Report on the State of Human Rights
in the Czech Republic in 2006
The Government took note of this Report by its Resolution No. 815 of 18 July 2007.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. General part
1. Introduction
2. Institutional safeguards on human rights protection
3. The international dimension of human rights
3.1 Reports on the fulfilment of obligations under international human rights treaties and review thereof before the supervisory bodies
3.2 Report on the Implementation of Recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) resulting from CPT's visit in 2006
3.3 Contractual basis
3.3.1 Adoption of new commitments under international law
3.3.2 Preparation of new international conventions
3.3.3 Complaints against the Czech Republic before the European Court of Human Rights
3.3.4 Notifications filed against the Czech Republic with the Human Rights Committee
3.3.5 Implementation of decisions of international supervisory bodies by the State
3.4. Contribution of the Czech Republic to the promotion of protection of human rights and democracy in the world
3.4.1.UN – Human Rights Council
3.4.2Transformation cooperation
4. The European Union
II. Special part
1. Fundamental civil and political rights
1.1 Property rights
1.1.1 Property rights and public interest
1.1.1.1 Construction of the plant of Hyundai automobile company inNošovice
1.1.1.2 Construction of NEMAK's plant
1.1.1.3 Construction of the expressway R52
1.1.1.4 Construction of the new takeoff and landing runway of the Ruzyně Airport
1.1.1.5 Construction of Highway D3
1.1.1.6 Complaints of house and apartment owners to the European Court of Human Rights
1.2. Right of access to healthcare documentation
1.3 Rights to privacy and its protection
1.3.1 Introducing biometric elements into passports
1.3.2 Other problems of protection of privacy and personal data
1.3.2.1 Handling of personal data by the Ministry of the Interior and the Police of the Czech Republic, authorization of intelligence and security services
1.3.2.2 Problems of camera systems
1.4 Suffrage
1.4.1 Election to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006
1.4.2 Senate elections in 2006
1.4.3 Municipal elections in 2006
1.4.4. National minorities
1.5 Freedom of assembly
1.5.1 Results of investigation of the case “CzechTek 2005”
1.5.2 Police interventions at demonstrations and assemblies
1.5.2.1 Intervention at the May 1st demonstration in Prague
2. Judiciary, right to judicial and other protection
2.1 Changes of the legislation
2.2 Lodging deposits under the Code of Civil Procedure
3. Persons whose freedom has been restricted
3.1 Legislative changes
3.2. Detention and imprisonment
3.2.1 Development of the number of prisoners and prison capacity
3.2.2 Offer of treatment programmes and employment of prisoners
3.2.3 Provision of health care in the prison system
3.2.4 Prison Information System
3.2.5 Participation of remand prisoners and convicts in elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and municipal assemblies
3.3 Decision of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic on parole
3.4 Rights of persons deprived of freedom by the police authorities and conditions in police cells
3.5 Detention facilities for foreigners
4. Trafficking in persons, forced labour, domestic violence
4.1. Trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation
4.1.1. Migrants, employers and consumers
4.2 Forced labour and other forms of exploitation
4.3. Activities of the Ministry of the Interior focusing on care for victims of trafficking with persons
4.4. Activities of non-governmental organizations focused on the care for victims of trafficking with human beings
4.5 Domestic violence
4.5.1. The act amending certain laws in the area of protection against domestic violence
4.5.1.1. Expulsion
4.5.1.2. Intervention centres
4.5.2. Some other problems related to domestic violence
5. Economic and social rights
5. 1 Legislative and other changes having significance for the implementation of economic and social rights
5.1.1. The Employment Act and job seekers
5.1.2 The new Labour Code
5.2 Labour law relationships
5.2.1 Employment of persons with disabilities
5.3 Social security
5.3.1 Legislative and other changes
5.3.1.1 Act on Assistance in Material Destitution
5.3.1.2 Act on Subsistence and Existential Minimum
5.4 Social services
5.4.1 Legislative and other changes
5.4.2 Use of means of restraint in the provision of social services
5.5 Housing and protection of socially excluded persons
5.5.1 Regulation of housing rent
5.5.2 Housing of socially weaker and disadvantaged groups of the population
5.5.3 Programme of construction of subsidized flats
5.5.4 The homeless
5.6 Health care
5.6.1 Legislative and other changes pertaining to protection of patient rights
5.6.2 Unauthorized sterilization of women
5.6.3 Protection of rights of persons with mental disorders
5.6.4 Use of means of restraint in the provision of health care
5.7 Rights of persons with disabilities
5.8 Status and rights of senior
6. Equal treatment and discrimination
6.1. Antidiscrimination legislation
6.2 Prohibition of discrimination in labour-law relations and employment
6.2.1 Monitoring of compliance with labour laws, violations identified by labour offices and labour inspectorates
6.3 Discrimination on the grounds of sex
6.3.1 Case law of the Constitutional Court – applications for participation in pension insurance
6.3.2 Lawsuit in the matter of alleged discrimination on the grounds of sex in a selection procedure
6.4 Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation
6.4.1 Registered partnership
6.4.2 Lawsuit in the matter of discrimination at work on the grounds of sexual orientation
6.5 Discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin
6.5.1 Crime motivated by racial intolerance
6.5.2 Cases of racial discrimination investigated by the Czech Trade Inspection
6.5.3 Neo-Nazi concerts
6.6. Finding of the Constitutional Court on the reversal of the burden of proof in discrimination cases
7. Equal opportunities for women and men
7.1 Reconciliation of family and professional life
7.1.1. Parental allowance
7.1.2 Maternity benefit
7.1.3 Support in nursing a member of the family
7.2 Representation of women at political and decision-making posts
8. Children's rights
8.1. Institutional safeguards of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
8.2 Social and legal protection of children
8.3 Violence against children; threatened children living outside their families
8.4 Sexual abuse of children for commercial purposes
8.5 Institutional and protective care
8.6 Enforcement of judgments concerning custody of minor children (abductions of children from abroad)
8.7 Maintenance duty of parents towards children
9. Foreigners
9.1 Basic migration trends in 2006
9.2 Principal legislative and conceptual changes in the Czech Republic in 2006 pertaining to human rights
9.3 Problems related to health insurance of certain categories of foreigners from third countries with long-term residence permit in the Czech Republic
9.4 Access of foreigners from third countries to education
9.5 Access of foreigners from third countries to employment and self-employment activities
9.6 Situation at foreigner police offices
9.7 Other problem areas
9.8 Illegal migration and its human rights aspect
9.9 Integration of immigrants into the Czech society
9.10 Citizenship, judicial review of decisions not to grant Czech citizenship
10. Refugees and other persons in need in international protection
10.1 Overall situation and tendencies in asylum and provision of protection in 2006
10.1.1 Relocation of Uzbek refugees
10.2 Changes of the legal framework of asylum and international protection in 2006
10.3 Problems of asylum practice
10.3.1 Health insurance of applicants for international protection
10.3.2 Asylum proceedings in the transit area of the Prague-Ruzyně International Airport and in the detached establishment in Velké Přílepy
10.3.3 The case of asylum applicants fromEgypt
10.3.4 Administrative deportation and family life of a foreigner – a family member of an EU citizen
10.3.5 Supplementary protection in practice
10.3.6 Publication of judgments on provision of protection
10.3.7 Problems of drawing finance from the European Refugee Fund
10.4 Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in 2006
10.5 Integration of asylum seekers in 2006
III. Conclusion
I. General part
1. Introduction
Every year since 1998 the Government Commissioner for Human Rights has prepared a Report on the State of Human Rights in the CzechRepublic. The 2005 Report on the State of Human Rights in thus the ninth of its kind. Like the previous Reports,[1]it is primarily an update and is chiefly intended for the Government of the CzechRepublic to help it in making decisions on priorities in the area of human rights protection. As such, it does not repeat general statements on fundamental democratic freedoms in the CzechRepublic or the list of rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as the “Charter”);[2] instead, it primarily addresses the progress achieved in the past year in the areas which were criticized in the past, and ongoing deficiencies.
The achieved progress and ongoing deficiencies are evaluated predominantly in the light of international treaties on human rights of which the CzechRepublic is a signatory. For this purposes, the Reports also usually contain an evaluation made by the bodies controlling compliance with these treaties, which are the only bodies authorized to formally evaluate whether or not the states respect their international obligations. These supervisory bodies are independent in their evaluation; their evaluations are based on a wide range of information which they obtain from the governments of individual states as well as from non-governmental organizations involved in the area of human rights. Besides their evaluating role, these organizations also present their recommendations on how to achieve a higher level of human rights protection. In order to obtain a full picture, it is also essential to investigate the manner in which individual states have implemented thisde factomanual of the supervisory bodies.
Like in the Reports on the State of Human Rights in the CzechRepublic published in previous years, the layout of this Report is a compromise between the systemic and content-based interpretation of human rights, as contained in a whole series of international human rights treaties and in the Charter. Many parts of the Report include references to its other parts, thus preserving the links between the content of individual rights and the issues that pertain to them. In additionto this internal linking of its various parts, the Report contains references to other documents in general, i.e. also to materials compiled by the Government, both of a conceptual or a legislative nature, which are directly or indirectly related to issues of human rights protection in the Czech Republic. The Report does not look in depth at the issues of racism, xenophobia, extremism or the status of minorities, including the Roma minority, as these issues are regularly dealt with in separate reports.[3]
Passages containing evaluations and recommendations that express the author's standpoint on the disputed problems are clearly marked in the text by italics.
2. Institutional safeguards on human rights protection
Of those institutions that could unequivocally be viewed as independent national human rights bodies, probably only the position of public defender of rights (ombudsman) meets the international criteria for such bodies. In addition, human rights questions are addressed by a number of advisory bodies of the Government with differing degrees of intensity and in various contexts. The following Government advisory bodies are unquestionably most closely linked to the issue of human rights:
- Government Council of the CzechRepublic for Human Rights
- Government Council for National Minorities
- Council of the CzechRepublic Government for Roma Community Affairs
- Government Council for Equal Opportunities of Men and Women
- Government Council for Seniors and Population Ageing
- Government Board for People with Disabilities.[4]
Although not directly involved in human rights, the ombudsman plays an important role in protecting the rights of individuals in relation to public administration. Besides resolving individual complaints, the ombudsman is authorized to submit advice to the Government or its members on specific matters. Such advice generally also contains a proposal for rectification.[5]The ombudsman also informs the Chamber of Deputies on his activities in the form of annual reports.[6]
3. The international dimension of human rights
3.1 Reports on the fulfilment of obligations under international human rights treaties and review thereof before the supervisory bodies
- The Third Periodic Report of the Czech Republic on the Implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Following a review of this report for the year 2004, the CzechRepublic provided to the Committee against Torture in 2005 certain initial supplementary information, which was evaluated as satisfactory by the Committee. In May 2006, the Committee asked for further supplementary information.
The attention of the Committee against Torture continues to be focused on the adoption of the Antidiscrimination Act, investigation of racially motivated violence, the amount of compensation collected from prisoners to cover the cost of their imprisonment and detention and investigation of excessive use of force by the security forces during demonstrations against the meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Prague in 2000.
- The Third Periodic Report of the CzechRepublic on the Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
The report for the period 1999 – 2003 was presented in 2004 and was reviewed by the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women at its meeting held in New York on 17 August 2006. As a part of this review, the Committee did not only evaluate the report as such, but also answers on preliminary questions, which were provided by the Czech Republic in 2006, as well as materials presented by non-governmental organizations. The Committee summarized its evaluation in final recommendations,[7]where it referred to continuing problems and recommended the adoption of measures aiming at their resolution.
The Committee focused in particular on the absence of a comprehensive legislative framework of protection against discrimination, low representation of women in elected and executive positions, multi-faceted discrimination of Roma women, adoption of temporary special measures under Article 4 of the Convention and collection and analysis of data in all areas of the Convention.
- Introductory Report on Fulfilment of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts
The Introductory Report was reviewed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Geneva on17 May2006. Results of this review were summarized in final recommendations of the CRC dated2 June 2006.[8]In those recommendations, CRC appreciated a number of positive aspects, recommending at the same time namely an enhancement of the criminal legislation against enlistment of children to armed forces and their involvement in armed conflict, as well as a number of partial provisions ranging between the deepening of coordination in the given area through the strengthening of means of assistance to potential victims to restrictions on weapons trade with countries using child soldiers.
The CRC recommended to the Czech Republic to enact more rigorous provisions of the draft Criminal Code to ensure that criminalization of enlistment of children in armed forces is not limited to enlistment at the time of war or an armed conflict. Under the terms of universality, the CRC suggested to designate expressly as a criminal offence the involvement of children in armed actions, including assistance in and support to such actions. The CzechRepublic was also asked to ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
- The Sixth and the Seventh Periodic Report on the Fulfilment of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
The Report, which summarized information for the period from1 June 2002until 31 March 2005, was presented on4 January 2006 and was reviewed by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on 1 – 2 March 2007.
- The Second Report on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
This Report was presented by the CzechRepublic to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on24 May 2006and will be defended by the CzechRepublic before the Human Rights Committee, established under the Covenant, in 2007.
- The Second Periodic Report on the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
As a follow-up of the Report presented by the CzechRepublic in 2004, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted on15 March 2006 a resolution on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minoritiesin the Czech Republic. The CzechRepublic was evaluated positively for its revision of the Concept of Integration of Roma Communities and for supplementing its legislation concerning protection of national minorities during the use of minority languages, and for the legal safeguarding of the participation of representatives of national minorities in decision-making processes at the central, regional or local level.
At the same time, the CzechRepublic was asked to adopt the Antidiscrimination Act, to ensure effective implementation of the relevant legislation on the local level and to increase its involvement in combating racially motivated crime.
3.2 Report on the Implementation of Recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) resulting from CPT's visit in 2006
The third regular visit of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter the “CPT”) to the Czech Republic took place on 27 March to 7 April andon 21 to24 June 2006.[9]During this visit,the CPT visited selected police stations inLiberec, Jablonec, Jičín, Ostrava and in Prague; remand prisons in Liberec and inOstrava; the prison in Mírov; psychiatric hospitals in Brno andDobřany; the Social Care Home inBrandýs nad Labem, the Social Care Home inPrague 1 and the Social Care Home in Střelice.
Based on the findings from this visit,the CPT adopted at its 60th meeting held on 3 to 7 July 2006 the Report for the Government of the Czech Republic regarding its visit (hereinafter the “CPT Report”). In the introduction, the CPT Report stated that the director of the Institute of Social Care inPrague 1 refused the CPT access to medical records of clients. The CPT responded to this approach by remarking that “it understands the importance of medical confidentiality but wishes to stress at the same time that Article 8 paragraph 2.d) of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment(hereinafter the“Convention”)[10]stipulates that the Parties to the Convention shall provide the Committee with information available to them which is necessary for it to carry out its task, i.e. also the access to medical documentation.
According to the CPT, the existing good cooperation was also marred by a denial of access to the Social Care Home inBrandýs nad Labem on 1 April 2006. The Deputy Head of the Regional Council of Central Bohemia Region informed the delegation that the council was of the opinion that the CPT mandate did not cover social care homes. He stated that the delegation would only be granted access to the home under the direct supervision of the staff, and that all interviews with residents would have to be conducted in their presence. The delegation explained that such conditions can never be accepted by the CPT. When the delegation did attempt to visit the social care home the next day, it was denied access.