ECRI Report, (fourth monitoring cycle). Published on 13 October 2015
Country
Czechia
Year
Type of publication
Geographical coverage
National
Area/location of interest
Type of Institution
Council of Europe body
Institution
Main Thematic Focus
Racism & xenophobia Discrimination Ethnic profiling
Target Population
Muslims Migrants Ethnic minorities People with migrant background Refugees & asylum seekers
Key findings
The main target of racist violence continues to be the Roma. ECRI notes that there is little antisemetic violence. Although there are small numbers of Muslims in the Czech Republic, there has been an increase in Islampohobia recently. Even the President is considered to hold openly anti-Islamic view. ECRI is very concerned that right-wing extremist groups organized a series of anti-Roma demonstrations and protests throughout 2013. These usually began with racist and inflammatory speeches against ‘inadaptables’ and mostly ended in extreme violence. The Czech Republic collects data on hate crime, including hate speech, but these are not disaggregated by bias motivation.
ECRI notes that intolerant and racist expression features also in the speech of mainstream parties. Intolerant political discourse is not infrequent, especially around election times. Roma and immigrants are the most common targets, but recently also Muslims have become victims of increased Islamophobia.
Methodology (Qualitative/Quantitative and exact type used, questionnaires etc)
The working methods for the preparation of the reports involve documentary analyses, a visit to the country concerned, and then a confidential dialogue with the national authorities.
Sample details and representativeness
ECRI’s reports are analyses based on a great deal of information gathered from a wide variety of sources.