Prague/Washington, June 26 (CTK) – The 2014 human rights report by the U.S. Department of State, which criticises the Czech Republic for persistent discrimination against ethnic Romanies, provides factual and correct assessment, Czech Minister for Human Rights Jiri Dienstbier told CTK Friday.
“The report does not present surprising findings, but it confirms many facts, with which I identify and which the Czech government is aware of and for which it is trying to find adequate measures,” he said.
Dienstbier said the annual report sometimes did not use the latest data. Among others, the government approved a new strategy for Romany integration, he said.
The U.S. report writes that Czech political representatives have recently increasingly contributed to the discrimination against ethnic Romanies.
According to NGOs, the degree of hateful speeches by Czech politicians, including members of the parliament as well as local politicians from the whole political spectrum, increased during 2014, the report says.
It writes that roughly one-third of the Romanies lived in ghettoes whose number in the Czech Republic is put at 400.
Discrimination is still visible at schools in particular, the report says.
The proportion of Romany children attending special schools for the children with minor mental defects is incomparably higher than that of the children from the majority population, it adds.
But Dienstbier said a new law on schools and the accompanying regulations should guarantee that as many children as possible attended standard schools.
However, Romanies also face difficulties in day-to-day life. They do not have sufficient access to bank accounts and they are easily tricked by credit companies, the report says.
In addition, Czech media informs much more often about the crimes and violence committed by Romanies than about the same acts committed by the members of majority population and other minorities, it added.
The report criticises President Milos Zeman’s statements about Islam and voices reservations about Slovakia’s policy toward Romanies.
Social prejudices and discrimination against Muslims are a source of concern. Despite the government condemnation of anti-Muslim rhetoric, this is fuelled by top political officials, the report said.
In his public statements, Zeman still places on the same footing Islam and terrorism, most recently on the Israeli Independence Day in May, refusing to backpedal on his words.
The report points out Zeman’s speech he made last year in which he condemned the attack in the Brussels Jewish museum that claimed four lives. He said this xenophobia arose from the essence of the ideology on which Islamic fanatical groups were based.
Some institutions in the Czech Republic tried to ban Muslim women from wearing their scarves at school or work, which was called discrimination by the ombudsman after a Somali woman raised a complaint.
However, Zeman stood up against the wearing of Muslim scarves at schools and in hospitals, the report said.
The U.S. Department of State also recorded the unequal position of Czech women in politics and management of large companies and their discrimination in salaries.
Slovakia came under the U.S. criticism for anti-Romany marches and rallies organised by the extreme right in 2014.
The discrimination targets not only Romany children in the Slovak educational system, but also mothers in some maternal clinics in eastern Slovakia that must stay in special wards and are not allowed to share toilets with mothers from the majority population, the report said.
