Czech human rights record under scrutiny

The Czech Republic’s human rights record came under scrutiny at the United Nations on Monday. Among the recommendations made were for the country to improve the integration of Roma in Czech society, step up the fight against racism, xenophobia and islamophobia and strive for full gender equality.

The Czech government was praised for ending the practice of segregating Romany children in special schools and reaching agreement on the buy-out of a pig farm located on the site of a former concentration camp for Romanies during WWII in order to make way for a dignified memorial to the victims.

The full list of recommendations should be made available by November 10th.

The Universal Periodic Review, through which each UN member country is examined once every five years, allows governments to review a country’s human rights record and make recommendations for improvements. In the last scrutiny the Czech Republic received 136 recommendations and fulfilled 129 of them.