Note: Although in this project we use the term ‘defendant with a disability’ generally, we also mean suspects, accused, defendants and sentenced persons with a disability. As part of the Enable project, FORUM has published National Briefing Papers identifying barriers faced by defendants with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in the criminal justice system in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The aim …
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FORUM won the first CRC case against the Czech Republic
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its first-ever decision against the Czech Republic, defended two adolescents who had been placed in an institution based on an interim measure for neglecting their schooling and their parents’ failure to provide them with psychological or psychiatric support On 5 June 2023, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child …
ROLL: The first workshop on judicial independence
Forum for Human Rights together with its partners the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ, Brussels), Human Rights in Practice (Hague) and Free Courts (Poland), Aditus (Malta) held a two-days intensive workshop on Institutional independence of the judiciary and autonomy of the prosecution service, on 13-14 June 2023 in Brussels. Judicial independence serves as a gateway to protecting access to justice and human …
Meeting of volunteers fighting online hate speech
On 24 March 2023 a meeting and training of volunteers fighting online hate speech known as ROMAntici took place in Košice, Slovakia. The meeting was attended by law students and other young people from all over Slovakia, who are not indifferent to the hatred spread against Roma on the Internet. Volunteers have been monitoring the most popular social networks for the …
Alternative report to CAT about rights of people with disabilities in Slovakia
On Monday 20 March 2023, together with seven civil society partners, we have submitted a joint alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture on the situation of people with disabilities in Slovakia. We informed the Committee about the problems with the criminal legislation in the area of ill-treatment, ineffective deinstitutionalization, problematic legislation in the area of restriction of personal liberty …
Reports Highlight Deep-Rooted Antigypsyism in Czech & Slovak Criminal Justice Systems
Brussels, 7 February 2023: The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has released two pivotal reports today, uncovering the pervasive antigypsyism and institutional racism within the criminal justice systems of the of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These reports were developed in collaboration with global criminal justice watchdog, Fair Trials, with crucial contributions from FORUM’s dedicated research team. ERRC President, Đorđe Jovanović, emphasized the systemic …
Czech Roma rights activists file criminal complaints against online hate speech
Prague, Brussels, 26 October 2022: Roma Rights activists in Prague have filed criminal complaints for incitement to racial hatred against Roma on social media. The complaints were based on evidence collected by Romani volunteers working on a project with Czech Romani news portal, Romea, and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). The complaints were filed with the Police Presidium today by lawyers …
Czech authorities inadequately investigated ill-treatment of an asylum-seeker at the Prague airport, held ECtHR
The European Court of Human Rights today partially upheld the application of a Turkish asylum-seeker about his ill-treatment by Czech police during his detention at Prague airport. In the judgment B. Ü. v. Czech Republic, the Strasbourg court held that the Czech General Inspectorate of Security Forces (GISF) had failed to adequately investigate his complaint of ill-treatment and had not allowed the …
Conference in Bratislava: Independent Life
On 22 September 2022, the 5th annual Conference called Independent Life was held in Bratislava. The aim of this conference was a discussion on the National Programme for the Development of Living Conditions of Persons with Disabilities in Slovakia. This conference was organised by the Advisory Council for Social Work and the SOCIA Foundation in cooperation with FORUM for Human Rights …
Team of volunteers fights against online hate
On 16 and 17 September, FORUM trained a group of volunteers in Bratislava, whose task will be to monitor and report hate speech against the Roma community on the internet. The team of volunteers is called ROMAntici (in English “ROMAntics”). The training was attended by young people from different parts of Slovakia and some who study abroad. Their common goal is …