Czech Republic
Recent stories
Prague: refugee beaten during identity check
A refugee from Belarus has alleged that he was beaten by a police officer near Prague's Old Town Square so badly that he was hospitalised for thirteen days.
13 December 2004 (149 words)
Opposition Civic Democrats play the race card
Refugee agencies have criticised the opposition Civic Democrats (ODS) for proposals to toughen rules on asylum seekers they describe as a populist move likely to heighten xenophobia.
22 October 2004 (153 words)
Investigation urged into coercive sterilisation of Romani women
Following the submission of evidence compiled by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) to the UN Committee Against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment, CAT recommended that the State party 'investigate claims of involuntary sterilizations, using medical and personnel records and urge the complainants to the degree feasible, to assist in substantiating the allegations'.
21 September 2004 (175 words)
Foreigners allege massive discrimination
A survey of foreigners suggests that in many areas of life - from getting treatment in hospitals, opening bank accounts to extending a visa - massive difficulties are being presented.
22 July 2004 (117 words)
ECRI highlights treatment of Roma
The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance has published a report on the Czech Republic in which it comments that there have been few noticeable improvements in the situation of Roma, whose marginalisation from mainstream society continues through their 'ghettoisation' in substandard housing complexes on the outskirts of cities.
8 June 2004 (95 words)
Government projects aims to stop Roma migration
The government has set up a monitoring system to prevent mass migration of Roma from Slovakia.
26 November 2003 (121 words)
Roma human rights victory prompts media vilification
The Roma family Cervenak from Usti nad Labem and their lawyer are now the object of vilification in the media because they won a case in the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg against the Czech Republic.
2 August 2003 (200 words)
Roma dies in police custody
On 19 June 2002, Vladimir Pecha, a 23-year-old Romani man, allegedly jumped from a window of a Brno police station and later died from his injuries.
29 July 2003 (161 words)
Anti-Roma violence
A group of ten Roma were attacked by a group of 20-30 non-Roma men outside a disco in Cesky Tesin on 9 August 2002.
1 September 2002 (142 words)
Roma family allege police rape of their son
The father of a young Roma man alleges that police in western Bohemia forced his son to drink beer and vodka and to take pills which resulted in the youth - who had been stripped - losing consciousness.
1 August 2002 (92 words)
Neo-Nazi stabs Roma to death in disco attack
On 20 July 2001, in the town of Svitavy, a neo-Nazi stabbed a Romani man to death after objecting to the presence of the Rom at the local disco.
1 August 2002 (78 words)
Racial violence and the courts
An investigation by the daily newspaper Mladá indicates that the courts are continuing to downplay the importance of racially-motivated crimes where Roma are concerned.
1 August 2002 (97 words)
Far-Right fail to register in general election
Two extreme-Right parties, the Republikani Miroslava Sladka, and its splinter group 'Republikani', put forward candidates in the June general election, which brought the Social Democrats to power.
1 August 2002 (68 words)
Statistics show far-Right violence increase
Newly released figures show a 15% increase in the number of far-right incidents in 2000.
1 January 2002 (107 words)
Skinheads jailed for Roma killing
Two skinheads in the town of Ostrova were jailed for the manslaughter of a 40-year old Roma man in 1998.
1 January 2002 (80 words)
Prague University lecturer invites far-Right speakers
The dean of the philosophy department at Prague's Charles University has reprimanded an academic at the institution for inviting far-right leaders to speak at a seminar.
1 January 2002 (169 words)
Government action against neo-Nazis
At last, action against skinhead concerts
1 January 2002 (473 words)
New asylum 'fast-track' law
The Czech Austrian border initiative came shortly after the Czech parliament passed an asylum law to tighten up on the time in which it takes the government to process asylum applications.
1 October 2001 (62 words)
Joint Czech Austrian initiative against illegal migration
In May, the governments of the Czech Republic and Austria announced the creation of a new expert team to fight illegal migration by increased border measures as well as measures against smuggling rings.
1 October 2001 (106 words)
Migrant labour sought
The Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, concerned at statistics that suggest that by 2030 the labour market will lack about 422,000 economically active people, has prepared a pilot project aimed at the selection of qualified labour from abroad.
1 October 2001 (101 words)
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