Roma in the Czech Republic Growing international attention to the plight of the Roma in the Czech Republic is due in part to the country's efforts to join the European Union. European Union membership is conditioned on respect for human rights, in addition to fulfillment of economic and political criteria. Second, large-scale migration of Roma from the Czech Republic to Western countries, namely, Canada and the United Kingdom, has drawn the attention and concern of the international community. Roma immigration to Canada and the United Kingdom began in 1997, after a Czech television program ran a story on the acceptance of Roma in these countries. More than 1000 requests for asylum, citing discrimination and violence in the Czech Republic, were filed by Roma between 1997 and 1998. Although the majority of asylum requests were denied, with only three out of 560 requests granted between 1997 and 1998 in the UK (US Department of State: "Czech Republic Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998"), the Roma continued in their attempts to emigrate. While the attempted emigration of substantial numbers of Roma in 1997 and 1998 brought the issue of Roma rights onto the Czech political agenda, the EU Commission's 1999 Progress Report concluded that greater attention to the issue of the Roma in the Czech Republic had not improved their situation. For example, in October 1999, a wall was erected to separate Romani and non-Romani residents in a district of the city of Ustí nad Labem. This action drew international criticism and a statement from Günter Verheugen, the EU's enlargement commissioner, who referred to the construction of the wall as a "violation of human rights" (Poolos, 21 October 1999). Local residents insisted that it was not an issue of discrimination but rather a means of dealing with the loud noise and disorder coming from the tenement building. The "noise and hygiene barrier," according to city spokesman Milan Knotek, would separate the "decent people" from the "problematic community" of Roma (US Department of State: "Czech Republic Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998"). In response to the construction of the wall, Czech leaders including President Václav Havel and Pavel Zářecký, the deputy interior minister, immediately called for its removal. The wall was ultimately dismantled in November 1999. According to the EU Commission's 2000 Progress Report, not only was the wall removed but a state subsidy of CSK (Czech koruna) 3.6 million (approximately USD 88,000) was provided to purchase the houses of those citizens who initiated the construction process.
Heda Margolius Kovály’s memoir, “Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968” recounts her experience of the Holocaust and the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia, during the 20th century. In 1945, after the holocaust and after World War II, Czechoslovakia was in a period of distress, which made people seek for communism as a solution. Communism, a totalitarian regime, was a form of government in which nobody was allowed to own any private property and the government controlled all economic activity. This government structure was not only corrupt, but it also caused more economic crisis in Czechoslovakia. Despite the rough situation that Czechoslovakia was going through, none of its
Levine-Rasky, C., Beaudoin, J., & St. Clair, P. (2014). The exclusion of Roma claimants in Canadian
My essay focuses on discrimination as one of the main challenges that refugees face. I discuss some instances of discrimination that occurred in the book, whether based on race or culture,
"Rick Steves? Europe: Prague and the Czech Republic." Classroom Video On Demand. Films Media Group, 2002. Web. 28 May 2014.
One of the biggest, growing debates today is the issue of immigration into the U.S. I just don’t understand why there’s such a big debate. I compare this issue to the issue of racism in the way that, no matter what you do, "they" are always going to be here, and it is only ignorance that keeps the issue ablaze. The fact that migrants are not mostly white these days, also makes the issue one more of race. As Charles S. Clark puts it in The New Immigrants, "In the 1990’s, Americans who grew up in a historically white, Anglo-Saxon society are having to adjust to a Polish-born chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John Shalikashvili; to Spanish-language editions of People magazine on Seven-11 shelves; and to Buddhist temples and Islamic mosques rising in their communities." In the case of immigration, though, the ignorance is apparent in both the immigrant and the non-immigrant.
How far only the people of Berlin were responsible for bringing down the wall is
, (2014, March 7). Immigration: Russian/Polish. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/alt/polish.html. Mackay, D., (2014). The 'Standard'.
For this case study, a new immigrant to the United States from Romania, Mike was interviewed regarding the difficu...
In other words, The Hungarian polices yelled the neighborhood to get
The interaction between the immigrant and the citizens of the receiving country varies on whether or not their introduction into the new country is seen as a loss or something positive. These differing stances serve as a buffer for an immigrant’s desires, as they can either advance or stagger depending on how far their new situation allows them to advance. For this reason, the likely success of the individual depends on the descending community’s desire to embrace them. This acceptance or denial presents itself in the form of the resources available to “the other.” If these outsiders are not given the tools with which to function properly they will likely find solace in the ethnic specific networks that provide them with a means to survive.
The Berlin Wall ferociously slashed through the rights of the people of Germany. People have the right to go and live where they choose. Constructing a wall to trap and limit people was wrong. The people of Germany were oppressed economically and politically.
The Roma Gypsies, like the Jews, were chosen for complete genocide. Both groups of people were chosen completely based on their respective race. The Roma gypsies were not characterized by religion like the Jews, however, like the Jews; they were not respected throughout history and wer...
On Sunday, August 13th, in 1962 the Eastern German government began construction of the Berlin Wall (“Berlin Wall”). The Berlin Wall was built to divide the post World War II communist ran East Germany with the democratic West Germany. On that day families in Berlin were awaken to military machinery, barbed wire coils, and armed guards. The families that had crossed the newly made border the night before to visit friends and/or family were greeted to a wall and closed transit systems (“Berlin Wall”). For them this meant they were no longer going to be able to go home and be with their family however long this division of the country would last. As the day went on some government officials in East Germany feared that the citizens would start an uprising. However, contrary to their fears the streets of East Berlin stayed eerily quiet. Almost thirty years after that day the wall still separated friends and family only miles away. The wall was a physical division between the two superpowers of the time: the East controlled by the communist regime in the Soviet ...
The collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain, which had split Europe, had ascended and the once divided Germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Miller, W.L. "Asymmetric Adaptive Legal Cultures amongst Minorities and Euro-Migrants." The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. 28.4 (2012). Print.