Category Archives: Czech Republic

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: Counting Roma Children

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Czechia: Counting Roma Children

Recent reports in the media about the collection of an estimate of the number of Roma children in primary schools have caused strong reactions and much confusion. This process, which has been running regularly since 2015, aims to monitor how the situation of Roma children in Czech education is developing and whether progress is being made in reducing segregation. The collection of data is a response to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights and the pressure of the European Commission, which drew the Czech Republic’s attention to the discriminatory practice against Roma children. This procedure is not a novelty.

Nevertheless, the criteria for saying who is Rom are dubious …

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: School Segregation

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Czechia: School Segregation

The Czech Republic had ten years to take action against the segregation of Roma children in schools. However, according to the European Commission, the situation has not improved, so it called on Czechia again in October to rectify it.

Although there are fifteen primary schools in Kladno in central Bohemia, students from poor, predominantly Roma families attend only two of them, with exceptions. The elementary school in Pařížská Street in the Kročehlava housing estate, which used to be special, and the one in Školská Street in Starý Kročehlavy. The results of the students there and the level of education they receive here are very different from the other “basics” in Kladno.

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France – via the Czech Press

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France – via the Czech Press

4,000 people came to an illegal rave party near Rennes in northwestern France on Saturday. But their loud music in the abandoned hall by the highway bothered the Roma community, which had a camp right next door. The night skirmish between the two groups ended with 14 injured, local firefighters reported on Sunday.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia and Segregated Schools

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Czechia and Segregated Schools

The Ministry of Regional Development joined the Memorandum on Cooperation in Ending Ethnic Segregation in Education, which was signed in the spring of this year by representatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the National Pedagogical Institute and research organization PAQ Research. This initiative is essential for improving the conditions of Roma pupils in so-called segregated schools so that all children get equal access to education. The memorandum includes a commitment to support school founders and principals in their efforts to improve the quality of education for all children.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia and Roma Schoolchildren

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Czechia and Roma Schoolchildren

School principals in Czechia received detailed instructions from government representative Lucie Fuková on how to proceed when determining the Roma origin of children. Some have been reluctant to count the Roma until now. By getting their numbers, the state aims to prevent segregation. Many of them do not agree with this census because they find it uncomfortable to proceed in this way.

The criteria are scary: These include, for example, appearance. If the child is perceived as Roma, the directors can infer his Roma origin. The same applies if one of the parents or relatives in the direct line is Romani, the child has a typical Romani name or surname, or the pupil or family directly speaks the Romani language or an ethnolect (a language variant associated with a specific ethnic minority).

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: Roma vakeren

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Czechia: Roma vakeren

Another “Roma Vakeren” in Czechia. This time on Patrik Banga’s a Roma journalist book “on the way to America” snd on the Czech Television’s documentary cycle Me Som presenting Roma personalities, here Elena Gorolová, a fighter for compensation for involuntarily sterilized women.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: Campaign

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Czechia: Campaign

The RomanoNet platform, covering more than fifteen Roma and pro-Roma organizations, is launching a new online campaign called “50 shades of anti-Roma racism in the Czech Republic”. The main goal of the campaign is to fight against prejudices, stereotypes and expressions of hateful behavior directed against the Roma.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: The Wall

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25 years ago, On October 25th, in the Czech town of Úští nad Labem, the local government built a fence made of prefabricated parts, which separated the Roma neighbourhood from the rest.

The structure, 1.8 meters high and 60 meters long, was removed after six weeks under pressure from the government and after protests by Czech and foreign human rights defenders, who saw it as a manifestation of racism.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia and Forced Sterilisations

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NGOs have called on the government to give victims of illegal sterilizations more time to claim compensation. According to them, the Ministry of Health does not process applications on time for a long time. The deadline now runs until the end of this year. And there are cases where the victims have been waiting for 554 days. The legal limit is 60 days …

This is bad faith on the Czech administration.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: An Attack

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A clash between a pupil and a teacher at a primary school in Koryčany in the Kroměříž region is still under investigation by the police. It is preliminarily classified as a misdemeanor. The family of a 12-year-old Roma boy is convinced that the teacher knocked the son to the ground and strangled him. The father of the Roma boy apologized for the threats he uttered to the residents of Koryčany.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: President Visit

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President Petr Pavel visited the Museum of Roma Culture after he had already visited the place of commemoration in Lety u Písek twice. The first time was last year on the occasion of the traditional May memorial gathering to honor the memory of the victims of the local camp. The second time was in April of this year during the ceremonial opening of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial in Bohemia.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: Attack

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The case of an alleged attack by a teacher on a 12-year-old Roma primary school student is moving the people of Kory in the Kroměříž region these days. The locals’ view of this case is not uniform. Some people are surprised that the teacher allowed himself to be provoked, others are of the opinion that it is a fictional event and the attack did not take place.

Roma say this was racism.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia and Illegal Sterilisations

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The Human Rights League (LLP), Roma organizations and activists called on the government to extend the law on compensation for illegal sterilizations. Organizations criticized the Ministry of Health for prolonging the application process. By law, the resort has 60 days to do so, but in practice it can take several months to years. The ombudsman repeatedly criticized the ministry’s approach to compensation.

Dozens of women demonstrated in Ostrava for compensation for forced sterilization.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

EU, Czechia and Roma

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The European Commission has sent a formal notice to the Czech Republic for failing to comply with EU anti-discrimination rules, citing the continued segregation of Roma children in schools.

The Commission has found that many Roma children are disproportionately placed in schools for children with disabilities or in separate classes, despite reforms aimed at ending the segregation of Roma children.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czecha: Floods

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During the weekend, a group of Roma volunteers joined in helping people affected by the recent floods in Krnov, where thousands of people are still without electricity and water supplies. On Sunday, September 22, 2024, four Roma associations from different parts of the Czech Republic went to the affected area to provide material and physical support. Volunteers distributed food and actively participated in cleaning the city. Krnov is among the cities that were hit the hardest by the flood. Up to 80 percent of its territory was under water.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia, Floods, and Roma

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Roma from Ostrava and the surrounding area, who were affected by the recent floods, still report cases of unequal treatment in the provision of aid. The director of the Labor Office rejects accusations of unequal treatment of Roma affected by floods. Government agent Fuková has the opposite information.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czech Local Elections

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Romani men and women who ran for office in this year’s Czech regional elections were unsuccessful, and none of them will sit in regional councils. Elections in so-called socially excluded localities have traditionally been characterized by low turnout. However, it cannot be automatically concluded that the Roma as a whole did not go to vote, because not all Roma live in the excluded localities. From the statistics of the Czech Statistical Office, it is not possible to determine how many Roma participated in the elections and who they voted for.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czech Floods, Aid, and Roma

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Some Roma in Ostrava complain about the alleged unequal treatment of officials and the reluctance to pay them flood aid. According to the testimony of some Roma who lost their property, the conditions for obtaining this assistance are discriminatory and the attitude of the office staff was in some cases arrogant. Lucie Fuková, the government commissioner for the affairs of the Roma minority, immediately began to address the situation.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: Floods

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The Cech towns of Krnov and Opava are struggling with the consequences of devastating floods that affected both cities. Flooded houses, mud and damaged infrastructure crippled the lives of local residents. The Roma community, like other residents, have lost everything and are in desperate need of basic assistance, including masonry dryers, hygiene supplies and food. Rescue work is complicated by a lack of equipment and access to the most affected areas, where coordinated interventions by volunteers, organizations and the army are taking place. Every minute is now crucial for the recovery of the affected cities.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: Freed

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The district court in Karviná released Jaromír Lukeš on parole, convicted of an arson attack on Roma in Vítkov in 2009. Lukeš was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his attack with accomplices on a Roma house in Vítkov.

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