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Carolina (English) No 065B
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STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
School of Social Sciences of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
E-mail address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs
Fax: (+422) 231 7391
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 65.1, Friday, March 12, 1993.
Supplement to the information about the seminar
about the racial and ethnic problems
**************************
In this special issue we complete the information about the
seminar about the racial and ethnic problems mentioned in Carolina no.
64. The seminar took place last Friday (February 19th) at our college
and was organized by the group for human rights of the Helsinki civic
assembly and was supported by the Foundation of Heinrich Boell. We
present here the full text of the main report of the seminar, then the
proposed bill submitted on December 28th, 1992 by the Prosecutor General
JuDr. Setina to the Czech National Council and finally the text of the
by-law accepted by the local authorities at Jirkov. We note that the
Jirkov by-law was denounced by the prime minister Vaclav Klaus in
a recent TV interview as unlawful, however according to our information,
in Northern Bohemia the by-law is still enforced.
A note from the translator:
The "Roms" (also called gypsies) form an ethnic minority in both the
Czech and Slovak republics. Before the second world war they were nomads
and shepherds living in Slovakia. During the fifties and sixties they
were forced to move into cities by the communist government. This policy
has put them in conflict with the society.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Try to visit a suburb in Most, Bilina, Usti nad Labem, Janov,
Jirkov or Chanov. In the blocks of flats - not only in concrete prefab
houses and not only in "Rom" houses - you will find deserted flats,
broken windows and sometimes water flowing from the tap. From these
barracks people commute to work daily in jammed busses, finding their
way through the thick fog to be absorbed into coal mines, chemical
factories and power plants. And these are the lucky ones who have a job.
When they return home from work, they can watch TV or go to the pub. The
fog, smoke, steam and dirt is all around - as well as poverty. The
concrete "villages" recall the sad impression of a strange morbid world.
This impression was expressed by the poet and singer Jaroslav Hutka in
the song "Oh, folks, what have you done?" And one may of course ask "why
do these people live here?"
Maybe we can find the key to the understanding of this problem if
we try to answer this question. It will lead us to the whole chain of
causes and effects, which made the north Bohemian coal plain the center
of violation of human rights. After several visits to these places
during the recent atmospheric inversion I can truly say that it is also
a ghetto. This ghetto is the result of the long lasting blind
destruction of people, culture and nature and the result of reckless
disregard for the future: the coal in the region was created during
millions of years and we burn it within several decades.
We know that the Northern Bohemian region was inhabited before the
second world war mainly by Germans, who were deported to Germany after
the war. While the Germans annihilated almost all the Roms during the
war (after the war there were less than few thousands Roms in the Czech
republic), the post war government as well as the post-February
government (the Communist coup was in February 1948) tried to revive
this industrial region by a settling policy, which led people here from
all across the country - even the repatriated Slovaks and Czechs from
Romania. During the fifties there were many Roms who were transported
from Slovak villages, separated from their families and placed into
vacated houses which were transformed into blocks of flats. The decision
of the communist government to develop the hard industry intensively led
to the further building of blocks of flats and depressing concrete
barracks. Construction of thermal power plants at Tusimice, Melnik and
Chvaltenice - combined with surface coal mining and the development of
the chemical industry led to the total devastation of the environment,
to the violation of the allowed content of sulphur dioxide in the
atmosphere, to the cultural destruction of beautiful North Bohemian
towns and to the present dilemma: either limit the industrial activity
in this region and thus save at least a part of the environment (on the
other hand however, this will be paid off by a decrease in the total
idustrial production in the country and it will create a bad social
situation and incease unemployment) or keep the industrial complex
running, further destroy the environment, invest into desulfurising
devices and postpone the solution until the situation will be
unacceptable.
A striking example of the decrease of authority of the state
administration was the Jirkov by-law and the proposed bill on
"extraordinary provisions to ensure the public order" submitted by the
Prosecutor General JuDr. Setina to the Czech National Council on
December 28th, 1992. Both the by-law, which has been accepted by the
local authorities in several large towns, and the proposed bill violate
the Constitution. They show not only the dangerous developments in
juridical thinking and juridical culture in our country but they are
also a sign of dangerous civic disobedience. If we look at the problem
in more detail, we shall find a clear connection between the social,
economical and cultural state of the industrial regions and nervousness
of local politicians, authorities and citizens.
There are many negative factors causing this difficult situation,
some of which have been created during the last fifty years by the
irresponsible communist rule, but some of them are also the effects of
the present social and economical transformation. The increasing
unemployment which affects first of all the Roms was an unknown
phenomenon in our country and the majority of people is not
economically, socially and psychically prepared to accept this new
phenomenon. According to the information from the representatives of the
Rom civic movement the unemployment ratio of Roms in Northern Bohemia is
above 50 percent (we note that in some regions in Slovakia the situation
is even worse). It is not surprising that the criminality increases,
which is the result of a social depravity and we can thus say that this
is a social criminality. Low salaries of the state officials and the
justice officials who are overloaded with the increasing criminality,
lead to the lack of these officials at the regions with the lowest
socioeconomic standards. The Jirkov case started as a protest of
citizens who were offended by the fact that the overloaded courts and
prisons cannot handle the serious criminal cases and the waiting period
for the trial is several years. It is no wonder that the citizens force
the local authorities to take the order into their own hands. Another
example that shows the seriousness of the situation is the recent case
of civic disobedience in Teplice where people refused to pay for public
transportation during the atmospheric inversion, when the content of
sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere was so high that people could not live
the normal lives.
The effect of splitting the republic upon the situation of the
ethnic minorities who formally considered themselves of being a Slovak
nationality is another factor that has increased the social and
political tension. The uncertainity about the future developments of the
ethnic feelings in the both republics just contributed to the difficulty
of the problem. The legislative process in the republic increases
nervousness of people. The law about citizenship requires that the
applicant for the Czech citizenship should have a permanent residency in
the Czech republic for at least two years and a clean criminal record
during the past five years. This law discriminates the majority of the
Roms on our territory. It is a retroactive law, the backward effect of
which negatively affects those people, who before the acceptance of the
law could not anticipate that the country may split. Even more startling
is the fact that this law de facto legitimizes the jurisdiction before
1989. It is important to realize that many Roms living on the territory
of the Czech republic have Slovak citizenship, despite the fact that
they have been living there for many years. They had no reason to
proclaim that they have Czech nationality. The majority of them came to
the Czech republic in search for an employment. These people lived in
flats that belonged to indusrial companies and they had no reason to
change their permanent residency. They are now in an unsolvable
situation: the increasing unemployment results in eviction of these
people from the flats which belong to the companies. According to the
Jirkov by-law the authorities can treat them as offenders if they find
shelter at their relatives or friends. Nobody could be pepared in
advance for this situation. Does somebody think that we can send these
people "home"? The majority of Roms who have been working in the Czech
republic has no place to return to.
Let me give you an example of a family, that I visited in Usti nad
Labem: He is a Rom, who as an employee of Chemofarma (a chemical
company) has lived for ten years in the flat, which belonged to the
company. When he was fired from Chemofarma, he found a job in surface
coal mines. However he was fired again and he is unemployed now. He was
expelled from the flat at the end of the last year, all his belongings
and furniture were put on the street. The whole action was executed by
the city police with dogs during the night and the family with children
suddenly found itself on the street. The family moved to their relatives
who live in unacceptable conditions in the flat without any facilities
and who can be penalized, becuse they accepted their relatives into
their flat. By the way, the man whose story I described was awarded
a recognition as an outstanding worker some time ago. He has paid taxes
for years, served in the army, and suddenly he is in a situation, when
he cannot be a citizen in the country where he has lived and worked for
many years.
There are many cases like this, however I do not have the
statistics. I would like to point out the dehumanity of the situation.
It is a duty of a democratic society to pay attention that its laws are
not only reasonable and righteous but also human as well. It is annoying
that these demonstrations of unfeelingness of people are not only in our
country but also in the neighbouring Germany where a law is being
perpared, which may cause that the countries would send to each other
thousands of people across the border while having no responsibility for
these people. I think that the European Council and the European
comission for human rights should deal with this problem.
I would like to mention an another phenomenon that only emphasizes
the xenophobic atmosphere in our country. It is an open agression
against foreigners and ethnic minorities. There have been reports in the
television, radio and press about the conflicts between skinheads and
Roms, Vietnamese and foreign students with the other color of skin than
ours. This agression has an apparently increasing tendency.
Unfortunately these are not just small groups of extereme nationalists
with racist ideology. When some of the Rom colleagues from our group for
human rights told me about conflicts in the Prague suburb Zizkov,
I visited the place. I came right after a group of skinheads started
a conflict with the local Roms. It was a sad surprise that a majority of
local people cheered to the skinheads and supported them. I visited the
local police station and I have found out that they considered this
incident as a normal street fight. To be fair to the police, I note that
this was about a year ago and I hope that their attidude has changed
since then. However, we have the information, which if proved to be
true, can serve as an evidence of racial criminality among the police
officials. The cases like these should be investigated properly and the
police must refuse and stay apart from these cases.
The agresivity of skinheads is not just a disorganized harmless
activity. Most of the actions are planned ahead and well organized and
their effect is far more serious than just street conflicts. To
illustrate the seriousness of racial agresivity of skinheads I will give
several examples. I obtained this information from my Vietnamese
friends. The list is incomplete and the information was not obtained
systematically:
- Spring 1990: Skinheads threw out from the moving train 2
Vietnamese. It is not known what had happened to them. The incident was
announced to the police in Kolin by a witness riding in the same train.
- Spring 1990: After a series of attacks of skinheads to the
Vietnamese, who were returning from work (there were some attacks in
front of their dormitory) , the Vietnam workers from CKD Praha (an
engineering company in Prague) refused to go to work until safety is
secured. The CKD company had to secure the bus transportation for the
whole week.
- June 1990 Partizanske, Slovak republic: The local people attacked
dormitory of local workers. The attackers set up a fire in the dormitory
and several people were seriously injured. The ministry of work and
social affairs decided about the deportation of all Vietnamese workers
from Partizanske to Vietnam.
- August 1990, Prague, the underground station Chodov: Skinheads
attacked 3 Vietnamese, who were visiting the Branik brewery (they came
to sign up a job contract). They were blinded by the tear gas and then
kicked until they fell into unconsciousness. They were hospitalized for
three weeks.
- September 1990, Zlin: Skinheads stopped a local bus and had beaten
all the Vietnamese in the bus. One Vietnamese managed to escape to their
dormitory and brought help. A bloody conflict followed with serious
injuries on both sides. The bus as well as several cars (among them
a police car) were damaged. The dormitory was surronded by police for
several days and the Vietnamese workers refused to go to work.
- 1991, Mlada Boleslav: Skinheads attacked the Vietnamese at the bus
station, one of them was seriously injured (the victim, Mr. Bui Van Huy,
lost four teeth and was hospitalized). One of the attackers was arrested
and the case got to the local court. The verdict is unknown.
The following less serious cases were recoreded during our visit
at the dormitory of the CKD company (we talked only to the one leader of
a group of workers). These incidents happened in 1991 and 1992. The
victims were workers returning late from work:
- Le Van Phuoc - blinded by a tear gas and beaten. He had to go to
the doctor.
- Nguyen Xuan Lai: beaten, he had to see the doctor.
- Cao Xuan Phuc: beaten until he lost consciousness. He was
hospitalized at the Motol hospital.
- Lai Van Loc (the underground station I. P. Pavlova): He was
beaten until he lost consciousness. He lost one tooth and had several
wounds, so that surgical treatment was necessary. He was hospitalized at
the surgical clinic.
The following incidents were announced to us directly by the
victims:
1/ Pham Huu Uyen, Ph.D. : In October 1990 he was attacked by the
skinheads at the underground station Kacerov. He was hit into his face
and threatened by a knife. About fourteen days later he was attacked in
an underground train between the stations Kacerov and Vysehrad. After
several hits by fists, he was forced to get out of the train and kicked
when leaving the underground station Vysehrad. The injuries were not
serious.
2/ The attack on Nguyen Huu Huan, Ph.D. on December 15th, 1992:
While returning from work (he works in the Czech Academy of sciences as
a research fellow) he was attacked by skinheads at the underground
station Vysehrad. He was wounded on his face and broken an arm. He could
not return to work for six weeks.
It is annoying that many of these crimes were not investigated nor
punished. In a situation when the public tension increases, this is an
dangerous phenomenon that may end in a pogrom psychosis. Anyway, Roms or
Vietnamese or other foreigners are cannot walk safely in our cities.
The Roms also often complain about the press and meida. I do not
want to accuse our journalists from racism, but the fact that the
information about criminality is given together with the information
about nationality of the criminals is not a good certificate of culture
of our journalists. I consider this disrespectful and impolite. In
particular at this college, I want to point out that police records
given to journalists should not contain information about nationality of
the suspects. The education towards respect for other nations and ethic
groups is necessary if we want to improve the situation. The arrogant
and impertinent attitude of the republican leader Mr. Sladek, who in his
speech wanted to send the Roms to Ukraine and Poland, is just an another
example of decrease of our political culture. Unfortunately some
newspapers just support this atmosphere. If we do not refuse these
attitudes, it may be a threat to our democracy.
The situation in education and in our schools is not good either.
I shall give just one example: According to information obtained from
the representatives of Rom civic movement there are about 12,000 Roms in
Usti nad Labem (the largest city in Northern Bohemia), but only 50 of
them completed high school and just five have a college degree. I talked
to the young Rom boy in Chanov - he comes from the very poor family, but
he did go to school and has completed the eighth grade with only one
"C". He applied for admission to the high school but he was not
accepted. I think that education of Roms deserves our attention. We have
to realize that for most of them even the first grade presents
a problem, because they do not speak Czech very well (the Roms have
their own language). Contemporary schools do not support the development
of their culture. Considering their language and cultural differences,
the schools should enable them to learn to read and write in their own
language. Another example from Chanov is the fact that several years ago
there used to be a school of arts for children, where the Rom children
with musical and dancing talent could learn to play violin and
accordion. The school is out of order now.
There are many topics that we should talk about. I have not
mentioned the dual standard for considering the social situation of the
Roms and Vietnamese: I have seen the Vietnamese dormitory and blocks of
flats for Roms, where people move in, but there are no facilities to
support basic needs. I have not mentioned that the Roms are refused in
advance when they apply for a job and nobody talks to them. I have not
mentioned pubs with signs as "No entry for gypsies", the walls and phone
cells scribbled with signs like "Death for the gypsies" or "Gypsies
should go to the gas" and so on. I suppose that some of these topics
will be considered in other reports. I would be glad if we start to look
for a positive solution. We should learn how to get to know and to
respect those people who are differrent from us, so that we do not
consider them to be our enemies. I believe that a racist is only that
person who cannot and does not want to know and respect others.
Vaclav Trojan
chairman of the group for human rights
of the Helsinki civic assembly
______________________________________________________________________
A bill presented by the Prosecutor General JUDr. Setina to the Czech
National Council on December 28, 1992:
With reference to the provisions of Sec. 7, Par. 3 and 4 of the Office
of the Prosecutor Law, I hereby suggest that the Czech National Council
adopt a law concerning transitory and extraordinary provisions phrased as
follows:
ACT
by the Czech National Council from December ....., 1992
on extraordinary provisions to ensure public order.
As certain undisciplined migrant groups of the population cause
unrest, the Czech National Council has adopted the following law:
Sec. 1
1) In locations designated by the government as "places threatened by
migration", all dwellers, whether house owners or tenants, may receive
persons without permanent residence in the location in their dwellings
only with the consent of the Registration Office.
2) This consent must be requested before receiving them into their
dwelling, the length of stay may not be longer than 5 days. An
application for a repeated reception of persons without permanent
residence in the location can be submitted only after 6 months from the
last permission. Persons who were granted permission to stay with one
dweller can apply for a new permission of stay with the same or
different dweller also only after 6 months have expired.
3) This does not apply to family members of the dweller, but it does
apply to their spouses and children.
Sec. 2
1) The Registration Office shall mark its consent or disapproval with a
stamp on the submitted application, with the hour and day of granting
the permission.
2) The Registration Office shall not grant a permission if the stay is
assumed to be longer than 24 hours, and if the number of registered
visitors, together with the members of the dweller's household exceeded
a norm of usage, i.e., if the area in the dwelling per person were less
than 8 square metres.
3) Further, the Registration Office shall reject an application unless 6
months have expired from the last visit permit.
4) The Registration Office may reject an application in case when for
the period in question public assemblies are announced, or when public
unrest takes place in the location.
Sec. 3
1) For every day, or its part, of a visit, every visitor and every
dweller shall pay a fee of 10 Kcs. The fee is payable in revenue stamps
in advance. The fee need not be paid by minors until 15 years of age.
2) If presence of non-registered persons in the dwelling is discovered,
a fee of 1,000 Kcs shall be collected from every non-registered person
for every day or its part, and the dweller shall pay a fee of 5,000 Kcs.
This applies also to staying longer than permitted. These fees are
collected by the communities in cash, and they go into their budgets.
3) Procedures regarding these fees are subject to special regulations
(Act No. 137/1992).
4) If the fee has been reduced to the extent defined in Sec. 148 of the
Criminal Code, a suspended sentence cannot be imposed for such a felony.
Sec. 4
Police organs and persons deputized by the local authorities are
authorized to identify persons staying in a dwelling even after 22:00 h,
but not after 24:00 h until 6:00 a.m.
Sec. 5
1) In locations designated by the government, the admission of an
additional person to a dwelling or its part (subtenant) is subject to a
consent of the local authorities.
2) This consent can be granted at most to two persons.
3) The consent is not granted if the area per person in the dwelling
amounts to less than 8 square metres.
4) The consent may be denied to persons who do not produce a proof of a
clean criminal record.
5) In other respects, the conditions of a sublet are subject to
appropriate regulations of the Civil Code.
Sec. 6
Willful occupation of a dwelling and its use without a rental
contract, of duration more than 24 hours, is considered to be the use of
another person's property in the sense of Sec. 249 of the Criminal Code,
for which only a non-suspended prison term can be imposed.
Sec. 7
This law shall come into effect on the day when the government
designates locations threatened by migration in the digest of law, and
it shall expire on the day of December 31, 1992.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General By-Law
To Ensure Public Order And Safety
In The Town Of JIRKOV
The Board of Representatives at Jirkov, on the basis of the provisions
of Sec. 35, Par. 1, letter b) of the Act of the Czech National Council
No. 367/90 of the Digest, regarding communities, has adopted the
following general by-law.
Article I
The purpose of this by-law is to improve safety and ensure public order
in the town of Jirkov.
Article II
1. To ensure the control of the immigration into the town, it is the
duty of every user of a dwelling to request a permission to stay from
the owner of the dwelling, in case of a non-registered citizen for more
than 3 days, or in case of frequently interrupted repeated stay.
2. This permission cannot be granted if it contradicts the mandatory
regulations of hygienic service which define a minimal residence area
per inhabitant.
3. A user of a dwelling and a non-registered citizen who fails to apply
for permission, or allows a non-registered citizen to stay without the
owner's permission, shall be fined by up to 5,000 Kcs. At the same time,
compensation for increased cost of services resulting from the use of
the dwelling shall be demanded.
Article III
1. It is the duty of a user of a dwelling to use it for habitation. In
case it is used also for other purposes, e.g., for business or private
accommodation services, it is the user's duty to request a permission
from the owner of the dwelling.
2. It is the duty of a user of a dwelling to facilitate the owner's
inspection of the technical condition of the dwelling.
3. If the user of the dwelling repeatedly violates the house code of
conduct, a contract concerning the use of the dwelling, or regulations
of this general by-law, he may be served a notice according to the
provisions of Sec. 1-711 of the Civil Code with the provision that he
will be moved into a dwelling of a lower category, or moved out without
replacement.
4. In case that the actions of the user of the dwelling cause that
further use of the dwelling raises a threat of an infection, or that
hygienic regulations are violated, or the safety of the public is
threatened, a notice can be served without a court permission. The court
shall be notified subsequently.
Article IV
1. The use of non-residential spaces in houses must serve their defined
purposes.
2. A user of a dwelling who intends to use non-residential spaces for
other purposes (e.g., business, sports or cultural purposes or to set up
a home shop) is under an obligation to request the owner's permission.
3. A user of a dwelling who fails to request the owner's permission,
performs activities named in paragraph 2 of this article without the
owner's permission, or does not observe the conditions stated in such a
permission, is in violation of regulations of sec. 711, par. 1, letter
d) of the Civil Code, and can be served a notice.
4. An owner of a dwelling who allows activities that threaten morality,
health and safety of the inhabitants, can be fined by up to 100,000 Kcs.
Article V
Fines imposed for violations shall be enforced in the following
manners:
a) voluntary payment,
b) deductions from wages or other remuneration for work, or compensation
for wages,
c) in case of a violation contrary to conditions set for granting social
or other assistance
d) in case when a person who was fined for a violation is not earning
wages, or on account of the earnings it is impossible to enforce the
decision by payroll deductions, the fine shall be collected by assigning
community work (e.g., helping to keep the town clean). This work shall
be evaluated according to appropriate wage regulations, and it will be
assigned up to the amount of the fine.
Article VI
1. In case of repeated violations which contradict conditions for social
assistance or other payments granted by the town authorities, decision
about reduction or cancellation of these payments shall be decided upon.
2. Parents whose children are caught drinking alcoholic beverages or
abusing addictive substances (shooting up), shall be denied social
assistance, for their children's behavior indicates neglected care and
upbringing.
Article VII
Transitory and Concluding Measures
1) The Board of Representatives in Jirkov shall establish a town jail to
be used for the purpose of enforcing fines for violations.
2) The Board of Representatives is delegating the inspection of the
provisions of this by-law to the Town Police of Jirkov.
3) The Board of Representatives approved this by-law at its session on
November 3, 1992, and the by-law comes into effect on December 3, 1992.
Deputy Mayor Mayor
Ing. Jiri Leitner m.p. Ing. Filip Skapa m.p.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Translation (first part) :rajcani@usceast.cs.scarolina.edu
(second part): kovarik@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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