Civil society

Czech educational attainment influenced by social origins, according to experts

30.10.2018 9:54 Chances for children in the Czech Republic to access education are significantly influenced by the economic and social positions of their parents. One negative influence on socially disadvantaged children in the country is, for example, the requirement to pass entrance examinations to secondary schools.  full story

ROMEA's scholarship recipients encouraged to motivate those around them

28.10.2018 18:20 On Friday, 19 October, the celebratory gathering of Romani students who have been awarded scholarships through the Romani Scholarship Program for the 2018/19 academic year took place at the Old Town Hall in Prague. The program is in its third year of implementation by the ROMEA organization.  full story

OSCE Mission to Serbia responds to Romani NGOs about alleged radicalization, references British Council report

21.7.2018 10:48 On 20 July 2018 the OSCE Mission to Serbia responded to the letter sent by the international Roma Nation Movement regarding allegations of radicalization among Romani community members in Serbia. The letter expressed concern that a recent consultancy post had been advertised in such a way as to stigmatize the Roma.

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Romani NGOs around Europe ask why the OSCE is researching alleged radicalization of their communities in Serbia

18.7.2018 15:16 Representatives of Romani organizations from around Europe have contacted the head of the OSCE's mission to Serbia to express their alarm over the 10 July 2018 announcement of a search for a “Researcher on Radicalization among the Roma Community in Serbia”. The Romani representatives say they are deeply concerned about the growing insecurity of Roma in Europe as a result of extremist antigypsyism in a number of OSCE participating States.


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Belgium: Roma Travellers to be evicted in EU capital, fire reported at their halting site

26.6.2018 13:47 The European Roma Grassroots Organizations network reports that Roma Travellers living in the Anderlecht neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium are scheduled to be evicted on 28 June and that part of their camp has been set on fire. All are reportedly Belgian Roma whose ancestors have lived in the country for centuries.  full story

Albania: Romani people left without citizenship anywhere

20.6.2018 8:18 A new report by the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI), and the Tirana Legal Aid Society (TLAS) finds that discrimination is subjecting Romani people to the danger of statelessness in Albania. The report was launched on 8 June in the Albanian capital at an event attended by Government ministers, Romani people who are stateless, and UN officials.  full story

Jonathan Lee: Antigypsyism is a cancer at the heart of Europe

15.6.2018 14:57 Jonathan Lee, who is of Traveller origin, works for the European Roma Rights Centre as their Communications Coordinator. In this interview, Nigel Smith interviews him for the "Deep Dive" program on YouTube's network67society channel.
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Emiliya Dancheva: Can we trust the European Parliament if its members are deaf and blind to anti-Gypsyism in Bulgaria?

9.5.2018 6:55 One year ago, the leader of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Mr Boyko Borissov, became Prime Minister of Bulgaria for the third time since 2009, forming an unprecedented ruling coalition with nationalistic and xenophobic parties (VMRO, ATAKA and NFSB).  full story

OPEN CALL for 5th CoE Dialogue with Roma and Traveller Civil Society next month - DEADLINE 27 MAY to apply

6.5.2018 9:30 The Roma and Travellers Team at the Council of Europe (CoE)has announced there is an open call for participation in the Council of Europe's 5th Dialogue with civil society from Roma and Traveller communities around Europe, which will be held this year from 20-21 June in Strasbourg, France. This meeting will focus on the issue of political participation by Roma and Travellers.   full story

videoMichal Miko to the Czech Regional Development Minister: Live in a container yourself and then we'll see what you think of it

21.4.2018 11:51 The proposal of the Czech Regional Development Minister to build 55 000 "container" units of housing has outraged various civic activists. Michal Miko, project coordinator for the Slovo 21, z.s. NGO, has taken an unequivocally negative stance on the issue: "The fact that the Government wants to adopt a law making it possible to build 'container' apartment units is unacceptable to me as a civic activist."  full story

Alliance against Antigypsyism: EU Roma Week is an opportunity to focus on tackling antigypsyism in Europe

21.4.2018 7:24 The third annual EU Roma Week at the European Parliament was launched on International Roma Day (8 April) this year. The annual advocacy event is an important opportunity to put the fight against antigypsyism – the specific form of racism faced by Roma, Sinti and Travellers – at the forefront of the European Union agenda, and to highlight the need to uphold the fundamental rights of Roma in Europe.  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.

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Czech and Slovak Victims of Coercive Sterilization Await Justice

8.3.2018 8:21 In November 2017, nine governments of the United Nations urged the Czech Republic to provide compensation to women – in particular Romani women and women with disabilities – coercively sterilized between the 1960s and 2004. The Czech government is expected to provide an answer to these Governments in the UN Human Rights Council in March.  full story

Antigypsyism on the agenda at EU’s High-Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance

17.12.2017 7:24 The EU’s High-Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, which brings together representatives of EU Member States and civil society, put a special emphasis on discussing antigypsyism at their 4th High-Level Meeting in Brussels on 5 December 2017. Vera Jourova, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, expressed deep concerns regarding the widespread social acceptance of antigypsyism in Europe.  full story

Czech Republic: International student conference on "European Roma Identity in the 20th Century"

11.12.2017 6:41 From 7-9 December 2017 a student conference entitled "European Roma Identity in the 20th Century" took place in Prague at the Scout Institute. The event was organized by Antikomplex and the Terezín Initiative Institute in collaboration with other partners in a project of the same name.  full story

EU High Level Group on combating racism features Roma participants from Czech Republic, discusses Afrophobia

6.12.2017 11:46 On 5 December 2017 the European Union High Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance convened and discussed the specific racism faced by people of African descent in the European Union. The topic is a big step towards recognizing the prevalence of Afrophobia in Europe and then acting to combat it.  full story

Czech Republic: Head of ROMEA receiving threats against his family, antigypsyism on the rise

11.10.2017 10:32 According to Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the Romani media agency ROMEA in the Czech Republic, hate speech against Romani people is reviving after a brief lull and is even more intensive than it was before. He also believes that the boundaries are being pushed in terms of the content of such hate speech and tolerance for it.  full story

Canada removes plaque from its first National Holocaust Monument after backlash

9.10.2017 15:01 The Guardian reports that Canada’s first National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa was opened on September 27th. Designed by a team led by Gail Dexter Lord, the son of Holocaust survivors, the monument takes the shape of the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany and the territories under Nazi occupation.
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Czech Republic: Romani mother of quintuplets loses her appeal in suit over funds raised for her family

2.8.2017 6:45 The Czech News Agency reported yesterday that the mother of the first quintuplets ever born in the Czech Republic, Alexandra Kiňová, has not succeeded in suing the "Club of Twins and Higher Multiples" over the way that organization delivered money to her that had been collected for her children by means of a public fundraising drive. Yesterday an appeals court confirmed that it was rejecting her claims.  full story

International Duke of Edinburgh's Award given to students in Prague

7.6.2017 10:27 The international Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a program that has run for 60 years in more than 140 states and involved more than eight million young people worldwide.
Established by the British royal family, it has attracted more than 2 000 participants in the Czech Republic.  full story