Discrimination against Roma persisted. Parliament again failed to ratify an international convention on violence against women and take forward a bill on same-sex marriage. The European Court of Justice ruled against the government for failure to accept mandatory refugee quotas. Up to 16% of...

The Czech Senate today finally voted to compensate thousands of Roma women who were unlawfully sterilized by the Czechoslovak and subsequently Czech authorities between 1966 and 2012, following a long campaign for justice by survivors. Barbora Černušáková, Amnesty International’s researcher on the...

As the European Court of Human Rights considers a landmark case on climate change brought by six young people from Portugal against 33 European countries, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations and academics have intervened in the case today. They have provided the Court with...

Europe: Mass protests provide hope as rights and judicial independence eroded People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said...

Companies based in the European Union (EU) are still marketing and trading in a range of security equipment which can be used to torture and ill-treat people, Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation warned in a new report today. Such activities continue because of loopholes in the...

Companies based in the European Union (EU) are still marketing and trading in a range of security equipment which can be used to torture and ill-treat people, Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation warned in a new report today. Such activities continue because of loopholes in the...

Picture: Amnesty International.  Romani children face daily discrimination and segregation in schools due to the Czech government’s longstanding failure to address deeply engrained prejudice within the education system, said Amnesty International in a new report launched today. Must try harder:...

Photo: Melpomeni Maragkidou/Vice. The 4th primary, a school tucked away in a corner of Sofades, a small town near the city of Karditsa in central Greece, looks like an old, decrepit prison. The building is so dilapidated, no child should be spending any time there. With not enough classrooms and...

Amnesty International today welcomed the European Commission’s announcement that it would use its powers to initiate infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic for breaching European Union (EU) anti-discrimination legislation.  “For years, Amnesty International has documented systemic...

When Romani children in the city of České Budějovice, in southern Czech Republic, wake up scared in the middle of the night, it is not for fear of imaginary monsters. Angry mobs have been increasingly attacking their homes and harassing Roma communities across the country. The first demonstration...

Czech authorities must protect Roma communities from violence and intimidation, Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) said ahead of planned anti-Roma demonstrations across the country. Far right groups are staging anti-Roma protests in up to 13 different Czech towns. One...

Václav Havel, the human rights activist and former President of Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic who died last year, is to be honoured by Amnesty International at the unveiling of a specially designed tapestry in Prague this weekend.The tapestry, designed by Czech artist Petr Sís and...

A pledge to end segregation and discrimination against Romani children in Czech schools needs to be backed with action, Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) urged after meeting the country’s Minister of Education, Petr Fiala.He told delegates from both organizations that...