Representatives of Czech organizations working to promote human rights, people facing adversity and the Romani minority have called on Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) and members of the lower house to distance themselves from the remarks of the Czech Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman), Stanislav Křeček, about Romani people. In their view, the ombudsman is denigrating the office by stirring up hatred and strengthening anti-Romani biases in society. Representatives of 16 organizations, four volunteer civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs and one volunteer civil society member of the Czech Government Council for National Minorities have made the claims in an open letter. Křeček was chosen for the office a year ago by the Chamber of Deputies. The ombudsman swore his oath on 19 February 2020 and then assumed the office. Last month, on the official website of the Public Defender of Rights, he said in his comments on the Government’s draft Roma Integration Strategy that some Romani people have problems finding housing not because landlords discriminate against them, but because “they devastate the housing stock and transform a part of these municipalities into excluded localities”. Elsewhere on his blog Křeček has written, among other things, that: “The labor of black slaves in the past was a significant contribution to the creation of wealth in the USA, but under no circumstances can the same thing be said of the European Roma.” The letter-writers refer to other statements he has made about education or employment of Romani people.
via romea.cz: Czech organizations insist the lower house and Prime Minister reject the anti-Romani remarks of the ombudsman