Czech Interior Minister confirms that assaults on refugees from Ukraine dominated hate crime cases in 2023

Amnesty reported that in 2023, “Ukrainian refugees suffered hate speech, discrimination, harassment and hate crimes amid rising economic and political tensions”. Last year a total of 311 crimes were recorded as having been committed with a hateful motivation, which Rakušan said was a 10 % increase year-on-year.

“Last summer there were several conflicts between the Ukrainian community and the Romani community which managed to be resolved thanks to the work of the police and the acute communications system of the Interior Ministry. We effectively address these situations by speaking directly with people from both communities, we are working on specific solutions together with the Human Rights Commissioner and the Roma Minority Affairs Commissioner. I personally met with Romani representatives to explain the law and legislation applies to everybody equally in our country and that the police address criminal activity irrespective of who perpetrates it,” Rakušan said.

The Interior Minister went on to say that the Czech Republic currently has the highest number of refugees from Ukraine per capita of all the EU Member States. He said this fact is not having any kind of negative impact on the overall security situation and the proportion of crimes committed by Ukrainians is less than those committed by the majority population.

Czech Minister for Regional Development on the human rights report: Hate speech is unacceptable

The Czech Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation, Minister of Regional Development, and chair of the Pirates, Ivan Bartoš, told ČTK that hate speech or any other form of the discrimination named by the Amnesty International annual report is unacceptable, irrespective of whom it targets. “It’s literally pathetic how some politicians turn citizens against each other in order to score cheap political points and grab a bit of power. Nothing of the sort is supposed to have any kind of place in society today and each of us can set a positive example in that regard,” he said.

Bartoš said the recent opening of the Lety u Písku Memorial to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Bohemia demonstrates that things are changing for the better in the Czech Republic. He also said he finds it alarming that all over Europe the voices assailing different groups like Ukrainians fleeing Russian terror are being amplified, which just amplifies propaganda from Russia and scores points for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We must continue to support Ukraine for the security of us all. On the plus side, the cabinet adopted a definition of antigypsyism and the Lety Memorial was recently opened, which shows things are changing for the better, step by step, but it’s not happening as fast as we’d like and as would be appropriate in the 21st century,” he said.

As for another reproach in the Amnesty report about the rights of sexual minorities, Bartoš said the Pirates have long supported equal marriage rights for all, including same-sex couples, and have been doing their best to ban compulsory sterilization for transgender people seeking legal gender recognition. “The best defense against lies and hatred is to listen to the experiences of others, to have empathy and fundamental respect for those around us, that’s the only way we can create a safe and equal environment for all,” he said.