Brussels, Prague, 24 January 2024: Young Romani activists, part of a volunteer-led project to record and litigate against online hate speech in the Czech Republic, have today released a publication exposing the state of online hate against Roma in the country as well as a policy guide detailing what the government must do if it wants to effectively challenge it. The …
FORUM and EIN join forces to implement freedom of expression judgments in Slovakia
We are thrilled to announce our cooperation with the European Implementation Network (EIN) in their new project focused on safeguarding freedom of expression in the Council of Europe member States. As a participant to this project, we are dedicated to promoting this fundamental right and the effective implementation of the relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as to advocating for …
Lawyers and volunteers jointly against online hate
Forum for Human Rights (FORUM) in cooperation with the group of volunteers active on socia media as ROMAntics and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have lodged six criminal complaints against individuals who have posted anti-Roma hate speech on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in Slovakia. The complaints are all against individuals who have posted racist statements calling for …
We fight against environmental injustice
Forum for Human Rights (FORUM) in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have brought a collective complaint against the municipality of Martin, Slovakia on behalf of Romani families living dangerously near to a landfill on the outskirts of the city. The Roma were relocated to the segregated community named ‘Bambusky’ by the municipality in the late 1990’s, with more …
We filed further criminal complaints for online hate
Forum for Human Rights (FORUM) in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and young Romani volunteers at Romea.cz, have filed five new criminal complaints against individuals who have repeatedly posted racist statements calling for violence against Roma on social media in the Czech Republic. Most of these emerging cases of online hate speech against Roma are linked to the news of the …
We have filed an application with the ECtHR in the Stanislav Tomáš case
Forum for Human Rights together with the grassroot Roma supporting organisation Konexe and the European Roma Rights Centre have filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against the Czech Republic in case of the death of Romani man Stanislav Tomáš in police custody in Teplice in 2021. The Czech Constitutional Court dismissed the organisations’ constitutional appeal in …
We published two National Briefing Papers on barriers for defendants with disabilities in criminal proceedings
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 …
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 …