEA) News server Aktuálně.cz reports that the People in Need organization is in the second year of running a children's daycare group at the Mojžíř housing estate in Ústí nad Labem, serving Romani children. Approximately 10 preschoolers between the ages of three and five attend the group daily.  full story

Czech NGO's hands tied on hopeless situation of Romani migrants from Slovakia

Prague, 30.9.2014 20:34, (ROMEA) In recent weeks the field social workers at the Prague branch of the People in Need association have been confronted with the desperate situations of Romani people from Slovakia who, in fear for their lives, decided to leave their home country with the unclear notion that they might find assistance in Prague. The following is a description of a dramatic two days in the life of the Prague branch of that NGO, as described by one of its social workers.  full story

Czech NGO says new law will force preschool clubs for impoverished children to close

Prague, 25.9.2014 23:33, (ROMEA) On 23 September the Czech lower house approved a ministerial draft of a law on children's groups. The terms of that legislation, according to the Czech NGO People in Need, establish insurmountable barriers to the operation of preschool clubs that provide a chance for at-risk children to succeed in the Czech education system and find skilled employment as adults.  full story

Czech ombud: Inclusive education the only way out of life in a segregated society

Brno, 25.7.2014 23:05, (ROMEA) Anna Šabatová, the recently-appointed ombud, brings a very important personal experience to the post from her pre-1989 past. As a dissident against the former regime, she has experienced what it is to be a minority in society.  full story