Gwendolyn Albert

Disgraced former Trump adviser to debate 2016 election with Democratic Party supporter in the Czech capital

15.5.2018 10:38 Steve Bannon, the former strategic adviser to US President Donald Trump, will visit the Czech Republic next week. He will participate in a debate about the 2016 US presidential elections that will be held by the Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations of the CEVRO Institute.  full story

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

U.S. diplomats discuss situation of Romani people in Europe during Czech visit

8.5.2018 9:19 Representatives of nine U.S. embassies from the Central and East European region, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Helsinki Commission met in Prague and Brno in April to discuss the current situation of Roma in the region. The representatives shared best practices, policies and projects that help to successfully integrate Roma people into majority societies and to empower them.  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

videoMEP Soraya Post for ROMEA TV: Antigypsyism exists everywhere in Europe

29.4.2018 8:51 According to Romani MEP Soraya Post, antigypsyism and discrimination against Romani people are a problem in every European country. In Sweden, where she comes from, the general living conditions for Romani people are, in her opinion, much better than in Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.

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Jana Balážová: Not acceptable for teachers to see Romani children as a burden

28.4.2018 7:58 Members of the human rights community shined a spotlight on the situations faced by Romani children and their parents in Central Europe at a screening of the documentary “Europe: Which Children Matter?” The film was shown at Cinema Galeries in Brussels to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  full story

Norway confirms it will give EUR 1 million to create memorial to Romani genocide at Lety

17.4.2018 10:58 Norwegian Ambasador Siri Ellen Sletner confirmed yesterday at Lety u Písku that Norway wants to contribute one million euro to building a memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims at the site of a former concentration camp which until recently was being used for a pig farm. The Museum of Romani Culture, which is managing the remembrance site, has now opened an information center at the Lety municipality about the genocide of Romani people in Bohemia.

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Margareta Matache and Cornel West on the common struggle of African Americans and Roma against white normativity

26.2.2018 7:57 Margareta Matache, a Roma rights activist and scholar who directs the Roma Program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, and Cornel West, an American author and civil rights activist who is currently Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard, have co-authored an analysis for The Guardian newspaper in the UK on the commonalities between the struggles of African Americans and Romani people for equality. The piece notes that the history of African Americans and Romani people bear similarities with respect to the way "white policymakers" have employed similar tactics against members of both groups in order to maintain "white normativity, social power, and privilege".  full story

Czech Social Democratic head recommends removal of lower house vice-chair because of his deceptive remarks about Romani genocide site

12.2.2018 7:43 The acting head of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), former Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, has said he will support removing the chair of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" movement (SPD), Czech MP Tomio Okamura, from his position as vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies when the legislature reconvenes. The Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) are proposing the move because of Okamura's recent controversial remarks about the Protectorate-era concentration camp at Lety u Písku.  full story

Czech football fans who assaulted African man on Prague tram have not been banned from matches

9.2.2018 6:39 Fans of the football club Sigma Olomouc who assaulted a man from West Africa last November on a Prague tram have not yet been banned from attending the club's matches despite the fact that club spokesperson Petr Pelíšek, responding to the incident in the fall, said the club was prepared to cooperate with police on measures to ban them. News server Olomoucký deník reported last week that Sigma Olomouc does not yet know the identity of the perpetrators of the incident.  full story

videoČeněk Růžička reports crime to Czech State Prosecutor, accuses lower house vice-chair of doubting the Romani genocide

8.2.2018 18:37 The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, visited the state prosecutor today on behalf of the victims and survivors of the concentration camp at Lety u Písku and their relatives to accuse the vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura, and Czech MP Miloslav Rozner (both SPD), of breaking the law on Holocaust denial. Růžička is not hopeful that the police will be able to press charges, but said he had no choice but to bring the accusation.  full story

European Grassroots Antiracist Movement calls Czech MP's remarks about Romani genocide site classic Holocaust denial

6.2.2018 8:51 The European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) has condemned the recent remarks by the chair of the SPD party in the Czech Republic, Tomio Okamura, about the Protectorate-era concentration camp for Romani people at Lety u Písku. Okamura said that he believed the camp had not been fenced and that the people there had been able to come and go freely.  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

videoČeněk Růžička receives human rights prize from the US Ambassador to the Czech Republic for his contribution to Romani Holocaust recognition

8.12.2017 5:56 On the occasion of International Human Rights Day (10 December), US Ambassador Stephen King gave the Alice Garrigue Masaryk Award to the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust (VPORH), Čeněk Růžička, as his first official act. Mr Růžička has finally achieved, after more than 20 years, the Czech Government's investment into the closure and removal of a pig farm occupying the site of the WWII-era concentration camp at Lety in South Bohemia.  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

Council of Europe calls for progress on women's sexual and reproductive rights, including redress of forced sterilization by Czech Republic

5.12.2017 6:26 “Women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are human rights. Regrettably, however, women in Europe still have these rights denied or restricted as a result of laws, policies and practices that ultimately reflect continuing gender stereotypes and inequalities," Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks said today while releasing a new report on this topic, "Women's sexual and reproductive health rights in Europe".  full story

Germany: Pro-immigration mayor assaulted for political reasons

29.11.2017 18:14 On Monday evening the mayor of Altena in western Germany was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant, apparently for political reasons. Andreas Hollstein, a Christian Democratic politician known for his open approach to immigrants, suffered a 15-centimeter laceration on his neck, according to police.
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Czech elections: Vote-buying suspected in poor community, Roma not involved

26.10.2017 6:25 On 19 October the news server HlídacíPes.org ("watchdog.org") reported suspicions that ballots were being manipulated yet again in the North Bohemian town of Krupka ahead of last weekend's elections to the Czech lower house. News server Romea.cz followed up and learned that apparently Romani residents of the community were not involved this time.  full story

UK: Thousands of Muslims protest against ISIS and terrorism in London

12.10.2017 13:01 The British newspaper The Independent reported that more than 10 000 Muslims marched on Sunday, 1 October through London protesting against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and terrorism. The peaceful assembly on the Muslim holiday of Ashura commemorated the victims of the ISIS terrorist organization.  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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