Archive: Society | Minorities

The shadow economy of the Czech Republic is thought to employ hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers. They come mainly from Ukraine and Slovakia, Vietnam and Russia. On Tuesday --just as the Interior Ministry was outlining plans to close several asylum centres due to dwindling numbers of refugees-- Czech non-profit organisations issued a clarion call for the "regularisation" of illegal workers.

The Czech Interior Ministry has announced plans for changes to the country's asylum system, to reflect a fall in the number of refugees arriving in the Czech Republic each year. The ministry says it plans to close some centres and rebuild others, to improve conditions for asylum-seekers. Groups representing refugees have welcomed the proposals, but complain that other changes recently introduced actually curtail the rights of asylum seekers.

The pig farm at Lety has proven to be an embarrassment for a succession of Czech governments: in the early 90s, the media revealed that the farm stood on the site of a notorious concentration camp, where Romanies were interned by the Nazi Protectorate in World War II. More than 300 people - the majority of them children - died there, succumbing to disease in appalling conditions, while a further 800 were sent on to Auschwitz and other death camps. In view of the shameful circumstances several Czech governments tried to have the pig farm removed

This month, a new mentoring project will be launched in the Moravian capital Brno, in which university students visit the homes of Roma schoolchildren to motivate them and help improve their grades. The Association of Roma in Moravia has earmarked some 350,000 crowns (just over 14,000 US dollars) for the project - enough for free private tutorials until the end of next year.

Under communism it was practically impossible to be homeless in this country. Since the 1989 revolution that has changed dramatically, with one survey finding there were over 3,000 people living on the streets in the capital alone. For the down and out, getting back on their feet is no easy task. But for a few years now a Prague theatre group has been helping the homeless regain some self-esteem, and a semblance of normality. On Monday it premiered a new play.

Czechoslovak statehood day in recent years has also been marked by rallies of the far-right and racist skinhead groups. Some 100 far-right extremists rallied in Ostrava, the third largest Czech city. Organised groups of skinheads from Brno, the regional capital of Moravia, and from neighbouring Slovakia were also present, police said. Anti-fascist groups took to the streets to counter demonstrate and several arrests were made.

Meanwhile, in Prague, some seventy Czech neo-Nazis demonstrated outside the German embassy on Friday to demand the release of Ernst Zuendel, a far-right extremist who is in prison in Germany for the crime of denying the Holocaust. The Czech Jewish Communities' Federation, the Czech Council for Victims of Nazism and other civic groups earlier this week criticised Prague City Hall for granting permission for the neo-Nazi demonstration to go ahead. About twice as many people turned out for a counter protest at the embassy organised by the anti-racism group Tolerance, with the support of Czech politicians including MP Tatana Fischerova, and Senators Karel Schwarzenberg and Jaromir Stetina. Two neo-Nazi demonstrators were arrested, but police said the event passed without major incident.

Trim, tanned, and well-proportioned where it counts: those are some of the pre-requisites for making it in the gay porn business in the Czech Republic, which enjoyed a massive boom in recent years. The 'biz' has come under the spotlight recently in the country's edition of the Big Brother reality show, in which Filip Trojovsky - known professionally as Tommy Hansen - admitted to acting in gay porn films though he insisted he was heterosexual. Strike you as unusual? Apparently in the Czech Republic it is often the case that actors in gay porn are

The lower house of the Czech Parliament is expected to vote on a bill on same-sex registered partnerships this month. Last year, a similar bill was defeated by just one vote. But this time, a homosexual rights group in Prague has decided to take action within the Chamber of Deputies and has come up with an unusual method to rally MPs' support.

Under Czech law, public service broadcasters are obliged to devote programming time to minorities living in this country such as Slovaks and Roma. In this week's Talking Point, we look at the impact these broadcasts have on the image of minorities in Czech society and the challenges facing public broadcasters as they grapple with an ever-changing demography.