Czech republic

Ministers' dispute over Romanies will not break govt - Czech PM

Prague/Warsaw, 20.2.2007 19:28, (CTK) Czech PM Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) said today he is not afraid that the dispute between deputy PM Jiri Cunek (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) and Minister Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens) over the treatment of Romanies could break up his coalition government.  full story

Romany women demand compensation for involuntary sterilisation

Prague, 20.2.2007 17:32, (CTK) A working group of Romany women at the Government Council for Romany Issues has proposed to establish a fund from which the victims of involuntary sterilisation would be compensated, council secretary Czeslaw Walek told CTK today.  full story

Czech Romanies welcome minister's offer of compensation

Olomouc, North Moravia, 20.2.2007 16:26, (CTK) Czech Romany activists have welcomed Minister Dzamila Sehlikova's proposal for the government to provide a 1.5-million-crown subsidy to cover the repairs of the houses in the Jeseniky and Prostejov area where the authorities of Vsetin, north Moravia, resettled Romany families last year, Vaclav Zastera from Roma Vidnava group told CTK today.  full story

Evicted Romany families should get money - Czech minister

Prague, 19.2.2007 20:01, (CTK) The ten Romany families that were evicted from the North Moravian town of Vsetin last autumn as rent-defaulters and moved to ramshackle houses in the Moravian Jesenik region may be given some subsidies for the basic repairs of their houses, Czech Minister without Portfolio Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens) told journalists today.  full story

Czech minister wants to remove pig farm from wartime camp site

Prague, 16.2.2007 16:12, (ČTK) Czech Minister Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens), in charge of minority affairs, wants to convince the cabinet to buy the pig farm in Lety, south Bohemia, standing on the site of a wartime internment camp for Romanies, Stehlikova told CTK today.  full story

Czech social studies high school for Romanies a success

Sokolov, West Bohemia, 9.2.2007 10:52, (CTK) The social and legal studies high school that was opened in Sokolov six months ago operates without problems and initial fears that it will not have a sufficient number of students to attend regular classes have not come true, school deputy headmistress Marta Bandyova told CTK today.  full story

Czech minister says "social housing" problem must be tackled

Olomouc, North Moravia, 8.2.2007 15:49, (CTK) Czech Minister without Portfolio Dzamila Stehlikova (Green Party, SZ) said today that it will be necessary to deal with problems of social housing, after she got acquainted with the situation of Romanies who were moved from Vsetin, north Moravia, late last year.  full story

Czech agency to solve ghetto problem to start work in summer

Prague, 6.2.2007 13:42, (CTK) An agency whose task will be to prevent the appearance of new ghettos for the poor and contribute to the elimination of the existing ones will start working in the middle of this year, Czech Minister in charge of ethnic minorities and human rights Dzamila Stehlikova (Green Party) told journalists today.  full story

Organizations kick off campaign against poverty

Prague, 5.2.2007 11:14, (ROMEA/CTK) Organizations helping the poor and people on the fringes of society in the Czech Republic are organizing a series of actions entitled “Stop Social Exclusion”. They plan to bring regional-level politicians into the discussion on the impact of the new law on social services.  full story

Čunek motivates other mayors

Břeclav, 5.2.2007 11:12, (ROMEA/Mf DNES) It pays politically to travel the path of the current head of the Christian Democrats, Jiří Čunek. A radical approach to “problematic” communities of Roma and people who “poorly adapt” is now benefiting the career of South Moravian mayors as well.  full story

KDU-CSL leader Cunek target of Czech billboard campaign

Usti nad Labem, 2.2.2007 19:47, (CTK) Billboards satirising Christian Democrat leader Jiri Cunek, a deputy prime minister, have appeared across the country, with his portrait and the text "I am a Christian Democrat, I take no bribes and I like Gypsies."  full story

Czechs more generous with asylum seekers than state - poll

Prague, 2.2.2007 11:48, (CTK) Most Czechs would be more generous with asylum seekers than Czech authorities, according to a poll conducted by the polling institute STEM on the order of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and released today.  full story

Court adjourns case of Romany family suing police assailants

Hradec Kralove, East Bohemia, 2.2.2007 11:29, (CTK) The regional court today adjourned indefinitely the case of a Romany family claiming an apology and financial compensation from two former police officers who assaulted them in 2003 and who have already been sentenced for it in separate criminal proceedings.  full story