Czech Senate Committee on Human Rights endorses definition of antigypsyism

The Czech Senate’s Committee on Human Rights has unanimously adopted a working definition of antigypsyism as discrimination against Romani people. The definition, like the definition of antisemitism, names the specific form of racism Romani people face because of their culture, ethnic origin or lifestyle.

The definition was first adopted by the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs on Monday and is based on international usage, according to the chair of the committee, Senator Jiří Růžička (for TOP 09), who also said the definition is not legally binding. “Antigypsyism, i.e., discrimination against Romani people, is the behavior and statements of individuals as well as institutional practices and strategies resulting in the exclusion or marginalization of Romani people, in the devaluation of the Romani culture and lifestyle, or in hate speech or physical violence against Romani people and other groups considered ‘Gypsies’ and their individual members,” the committee’s resolution reads.

According to the committee, Romani people are stigmatized by others because of their ethnic origin, which is associated with many biased ideas and insulting stereotypes that represent a specific form of racism in and of themselves. In that context, the definition recalls the Holocaust of the Roma, i.e., the annihilation of the Roma by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The head of the Czech delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Robert Řehák, told the senators that the definition is of symbolic value. The aim of adopting it is for society to become aware that discrimination against Romani people is to be rejected.

“This sends a clear signal to society that anti-Romani attitudes are not welcome here and, at the same time, that it is not good to exclude and marginalize the Romani minority in Czech society,” the Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs, Lucie Fuková, said shortly after the definition was adopted, giving examples of antigypsyism such as approving of the Nazi genocide of the Roma or using the word “gypsy” (in Czech, cikán) as a term of abuse. Approached for comment, Czech Senator Jiří Čunek (Christian Democrats) said “I don’t have anything against this definition in principle,” – the man who, as mayor of Vsetín, forcibly evicted many Romani rent defaulters who have recently won court judgments compensating them for their mistreatment by that municipality under his watch.

Čunek also said the definition in and of itself solves nothing and that different administrations have not done very much so far to actually eliminate the problems that exist between the majority society and Romani people. He also said nobody should be “persecuted” for saying the word “gypsy”.

Czech Senator Daniela Kovářová (unaffiliated) said she agreed that all institutions should treat all citizens equally. However, she also said she considered it dubious to sanction individuals for their attitudes, as it would mean Jewish people could be penalized for making jokes about their own ethnicity.