Category Archives: Czech Republic

Czechia, Romanes, and Integration

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Around 250,000 Roma live in the Czech Republic, but not all of them speak Romanes. A large number of families do not speak Romanes with their preschool children, believing that this will make it easier for them to start school.

The main goal of the Roma Council is to support the strengthening of the identity and position of the Roma in the Pilsen region and to create tools for their effective integration.

Czechia, Roma, and the Police

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David Drevňák, a thirty-two-year-old Rom, received the Award of the Jihlava City Council for his many years of work with Roma youth and cultural contribution. He works as a crime prevention assistant with the city police. “There are situations that the constable can handle, but another conflict may arise. We, Roma assistants, say it in our own way with people with our Roma mentality,” says Drevňák.

Czechia: Romanes and Schools

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What do Romanes speakers encounter when their children enter education? Are kindergartens and schools ready to work with foreign language children? The issue is currently being invstigated by research carried out by the Romanes Studies Seminar of the Faculty of, supported by the program for the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Czechia and the Anti-Roma Racism Working Definition

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The Senate Committee on Human Rights today unanimously endorsed the International Holocaust Alliance (IHRA)  working definition of anti-gypsyism as discrimination against Roma. The definition, like anti-Semitism, names a specific form of racism that Roma people face because of their ethnic origin, culture or lifestyle. According to committee chairman Jiří Růžička (for TOP 09), the definition adopted by the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs on Monday is not legally binding.

Miss Roma 2024

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Twelve finalists were chosen from more than sixty registered girls from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and even Ireland, who will fight for the title of Roma beauty queen. This competition, which is being held for the twenty-second time, aims to support the self-confidence and pride of Roma girls, to show their beauty and talent, and at the same time to bring Roma culture and traditions closer to the general public.

Romano Suno – Roma Dream

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Romano suno is a language competition in Romanes, since 1996. “The purpose of the competition is to encourage people to write in Romanes and to use it publicly. Through the texts from the competition, which are published in anthologies and in Romano sun traveling exhibitions, or people hear them at festivals where we organize public readings, the general public can also take a closer look at the world of the Roma,” said coordinator Marie Podlahová.

Czech Republic and Murder

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In Brno, a young Roma was killed by a Ukrainian last summer following an altercation. While the thirty-eight-year-old Ukrainian Roman Rohozin, whom the public prosecutor accuses of murdering a young Roma at the Brno dam, has to wait until the beginning of March for the verdict, other participants in last year’s incident already know their punishments. Two men who attacked the Ukrainian together with the deceased young man were punished by the Brno city court for disorderly conduct.

Czech Republic and Online Hate

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Young Roma and Romnja who participated in a volunteer project that fights against hate speech on the Internet in the Czech Republic published two studies today. They reveal the extent and impact of online racism against Roma and propose measures to counter it. The publications are the result of an innovative initiative that showed how Roma people can actively defend their rights by documenting and filing complaints and criminal charges against those who spread racial hatred on the Internet. The project was organized by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), the ROMEA organization and the Human Rights Forum.

Minorities in the Czech Republic

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An article on minorities in the Czech Republic. Thy by now make up 10% of the Czech population. The article highlights the continuing difficulties encountered by Roma, and also stats that the state created a register of Roma as early as 1927 which was then used to deport them to concentration camps. In the Czech lands, almost none survived.

Czech Republic: A Murder

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A young Rom was stabbed to death in Hradec Králové. It was apparently not a racist act, but a stabbing prompted by the refusal to give a cigarette. A vigil was held in the town for the victim. And there was some criticism that no official representative of the government, i.e. people meant to represent Roma there, were present.

Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková apologized for her absence at the memorial meeting that took place on Sunday at the main station in Hradec Králové.

Czech Republic and the Holocaust

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The Lety memorial to the victims of the Genocide of the Roma will open with a delay in April of this year.

The reason being delays and issues discovered while building the site.

Romea: Award

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The Independent Journalism Endowment Fund recently updated the ranking of the most trusted domestic media. Among those evaluated is the news server ROMEA.cz, which achieved the highest mark.

“It is the result of many years of work and efforts of our team, which tries to bring quality, objective and up-to-date information about events from the Roma world,” says Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the ROMEA organisation.

Well done!

Czech Republic: New Book

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An interview with Ilona Ferková who recently published her first novel, AMEN, which tells about a great girl friendship on the threshold of adulthood. The book is not a social drama about an excluded ethnic minority, but a colourful portrait of Czechoslovak youth in the relaxed sixties.

Czech Republic: New Book

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A new book intended for Roma pre-schoolers will be published by the Kher publishing house with the support of the Open Society Found Foundation and Albatros. According to its authors, the book contains information for Roma children of pre-school age so that they know what the basic education system will demand of them. The book is also for parents, introducing them to the requirements of schools and the Czech environment, which is partially or completely different from their home.

Czech Republic – Sentences

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A Czech Court sentenced two Roma who took part in a mass fight in Pardubice between Roma and Ukrainians at the beginning of this year’s holidays to 150 and 200 hours of community service. The Ukrainian suspect is not yet sentenced but risks up to two years of prison.

Czech TV and Racism

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Jakub Prachař, a Czech TV moderator, made fun of Roma during the show Česko Slovensko má talent (Czecho Slovakia has talent). The Romano rapper Rytmus in the show loudly declared in Romany “Xas mro kar”.

Jakub Prachař social media account got overwhelmed by reactions.

Czech Survey

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Apparently, the Czech get along best with Slovaks, then with Western Europeans and Americans, and worst towards Arabs and Afghans. What about Roma: No surprise, only 24% of the Czech would want them as neighbours.

Czech Racist Attack

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Jan Bendigo, a Czech Rom, who is a fashion icon in the Czech Republic and an actor, was the victim of an attack. A person threw flour at him while shouting “Gypsy” at him.

Czech Republic: Romani Teacher

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An interview with an assistant teacher, Anna Farkašová, who has Romane roots and teaches and help children from ghettoes.

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