. 13th HRC session - 19 March 2010
"The Czech Republic has for the last two years implemented recommendations from our first UPR in April 2008 and we would like to use this opportunity to provide a brief update of national implementation measures in five areas that have received our particular attention:
Firstly, a comprehensive and legislative framework for protection against discrimination was embedded in the Czech national legislation trough coming into force of the new anti-discrimination law in September 2009.
Among the continuing efforts to eliminate discrimination in access of Roma children to education, the Ministry of Education has in January 2010 call on elementary school to ensure that their enrolment practices strictly comply with principles of non-discrimination. This week the Government has adopted a national action plan of inclusive education which foresees further comprehensive set of measures to ensure effective access of Roma children to mainstream education.
Secondly, with regard to cases of sterilizations without proper informed consent, the Government has in November 2009 officially expressed regret at the individual errors identified and ordered the Ministry of Health to carry out further tasks to prevent effectively recurrence of such cases.
Thirdly, to eliminate attitudes allowing or condoning violence against children, a campaign “Stop the violence against children” started in May 2009 comprising of expert seminar, website, billboards, video clips on positive parenthood on TV and radio stations and new educational materials on this problem.
Fourthly, to strengthen protection of rights of LGBTs, new educational material called “Homophobia in schools collectives” was introduced to assist teachers in preventing and dealing with homophobic bullying.
Last but not least, the Czech Republic has in the course of last year successfully completed two ratification processes : of the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court and of the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities. "
. 16th HRC session - 18 March 2011
“The Czech Government continues to focus on the elimination of discrimination against Roma minority. A recently created Agency for Social Inclusion aims at overcoming the difficulties faced by the Roma community by establishing partnership at local level and helping create a climate of mutual understanding. The Czech Republic does not remain passive and even now, in the aftermath of the financial crisis and under heavy budgetary constraints, allocates considerable funds to tackle the problem; the Concept for Roma Integration for 2010-2013, adopted by the Government, includes concrete measures to improve the situation of Roma communities in areas such as education, housing and employment.
With regards to the gender perspective, the Government of the Czech Republic annually approves the National Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality. Its ultimate ain is to “combat all inequalities”. The current National Action Plan, inter alia, declares as its objective to support individual abilities and interests of girls and women, as well as boys and men, in preparing for their future careers in the fields considered atypical from a gender perspective.
Another major issue the Action Plan deals with is how to overcome stereotypical views of the position men and women in a family, in their workplaces and in the society itself. In that context, we wish to further decrease and finally eliminate the still-existing horizontal gender segregation in the labor market. The Czech authorities have taken steps to prepare an analysis of our education system focusing on the issues of the equality between women and men. Its outcomes should form a basis for targeting problem areas.
To enhance the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities the Government approved the National Action Plan on equal opportunities for persons with disabilities for years 2010-2014 which seta, inter alia, the obligation to complete preparatory works on the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities until 2012.”
The following observers took the floor:
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