Two Rroma families were denied boarding a flight to Canada. Canada is continuing its restrictive policy of screenings prior to boarding planes with that destination.
SHAME!
A court in the Czech Republic condemned a real estate agent to apologise to a Rromni after having denied her a rental based on her ethnicity.
GOOD, but still a drop of water on a very hot stone. Racism against Rroma is all too common in the Czech Republic.
A survey in the Czech Republic reveals that half of all interviewed business would not hire Rroma. If you ask us, the other half thought so but did not reply. Racism against Rroma is so widespread and ingrained in that country.
SHAME
13 members of the Czech Philharmonic will play together with Rroma children in Slovakia as part of the actions from Ida Kelarova, a Rromani singer who is engaged in helping children and Rroma integration.
The city of Usti nad Labem, which is already known for issues with Rroma and general racism (they once built a wall around a Rroma settlement), has called for the army to deal with the problem of Rroma, be they locals or migrants, often from neighbouring Slovakia.
Are they totally out of their mind? The army is not there to deal with migrants, nor to improve security, this is the affair of the police and of the law.
A controversy has started about the Czech government agency on social inclusion meant to favour the Rroma inclusion, but which has no Rroma members. Rroma activists such as Karel Holomek and Gyulla Banga and many others are protesting against this and have led a dozen Rroma to issue a declaration citing their ambition to become the representative of the Rroma community.
Forty Czech police officers, 4 of them Rroma, have been selected as Rroma experts to deal with Rroma in ghettoes. Let’s see what this brings, the Czech police has a track record that is far from clean when dealing with Rroma.
An interesting article on the various ways to fight school segregation in the case of Rroma in Europe. School segregation is too often still the norm, especially in Hungary, Slovak and the Czech republic, as well as in Romania.
A first article in the Swiss German press since the publication of a study on the bias of newspapers in that country against Rroma (See Rroma Foundation). This time, a Swiss man allegedly bought a young Czech Rromni from a Rrom in the Czech Republic for prostitution for the sum of 256 CHF. The whole thing flew off as the woman shouted while crossing the border and she was subsequently freed.
Sad story. But what we liked, it is the first time where such a story is brought without saying that this is “typical” or “culturally driven” for Rroma. It is a criminal deed that, unfortunately does exist. It is not a cultural trait of a minority. And we are happy that this is the way it was reported.
The European Commission criticised Slovakia for systematic discrimination of Rroma children in education. It started legal proceedings for breaches of EU anti-discrimination law, referring to discrimination against Roma children in education. After the Czech Republic where such a procedure was started in September 2014, this is the second country in Europe that is being targeted.
Segregation in schools has been common in both the Czech and Slovak republics, but also exists in Romania and in Hungary. The practice of sending Rroma children systematically to schools for mentally disabled people is unfortunately also part of this pattern.
We welcome these actions!
The Slovak police is training their Czech counterparts in dealing with the Rroma minority. Looking back at the latest scandals in Slovakia where police brutality against Rroma is common and widespread, one can ask whether this is really a good idea.
Amnesty International condemned the fact that the Czech Republic has failed to comply with a European court order to stop placing Roma children in schools for the mentally disabled regardless of the students’ capabilities. Placing Rroma in schools for mentally disabled people has a long tradition in the Czech and Slovak republics as well as in Hungary and Romania. This is simply no longer acceptable in the 21. Century.
The Daily mail published a lurid article on a Rroma family who trafficked Czech immigrants and who were subsequently forced into effective slavery and mistreatment.
Human trafficking is a criminal offense and we fully condemn the acts of that family. However, the Daily Mail, by stressing the ethnicity of the offenders further the amalgamation in the public of Rroma to criminal migrants. This is totally racist and should not be tolerated.
The European Roma Right Centre criticised several European countries on their handling of Rroma in general and on very particular cases too, such as in the case of France.
France, Macedonia, Italy, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria were cited.
Amnesty International launched an appeal on the international Rroma day on April 8th, denouncing prejudices against Rroma that still prevail in Europe and give rise to violence and exclusion. They specifically cite the Czech Republic, France, and Greece in this appeal.
As more than 5% of the Prague population is officially a member of one of the recognised minorities, the city is mandated by law to establish a minority council. Besides Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Russian, German, Jews and Rroma are also represented.
The Czech government issued a statement in great fanfare a new strategy on Rroma geared towards helping the Rroma minority in the country to “better integrate in society”. Somehow we do hope that this time it won’t be like the Roma Decade of numerous other programs that effectively changed little if anything till now.
A theatre piece in Berlin, called “Zur Endlösung der Zigeunerfrage” – the final solution of the Rroma question – relates the murder of Rroma during the Nazi times. The collective behind the piece, composed of youngsters and scientists, have researched first hand accounts of Rroma and Sinti of that period and brought them to the stage. Questions on ethnicity, racial profiling are also raised in the piece.
A must, and a stark reminder that Rroma were murdered in scores by the Nazis during world war two. In some countries such as the Czech republic or in Croatia, the entire Rroma population was wiped out. In others, one estimate that 250 thousands to maybe a million or more were murdered in camps, but also simply shot on the spot.
– Dokumentartheater zur NS-Geschichte: Zur Endlösung der Täterfrage. In: TAZ. 20.02.2015. http://www.taz.de/Dokumentartheater-zur-NS-Geschichte/!155110/
The Lety Concentration Camp in the Czech Republic, a camp on which site there currently still is a pig farm is once again in the actualities. In this article, it is claimed that Paul Polansky, an amateur historian, brought the facts and existence of this camp to the world’s attention. While Paul Polanski effectively wrote two books on the topic, these were by far not the first ones about Lety (See for example Wickipedia.de on this topic). Fact is, this was one of the early Rroma camps where from many Rroma were deported to death camps.
The Lety Concentration Camp in the Czech Republic, a camp on which site there currently still is a pig farm is once again in the actualities. In this article, it is claimed that Paul Polansky, an amateur historian, brought the facts and existence of this camp to the world’s attention. While Paul Polanski effectively wrote two books on the topic, these were by far not the first ones about Lety (See for example Wickipedia.de on this topic). Fact is, this was one of the early Rroma camps where from many Rroma were deported to death camps.
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