Czech reporter: "Why are Romani refugees ending up in detention facilities? Because nobody else wants them!"

If you flee to the Czech Republic from a war and you are Romani, you end up in worse conditions than if you flee to the Czech Republic from a war and are not Romani. Such is the finding of news server Deník N reporter Prokop Vodrážka.

When asked on the Deník N Podcast by Filip Titlbach why Romani refugees are ending up in the detention facility at Vyšní Lhoty, Vodrážka answered succinctly: “Because nobody else wants them.” Together with other journalists, Vodrážka has had an opportunity to visit the detention facility. 

The Refugee Facilities Administration has decided to show how it is working with Romani refugees from Ukraine. “It’s not nice there, but the Czech Republic has not been able to offer anything better yet,” Vodrážka writes in Deník N.

“Maybe the Czech Republic is unable to offer anything better,” the reporter posits. The area of the camp is surrounded by barbed wire, police officers are on the spot, and there are bars in the windows, so according to Vodrážka it has definitely not been adapted for long-term occupation and is not cozy.