Czech Republic appoints its first Roma commissioner

The Czech government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala last month created the post of government commissioner for Roma community affairs — an important step in addressing the complex situation of the country's Roma community. It appointed 41-year-old Romni Lucie Fukova to the post.

"The government takes the matter of the integration of national minorities very seriously," Czech government spokesman Vaclav Smolka told DW. "Because integration measures are very disjointed, the government decided to create the post of government commissioner in this area primarily to act as a coordinator between the ministries."

Fukova hopes that her work will ensure that the money that the Czech Republic and the European Union spend on improving the situation of the Roma community will go where it is needed most. Roma and Sinti communities are Europe's largest, and most disadvantaged, minority, and Roma are estimated to make up about 2.5% of the population of the Czech Republic.

"Simply put, [I want] to find a way to help that will be based on the real needs of Romani people," Fukova told the website Romea.cz. "I will also work comprehensively on the overall perception of Romani people in society. Czechs and Roma don't know each other; prejudice makes it harder to live together."

Experience at European level

Lucie Fukova belongs to what is still a relatively small group of Roma who have a university education. She has a degree in social anthropology from the University of Pardubice and completed an internship at the European Commission, during which she helped to prepare the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU.

In 2007, she was Czech coordinator of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. She recently worked as an advisor on matters relating to the Roma community in the region of Pardubice.

Focus on training for young Roma

Fukova considers one of her most important tasks as commissioner for Roma community affairs to be the creation of the social conditions needed to allow Roma in the Czech Republic to get education and professional training and, therefore, a better start in life.

"It goes without saying that when a family reaches a certain level — a good home, a good job — it's easier for the children in that family to continue their professional training," Fukova said in a radio interview shortly after her appointment.

Roma community not involved in appointment

Some Roma activists are critical of the way the first Roma commissioner was selected. They say that Roma organizations were not invited to take part in the process and that Fukova was chosen by the office of the Czech government commissioner for human rights, Klara Laurencikova, and the decision was then rubber-stamped by the Czech government.

"The government commissioner for Roma community affairs needs the fundamental support of the Roma population," Roma activist Jaroslav Miko wrote on Facebook. "Once again, people are talking about Roma without talking to Roma."

Laurencikova rejected this assessment in an interview with the Roma internet television channel Romea TV: "The government commissioner is chosen by the government," she said. "I have done my best, since taking office, to remind the government that a commissioner had to be appointed this year. It is a component of both the government's program statement and the adopted government Romani Integration Strategy. That was my role."

'It will be very difficult'

Most people in the Roma community see the creation of the post of Roma commissioner as a very positive step. "We've been waiting for this for a very long time, so I'm particularly happy that it has come about," said Jana Horvathova, director of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, the only Roma museum in the world to be set up by the state.

"Above all, I wish Lucie Fukova much strength, and I will support her fully in her work," said Horvathova, one of the best-known members of the Roma community in the Czech Republic. "There is certainly a need for this post, but it is not guaranteed to be a success. It will be very difficult for the commissioner because the Roma community in particular expects a lot of her. Much will depend on how seriously the Czech government takes her role."

Integration is a matter for all Czechs

Horvathova also stressed that improving relations between the communities and the integration of the Roma concerns all of society, not just the Roma. "I hope that some things will get easier now," she told DW.

"For three decades, we have been campaigning for the history of the Romani community to be taught in Czech schools, too. Children in both primary and secondary schools learn practically nothing about Roma. So, there is a lot of prejudice across all of Czech society," said Horvathova.

Few Roma declare their ethnicity

In the last census conducted in the Czech Republic in 2021, 21,000 people gave Roma as their ethnicity. Yet according to official government estimates, there are about 250,000 Roma in the country, which has a population of approximately 10.5 million.

In addition to racist prejudice, which still puts Roma at a disadvantage when looking for a job or a home, the social situation of the Roma community is a problem. Fukova has highlighted the poor health and high number of drug addicts in the community.

"On average, Roma die 18 years younger than non-Roma in the Czech Republic. This should become a political issue," she recently told the online magazine HateFree.

In appointing a government commissioner for Roma community affairs, the Czech Republic is taking a leaf out of Slovakia's book: Its neighbor has had such a commissioner since 2001. However, Slovakia's progress in this area has been mixed, and the situation for Roma there is improving only slowly. According to the Slovak government, Roma make up about 10% of the national population of five million people.

This article was originally published in German.