Czech NGOs ask senators to distance themselves from their colleagues' racism

At the instigation of the Czech Professional Society for Inclusive Education, (Česká odborná společnost pro inkluzivní vzdělávání -ČOSIV), an open letter has been written to the senators currently serving in the Czech Parliament. In the letter, the signatories refer to a recent plenary session in the Senate that featured racist and xenophobic remarks and ask the senators to publicly distance themselves from such statements in order to preserve the political culture and dignity of the institution they represent.

The letter has been joined by Amnesty International Czech Republic, the Czech Helsinki Committee, Open Society Fund Prague, ROMEA, Slovo 21 and other organizations. For the time being it has been signed by 18 NGO representatives.

The full translation of the letter follows:

Open letter to senators

Dear Senators,

On 27 November 2013 the Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Effective Roma Integration Measures in the Member States (Senate Documents Nos N 81/09 and N 81/09/01) was discussed by the Senate. During that session, many racist and xenophobic statements were made which definitely have no place on the floor of the Senate.

In order to preserve the political culture and dignity of that institution, we would like to ask you to always clearly distance yourselves from such remarks made in plenary and to help establish a substantive level of debate on the areas of discrimination and human rights. In the name of the organizations below, we draw your attention in particular to the unacceptable statements made by Senate Vice-Chair Zdeněk Škromach and by Senators Jaroslav Doubrava, Vladimír Dryml, Jaroslav Kubera and Pavel Lebeda.  

On behalf of all of us, we thank you in advance for your response to this letter.

Sincerely,

Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková
Chair, Czech Professional Society for Inclusive Education (ČOSIV)

František Kostlán
Vice-Chair, Czech Helsinki Committee

Zdeněk Ryšavý
Executive Director, ROMEA o.s.

Mark Martin
Director, Amnesty International Czech Republic

Robert Basch
Director, Nadace Open Society Fund Praha

Jelena Silajdžić
Executive Director, Slovo 21 o.s.

Pavla Baxová
Director, Rytmus. o.s.

Jana Chržová
Chair, Czech Women’s Union

Jana Smiggels Kavková
Director, Forum 50 %

Tamara Kováčová
Chair, Expert Commission on Education, Association of Organizations for the Hearing Impaired and their Friends

Jan Musil
Director, Marie Curie-Sklodowská Primary School, Jáchymov Nursery School

Petra Skalická
Director, "Varianty" program, People in Need

Helena Skálová
Director, Gender Studies

Zdeněk Slejška
Executive Director, EDUin, o. p. s.

Radka Renzová
Dierctor, Svitavy – Lačnov Nursery and Primary School

Zuzana Vodňanská
Director, META o.s. – Association for Opportunities for Immigrant Youth

Petra Zahradníková
Director, Inclusio o.p.s.

Jan Zajíc
Director, Nová škola o.p.s. (New School)