Ethnic minorities are defined as citizens of the CR who claim a nationality other than Czech. Foreigners are defined as people with other than Czech citizenship.
The definition of the term ethnic minority and member of a national minority is described in Act No. 273/2001 Coll. In conformity with this Act, the Government Council for Ethnic Minorities was established as an advisory and initiating body for issues connected with ethnic minorities and their members and the protection of minority languages. The Council is also chaired by a member of the Government of the CR. There are 30 members of the Council, and they include the Vice-Ministers of Finance, Culture, Education, Labour, The Interior, Justice, and Foreign Affairs and representatives of 14 ethnic minorities – Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, German, Polish, Roma, Ruthenian, Russian, Greek, Slovak, Serbian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese and 2 Jewish and Vlax Roma communities.
Since 2002 the Council has annually submitted the ‘Report on the Situation of Ethnic Minorities in the CR’ to the government. It is based on reports from all the ministries involved, bodies of local and regional government, representatives of ethnic minorities in the Council, and other background information. Since 2002 the Report has changed mostly in connection with ratification of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages in the CR. A greater proportion of the report is dedicated to applying ethnic-minority policy on the local and regional level – specifically, to the implementation of the Charter.
Ethnic minorities are supported mostly through subsidy programmes in the state budget (Ministry of Culture (MC), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MEYS), and the Office of the Government of the CR) and is divided up thematically into the following programmes:
- support for the preservation, development, and presentation of the culture of ethnic minorities;
- support for the dissemination and spread of information in the languages of ethnic minorities;
- support for education in the languages of ethnic minorities and multicultural education;
- support for projects of integration of members of the Roma community.
The Office of the Government of the CR maintains the following support programmes:
- Implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages;
- Programme of Support for Field Work;
- Support for Coordinators of Roma Consultants in Regional Offices; and
- Programme for the Prevention of Social Exclusion and for Community Work.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports run three programmes in the field of education:
- Programme of Support for Education in Languages of Ethnic Minorities, Extra-curricular and Leisure Activities for Children and Youth;
- Development Programme in Support of Schools Implementing Inclusive Education; and
- Programme of Support for Projects for the Socially Disadvantaged and Ethnic Minorities in Post-secondary Education
The MC has three programmes:
- Programme of Support for Disseminating and Receiving Information in Languages of National Minorities – support for periodical press, radio and television broadcasting;
- Programme of Support for Cultural Activities of National Minority Members – support for artistic, cultural, and educational activities, research and analysis of national culture and folk traditions, documentation of national cultures, editorial activity, and multi-ethnic cultural events aiming to combat intolerance and xenophobia; and
- Programme of Support for the Roma Community Integration – it focuses on creating equal conditions for members of the Roma community, especially support for social and cultural activities executed by Roma community organisations.
In addition to these three programmes, the MC provides state subsidies for the activities of ethnic minorities, for instance, as part of its programme Library of the 21st century, for libraries working with ethnic minorities, for the integration of foreigners, and for multi-ethnic activities in the field of culture, the aim of which is to promote cultural dialogue and shared knowledge of different cultures within the framework of other grant competitions.
The MC also is also responsible for the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno. In 2023 the Museum will open the Centre for the Roma and the Sinti in Prague, which will showcase Roma history and intellectual and material culture and will thus also become a social and community centre, offering a range of educational and cultural activities for the wider public.
The creation of a specialised worksite of the Museum of Roma Culture is funded by the Norway Grants – with a Human Rights Programme focussed on integration of the Roma, and domestic and gender-based violence. A partner in the project is the European Wergeland Centre in Oslo.
The EEA and Norway Grants have a long tradition in the CR of supporting human rights. Many of the programmes of the EEA and Norway Grants in the CR are aimed at improving the integration of the Roma in society and at combating racism and xenophobia (see also chapter 1.4.2.).
Another programme of the EEA and Norway Grants is the Culture Programme, which focuses on supporting the cultural expression of minorities in contemporary art and on the inclusion and the cultural heritage of minorities (including Roma and Jewish peoples). Thanks to the Culture Programme, direct support is provided to a predefined project of the Museum of Roma Culture, namely the Building of a memorial to the Roma victims of the Holocaust in Lety near Písek for 1.5 million EUR. This project will be implemented in 2021-2024, and in addition to the construction of the monument an educational programme will be set up, which will be prepared in cooperation with the Norwegian Falstad Centre.
Programmes in the field of culture and education also address other minorities such as the Jewish community. Projects by civic associations of these minorities are supported, as is the Jewish Museum in Prague. The Ministry of Culture also manages the organisation Ghetto Museum and Terezín Memorial, which carries out research and educational activities on the Holocaust.
The Concept for the Integration of Foreigners was first adopted by the government in December 2000; the most recently updated version is for 2016. Integration means the process of including foreigners in society, a reciprocal process that necessarily involves foreigners themselves and also the majority society. The Concept from the start has envisioned the involvement of several ministries. Coordination of the Concept is in the hands of the Ministry of the Interior of the CR, which each year also submits to the government a Report on the Implementation of the Concept.
The Concept’s implementation is guided by the government’s annually updated Method for the Implementation of the Current Concept for the Integration of Foreigners – in Mutual Respect (2022).
The Ministry of the Interior (MI) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the CR regularly update their joint website Foreigners in the CR , which also provides access to Information Publications for foreigners in 7 language versions. The website provides access to necessary documents and contacts for state administration and foreigners and it provides necessary information for following a uniform process for achieving the integration of foreigners in the CR.
The Czech Statistical Office elaborates and publishes statistical data on the number of foreigners in the CR, their regional distribution, classification according to sex, citizenship, age, type and purpose of stay in the CR, the asylum procedure for foreigners, their economic activity and other data. Statistics take into account only those foreigners residing legally in the CR.
The number of foreigners in the CR has been on the rise since 2008. The latest available data are for the year 2021. In 2021, a total of 647 651 foreign nationals were registered in the CR, of whom 328 560 were registered on the basis of temporary residence permits and 319 090 with permanent residence in the CR. For comparison, in 2013 there were 441 500 foreign nationals living in the CR and in 2018, 564 300 foreign nationals. Among foreigners legally residing in the CR, third-country nationals predominate (418 369 persons, i.e. 65%) over citizens of EU Member States, EEA and Switzerland (229 281 persons, i.e. 35%). Already in 2021, Ukraine was the most numerous nationality with 189 912 persons, accounting for 29% of the total. The predominant purpose of stay of foreigners with temporary residence is employment (50%), followed by family reunification (19%), study (9%) and business (5%).
The authorities estimated in July 2022 that some 280 000 to 300 000 refugees from Ukraine, mostly women with children, are currently living in the CR. It is impossible to determine the exact number of refugees, some of whom are leaving the CR for other countries or returning home. In the nearly four months of the war, 378 104 refugees from Ukraine have been granted temporary protection visas in the CR.
There are certain differences, however, in the geographical distribution of foreign nationals according to state citizenship. Prague remains the most attractive location for all foreign nationals. Ukrainian citizens are concentrated more in the Central Bohemian Region and the South Moravian Region. Vietnamese citizens are largely settled in Prague but also in the Czech-German border regions. Citizens of the Russian Federation tend to be drawn to the Central Bohemian, Southern Moravian, and Karlovy Vary Regions as well as Prague.
In July 2010 the Czech Republic ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) and in 2014 the Czech Republic submitted its first preliminary evaluative report. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for the implementation of the Convention. In connection with the Convention’s implementation an international meeting was organised in Prague in autumn 2013 that focused on the method and system of implementing the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The Czech Republic also annually contributes financially to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity.
On 21 March 2022, the Lex Ukraine legislation, which consists of three standards, came into force, specifying the conditions of residence for persons arriving en masse from Ukraine as a result of the war. Lex Ukraine applies only to persons who have been granted temporary protection in connection with the war in Ukraine or who have been granted a visa to stay for more than 90 days in order to tolerate their stay in the territory of the CR. It does not apply to other persons with foreign citizenship, including Ukrainian citizenship.
On 22 June 2022, a new law, Lex Ukraine II, entered into force, which clarifies and supplements the provisions given in Lex Ukraine I. The law enters into force on the date of its promulgation and expires on 31 August 2023.
From the position of the Ministry of Interior, the law regulates the allocation of temporary protection, the legal status of refugees and access to health care. From the position of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the law addresses employment, social security and the implementation of children’s groups, and the law proposed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports defines access to education.
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