Prague, Oct 24 (CTK) – Roughly one-half of the Romanies who lived in the Czech Republic in 2014 were unable to integrate into society, while the other half was, according to the Report on the State of the Romany Minority in 2014 to be debated by the government on Monday.
The Romanies have often encountered discrimination and unequal treatment, but a part of Czech society is trying to improve their situation, said the report, to be submitted by Human Rights Minister Jiri Dienstbier (CSSD).
Some 242,000 Romanies lived in the Czech Republic in 2014.
“Roughly one half was made up of the Romanies integrated into society, while the other one by the Romanies living in an unfavourable situation we denote as social exclusion,” the report said.
Most of the latter live in socially excluded localities. In all, there are about 600 of them in the Czech Republic, the report said.
The Romanies’ problems are for a large part due to the unfair approach by majority society, it added.
“Discrimination and unequal treatment on the part of a substantial part of majority society is one of the main causes of Romanies’ failure in all crucial spheres of life,” the report said.
It pointed out the work of the organisations that help Romanies.
In the course of 2014, the security of Romanies increased and the number of anti-Romany demonstrations decreased as against previous years.
However, some negative trends such as poor attendance of kindergartens continued, the report said.
There is also the problem of relocation of socially weak families to peripheral areas with cheap housing, it added.
However, as a rule there is shortage of jobs and social services in such places. This even worsens the families’ situation.
The report goes on to inform about the state expenditures in support of Romany integration.
In 2014, the budget spent approximately 65 million crowns on it.
In the long run, the sum set aside on integration projects has been lowering, the report said.
However, the government also spends some money on integration projects that are not targeted directly at Romanies.
($1 = 24.450 crowns)
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