Report on the Situation of National Minorities in the Czech Republic in 2004 Office of the Government of the Czech Republic Secretariat of the Government Council for National Minorities Prague 2005 Report on the Situation of National Minorities in the Czech Republic in 2004 Edited by: Office of the Government of the Czech Republic Secretariat of the Government Council for National Minorities ISBN 80-86734-65-X GOVERNMENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC No 742, of 15 June 2005 to the Report on the Situation of National Minorities in the Czech Republic in 2004 The Government I. t a k e s n o t e of the Report on the Situation of National Minorities in the Czech Republic in 2004, contained in Part III of Document No. 866/05 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Report’); II. a m e n d s Government Resolution No 663 of 30 June 2004 concerning the Report on the Situation of National Minorities in the Czech Republic in 2003 whereby 1. point III/3 of the above-mentioned Resolution is abrogated, 2. the hitherto point III/4 of the above-mentioned Resolution becomes point III/3; III. i m p o s e s o n 1. the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, in cooperation with the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, to incorporate an item on the reconstruction of the premises of the primary school in Vendryně, where Polish is the language of instruction, in the amount of CZK 5,000,000 into the bill on the national budget of the Czech Republic for 2006, under the budget heading of the Public Treasury Administration, 2. the Minister of the Interior, in cooperation with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, to draw up and present to the Government, by 31 December 2005, a bill amending Section 29(2) of Act No 128/2000 on municipalities (the Municipal Order), as amended, to the effect that it will propose the revocation of the requirement of the submission of a petition by at least 40% of persons of legal age in a municipality who are members of a national minority, 3. the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice a) to draw up the final wording of the Report, b) to arrange for the promulgation of this Resolution in the Government Journal for bodies of regions and municipalities; IV. a u t h o r i s e s the Prime Minister to submit the Report, pursuant to points I and III/3a hereof, to the Chairperson of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and to the Chairperson of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for the information of the respective committees of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; V. r e c o m m e n d s that the regional governors and mayors of statutory towns, municipalities with delegated municipal authorities, and municipalities where a Committee for National Minorities has been set up, make arrangements, within the meaning of Governmental Order No 98/2002 laying down conditions and the method for the award of grants from the national budget for the activities of members of national minorities and for the support of the integration of members of the Roma community, to carry out the systematic award of special- purpose grants from public finances to fund the activities of members of national minorities and to support the integration of members of the Roma community. To be executed by: Prime Minister First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and Chairperson of the Council for National Minorities of the Government of the Czech Republic Minister of the Interior Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Noted by: Regional Chief Executives, Mayors of statutory towns Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek, Dipl. Ing. Contents page Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1 1. International Obligations.....................................................................................................2 1.1. Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe ........................................................................................................................2 1.2. European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages .................................................3 1.3. Liabilities of the Czech Republic under UN conventions ..............................................4 2. Selected Legislative Measures .............................................................................................5 2.1. Coordination of the Ministry of the Interior ...................................................................5 2.2. Coordination of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport ........................................8 2.3. Coordination of the Ministry of Culture.......................................................................11 2.4. Coordination of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs .........................................12 3. Tasks stemming from the Government Resolution on the Report for 2003 .................14 3.1. Transformation of the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno ...........................................14 3.2. Establishment of a House of National Minorities in Prague ........................................14 3.3. Humanitarian gesture to active opponents of Nazism and to members of national minorities......................................................................................................................15 3.4. Reconstruction of the primary school in Jablunkov with Polish as a language of instruction .....................................................................................................................16 4. Support of conditions for the development of the activities of members of national minorities.................................................................................................................................17 4.1. The audit conclusion reached by the Supreme Audit Office from Audit 03/01 Financial management of national budget funds expended on the support of national minorities ......................................................................................................................................17 4.2. Information on the grant policy of the Ministry of the Interior and the support of projects for the activities of national minorities...........................................................18 4.3. Support of cultural activities.........................................................................................18 4.4. Grants from the national budget in the programme for the support of the dissemination and acceptance of information in the languages of national minorities or to a large degree in the languages of national minorities, or on national minorities in society in 2004 ..............................................................................................................................19 4.5. Programme of the Ministry of Culture to Support the Integration of Members of the Roma Community ........................................................................................................33 4.6. Multiethnic cultural events ...........................................................................................33 4.7. Activities of the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno in 2004........................................34 4.8. The Museum and the Collegium Bohemicum centre of Czech-German studies in Ústí nad Labem ....................................................................................................................38 4.9. Education and Training.................................................................................................40 4.10. Summary – support for the projects of members of national minorities ....................50 5. Public administration.........................................................................................................53 5.1. Sub-Committee for National Minorities of the Committee on Petitions of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament ............................................................................53 5.2. Office of the President of the Republic ........................................................................53 5.3. Ombudsman..................................................................................................................54 5.4. Government Council for National Minorities...............................................................55 5.5. The Council of the Government of the Czech Republic for Roma Community Affairs ......................................................................................................................................56 5.6. Departmental forums for national minority issues .......................................................57 6. Activities of self-governing bodies.....................................................................................58 6.1. Municipal assemblies....................................................................................................58 6.2. Assemblies of statutory towns.......................................................................................90 6.3. Regional Assemblies...................................................................................................121 7. How the national minorities see their situation .............................................................155 Bulgarian minority