The UN Human Rights Office and the mechanisms we support work on a wide range of human rights topics. Who was responsible for these illegal acts? This discrepancy in numbers might partly explain the discrimination against Roma in the Czech Republic, he said. One-third of the people who were in a long-term unemployment position had disabilities. A pilot programme was in place and the Government was considering measures to make some of its components permanent. At present, various scientific research projects were being implemented to find ways to collect ethnic data in line with the constitutional principles as well as to encourage the Roma population to openly declare their ethnicity. On the transmission of citizenship, the delegation recalled that the mother was always known, but the identity of the father could be uncertain. A tool had been developed to map housing status, social exclusion indicators and educational background that would help municipalities decide where to build social housing. ALEXEI S. AVTONOMOV, Committee Rapporteur for the Czech Republic, said that according to the provisions of the International Convention, State parties were called upon to adopt special measures to address historic and deeply rooted discrimination. Turning to the Dublin Regulation, the delegation explained that individuals in an irregular situation could only be detained if there was a risk of them absconding. He asked if the Government carried out research studies or surveys to assess the state of racial discrimination in Czechia. Where the Roma able to apply and secure these jobs? Roma pupils could also profit from social assistance measures like the provision of free school lunches for children from poor families. Romas access to education, employment, and adequate housing, as well as the emergence of new forms of extremism were among topics broached by Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as it considered the twelfth and thirteenth periodic report of the Czech Republic on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. At present, due to favourable economic conditions, the unemployment rate was one of the lowest in Czech history. Thus the data were more tentative than representative. The Ministry of Education provided for specific measures for Roma pupils in the framework of six programmes, including the support for disadvantaged Roma students, the fight against school drop-out, the integration of Roma children into preschool, support for the transition to high school, and access to free school meals. What were the requirements that a victim had to meet to be admitted to the Governments programme to support and protect victims of trafficking in persons? The term referred to a group of persons who had the same language and often lived in the same territory.
The delegation recalled that it was the institution itself that had to apply to receive accreditation based on the Paris Principles. What initiatives could the Government take to ensure that the burden to address these issues was not only assumed by municipalities? GUN KUT, Committee Rapporteur for Follow-up to Concluding Observations, recalled that the Committee had adopted concluding observations on the Czech Republic in August 2015 and had expected an interim follow-up report within one year, which had been submitted one year late. Another Expert said the notion of extremism referred to in some of the State partys policy documents was rather vague, notably from a legal standpoint, in his opinion. The total number of Roma pupils in all basic school had gone up from 32,791 in 2016 to 34,767 in 2018. The Experts discussed at length the methods of data collection on national minorities, especially concerning unemployment among Roma and the schooling of Roma children, and emphasized the importance of accurate data on the composition of the population for the correct implementation of the Convention.
It should also be noted that the procedural shift of the burden of proof was already applied in all cases of racial discrimination. The Police of the Czech Republic had been working with other partners on improving hate crime monitoring and recording. The Ombudsperson was already fulfilling most of the requirements of the Paris Principles.
The Ombudsperson advised victims of discrimination on how to defend their rights, conducted research, and issued recommendations on the prevention of discrimination. ANDREA BAROV, Director of the Department of Human Rights and Minority Protection of the Czech Republic, addressing questions related to the integration of the Agency for Social Inclusion in the Ministry for Regional Development, explained that this Ministry, in addition to functioning as a coordinating body in the area of regional development, also helped municipalities obtain European funds. Teachers, counsellors and other pedagogical staff were trained in new teaching and assessment methods. Pupils with special educational needs were provided with support measures. In such cases, all necessary care was provided to them and the Government paid for it. The Commission will ask the Czech government to respond to complaints that it is breaching European Union law by continuing to allow Roma children to be funneled into separate schools, in breach of both the EUs anti-discrimination law and its charter of fundamental rights. What could the Government do to reject the comments linking the increase in pork prices to the shutdown of the pig farm that was located on the site of a Nazi-era concentration camp for Roma? The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms gave everyone the right to decide freely their ethnicity. Education about human rights, equality, democracy and connected issues was firmly rooted in the Czech education system. Another Expert was reassured to hear that the transfer of the Agency for Social Inclusion into the Ministry of Interior was seen as a positive move and stressed that affirmative action was part of the minority rights framework and it aimed to rectify the under-representation of minorities, particularly in the police and the judiciary. That was why the Government was not considering adopting the International Labour Organization Convention 189 on Domestic Workers. The Open Society Foundations advocates an inclusive approach to education, under which children are not segregated into separate schools, but rely on additional support in mainstream classrooms to provide equal educational opportunities to all. Q&A: A Step Toward Justice for Roma Women, Q&A: A Media Haven for Europes LGBTI Roma. The Committee would be very interested in receiving the delegations comments in this regard and on the proposed changes to the anti-discrimination legal framework. The law enforcement authorities were focusing on improving the detection and prosecution of hate crimes. Recently, the police and prosecutors had focused on hate crimes on the Internet, notably on social networks. It was prohibited to collect information about the ethnicity of specific individuals and create any public personal registers including such information. They were often employed in the informal sector of the economy. Learn more about each topic, see who's involved, and find the latest news, reports, events and more. Analytical documents and guidelines for investigations of hate crimes made it possible to introduce new work techniques. The Government was monitoring these new phenomena. Today, whoever wanted to work, could work; there were 360,000 available jobs and 200,000 unemployed individuals, a quarter of whom were out a job for longer than 12 months.
Turning to domestic work, the delegation remarked that, generally, all types of jobs were regulated by the labour code. On integrated education, the delegation said that changing the mind sets of the parents did not fall under the purview of the Ministry of Education, which could nevertheless do a lot on this issue.
The Czech Republic was aware of the Committees recommendations concerning forced sterilization and was examining it. All the children had been re-diagnosed with a set of new diagnostic tools. It was almost impossible for the Government to monitor these jobs due to the right to the inviolability of private life. Read the latest from our staff, grantees, and partners about how were working around the world to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people. ALEXEI S. AVTONOMOV, Committee Rapporteur for the Czech Republic, addressed the question of refugees and migrants, asking specifically about the eligibility requirements for pension schemes imposed on refugees and underlining the challenges faced by undocumented migrant women in accessing prenatal healthcare. The Czech Republic had also reformed its health care laws in 2012 to prevent illegal sterilization in the future, as described in the report. The Anti-Discrimination Act had established the Public Defender of Rights, or the Ombudsperson, as the equality body. Returning to the issue of Roma childrens access to education, an Expert asked about the States strategy on this issue, notably with regard to special education. An ongoing pilot project would be broadened by the end of next year, while a strategy on socially excluded localities should be finalized in the fall and subsequently submitted for approval to the Government.
Turning to the illegal sterilization of Roma women, Ms. Barov said that, in the end, the Czech Government had not adopted a special law on extrajudicial compensation of illegally sterilized persons in 2015. In addition to the Roma minority, there were 13 other national minorities represented in the Council for National Minorities, namely the Slovak, Polish, German, Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Greek and Vietnamese minorities. The Ombudsperson participated in public events such as conferences and was in close contact with various Government bodies and non-governmental organizations such as tenants associations. Following this ruling, the Government had taken a series of measures to ensure a more consistent approach to inclusive education, compensation had been paid to all victims, and a mind shift on Roma education had occurred. For use of the information media; not an official record Equal access to education for Roma children was one of the most important prerequisites in the pursuit of successful integration.
Since 2015, the Czech Government had been implementing its new Migration Policy Strategy, which fully endorsed legal migration and international protection to refugees in line with international law and also strengthened the fight against illegal migration. The initiatives related to minority cultures and languages were note considered as affirmative action since they were permanent. The Government had detailed studies on localities, which could help better understand the situation of the Roma. While this might be an exaggerated figure, all estimates were significantly higher than the official statistics. The Committee commended the efforts made by State party, but the Roma still faced discrimination on the housing market. They asked whether the Czech Republic would consider putting in place nation-wide affirmative action programmes for Roma and to what extent Roma women were represented in the commission that was examining the question of forced sterilization of Roma women. Statement delivered at the occasion of 2019 International Day against Racial Discrimination, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 21 March 2019, Video statement for the 2019 International Day for the elimination of racial discrimination, National institutions and regional mechanisms. The change would not lead to the worsening of the situation of the Agency for Social Inclusion. The Justice Initiative has been spearheading legal efforts to enforce a 2007 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that found the Czech Republics treatment of Roma children was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, and ordered an end to discrimination. Censuses did not give the full picture, so to speak, on this matter. How was the Government ensuring that there was the responsibility in that regard? Perhaps she did not feel secure enough to do it yet. The Rapporteur said he would be very grateful for information on the application of section 100-68 of the Penal Code, including the number of convictions and the penalties applied. if the mother was the subject of a return directive or if she was being detained. The Government also used data from the entities that provided specialized education. What had been done in connection with the recent events in this respect? Municipalities had an obligation to meet the needs of their population, including housing, which they did through various programmes, including the provision of social housing. The Ministry of the Interior and the Police of the Czech Republic were currently working to make this tool more user-friendly.
How did the State party define extremism? Turning to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, he said that the State partys programmes based on an individualized assessment of skills and needs should be commended. She said that in Czechia, the prohibition of racial and other types of discrimination was enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which was part of the constitutional order, while the Anti-Discrimination Act governed conditions for protection against discrimination in key areas of life. 2022 Open Society Foundations, some rights reserved.
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The Ministry of Education must make absolutely clear, that the amendment will improve the situation of Roma children and will not result in further discrimination and segregation.. He noted that Ukrainians were the dominant segment of the immigrant population and that Jews lived in the country for a very long time and then requested updated information on the number of immigrants from the various ethnic groups. The notion of the national minority was also linked to the work of the Council of Europe and Czechia had adopted a law on national minorities. The possibility of accreditation was being discussed at the moment with the Ombudsperson and her staff. It was true that the Government did not have large-scale affirmative action programmes for Roma employment but many regional programmes targeted this population group. A report in February 2012 from the European Commissioner of Human Rights pointed out that an estimated 30 percent of Roma children in the Czech Republic are still placed in the special practical schools compared to two percent of their non-Roma counterparts.
Join us and make a difference. The Anti-Discrimination Act governed conditions for protection against discrimination in key areas of life, such as employment, housing, social protection, health care, education, and access to goods and services.
It was not very important how many people comprised the group that identified as a national minority; a national minority was a group of people that had Czech citizenship and were different from the majority. ANDREA BAROV, Director of the Department of Human Rights and Minority Protection of the Czech Republic, said the report drew on input from public authorities, the Ombudsperson as the equality body, and representatives of civil society and academia working with the Human Rights Section at the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. Alexei S. Avtonomov, Committee Rapporteur for the Czech Republic, commended the countrys efforts but deplored the continuing discrimination against Roma: they often held low-paid jobs in the informal economy, lived in segregated settlements where they were at high risk of forced evictions, while Roma children were disproportionately represented among special education pupils. The concluding observations on the report of the Czech Republic will be issued at the end of the ninety-ninth session on 29 August, when the Committees next public meeting will take place. They asked if the Government would consider implementing nation-wide affirmative action programmes to foster Romas access to public sector jobs, notably in the health sector.
The Rapporteur emphasized the importance of accurate and detailed data on the composition of the population for the implementation of the Convention and in this context wondered if Moravians and Salesians were considered ethnic minorities. The delegation explained that there were 350,000 job vacancies in the country, two-thirds of which only required low level or no qualifications. While Czechia had made progress in implementing the Committees recommendations, the struggle against racial discrimination remained constant. Roma often suffered from various disabilities, which was a germane factor. In 2016, there had been 14,000 support measures reaching 5,400 socially disadvantaged pupils. The fight against labour exploitation was one of the priorities of the National Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings 2016-2019. Housing in the Czech Republic followed the principle of equality: all people, including foreigners, had the same rights to access housing. A child of a Czech mother had the right to a nationality, while in case of a child whose father was a Czech, the paternity was established based on a formal declaration by the parents. Working with local communities in more than 100 countries, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education. The reopening of this issue was not being considered for now. By entering your email address and clicking Submit, you agree to receive updates from the Open Society Foundations about our work. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is the leading United Nations entity in the field of human rights, with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people. A lot of them only had a basic education. There was a high number of Roma children in special schools and their dropout rate was high as well. At present, the framework programmes were undergoing a thorough revision to adapt them to the educational needs of present-day society. She presented her observations in analytical reports and comprehensive recommendations, which she then placed at the disposal of the Government, Parliament and the general public. ANDREA BAROV, Director of the Department of Human Rights and Minority Protection of the Czech Republic, in her conclusion concurred with the Rapporteur on the progress the country had made and said that her delegation was happy to share the experience of the Czech Republic in the fight against discrimination. Cultural or language programmes targeting Roma did not represent affirmative action but were measures that aimed to uphold minority rights. The procedural shift of the burden of proof was already applied in all cases of racial discrimination, she stressed. Victims of trafficking could benefit from the Programme to Promote and Protect Victims of Human Trafficking, which had assisted around 250 victims in its 15 years of existence. ANDREA BAROV, Director of the Department of Human Rights and Minority Protection of the Czech Republic, said affirmative action measures were in place but were not being deployed on a large scale and agreed that, under certain conditions, affirmative action measures could lead to positive results. How a Slovak human rights group helped hold the government accountable. It included the provision of personal intervention and awareness-raising activities. It also held regular meetings with mayors of towns and municipalities, carried out communications campaigns on social media, and shared best practices with international partners. It was also regrettable that, in court, the burden of proof was still shared between the victim and accused person and that racial discrimination still appeared to be insufficiently addressed by the courts. Noting that a Togolese football player had become a star in the Czech Republic, the Experts asked about measures taken to address racial discrimination in sports in the country. The Act had established the Public Defender of Rights, or the Ombudsperson, as an independent equality body that contributed to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. A project for people at risk of poverty and social exclusion, implemented in 14 regional centres through 56 interventions programmes, sought to strengthen prevention in the area of reproductive health, cancer and personal hygiene. They could also foster a change in attitudes. Recent research showed that general measures of active employment policy might not be able to help people vis--vis long-term unemployment and other disadvantages.
Despite this, some groups, including Roma, still faced challenges in the job market due to prejudice and indirect discrimination, combined with a lack of appropriate education or training. The Czech Government was aware of the difficulties faced by some ethnic minorities in having equal access to their rights, acknowledged Ms. Barov. On trafficking in human beings, the delegation said that, in 2017, there had been 24 persons who had used the Government programme for victims of trafficking. Other Committee Experts pointed out that various indicators, notably some related to housing and education, were revealing trends that were not positive for the Roma. These workers were often vulnerable as they were more dependent on their employers than other types of workers. This was a very concrete means to address prejudice. The new Social Inclusion Strategy, which was currently in preparation, would focus on new forms of pro-employment measures creating suitable employment opportunities. All the documents relating to the Committees work during this session, including reports submitted by States parties, are available on the sessions webpage . The delegation noted with satisfaction that the economic situation in the country was very good and the labour market was excellent shape - the unemployment rate was the lowest in the European Union which allowed the Government to focus on long-term unemployment. In 2018 that number stood at 17, and up to now, in 2019, at 13. Efforts had been made to address this issue in sports. With fearless and bold photography, Open Society Foundations Community Youth Fellow Joci Marton is challenging how LGBTI Roma are perceivedby outsiders, but also by themselves. The focus was no longer solely on traditional forms of extremism but rather on all kinds of attacks and instances of hate speech. One could also self-identify as belonging to more than one ethnic group or national minority. During the dialogue, the Experts took note of the increase in anti-Semitic incidents, including hate speech against Jews, and raised a concern about a low number of investigations into those crimes. Learn about how you can report a human rights violation. The social and economic situation of the other national minorities was, however, better than that of the Roma.