Dear readers,

we are proud to present to you the 2015 issue of the Czech Republic Human Rights review. Despite the delay in its publication, we hope that you will find articles that will be of interest to you. And as is also stated in the editorial of this issue, we vow to deliver information about Czech human rights related events from following periods in a much timely manner. The 2015 issue starts with a leading article from Adam Blisa who reflects on significant events or situations that occurred in 2015 in the Czech Republic, which often put Czech society’s values and morals to a challenging test. You will also find information on the detention of foreigners in the Czech Republic and a rally that took place on a significant national holiday, that incited an important public debate on the state of freedom of expression in the Czech Republic. Other articles in this publication focus on the developments in discrimination cases in the Czech Republic or president Zeman’s state visit to Azerbaijan. We wish you an enjoyable reading.

Dear readers, we are proud to bring to you a new issue of the Czech Republic Human Rights Review. In this issue, you might find articles dedicated to moving cases of segregated education of Roma children in both Czech Republic and Slovakia and the polemic on whether it is necessary to vote on the Church Restitutions in the Referendum. You can also read about recent jurisprudence on controversial Solar Tax that was introduced by the Czech legislator to relieve the abrupt growth of solar power stations and on the next step in the Kinsky restitution case. You might be also interested into reading on the emergence of new statutory laws on criminalization of grow shops, exploitation of foreign lumberman in the Czech Republic, and last but not least about crossroads of business and human rights with respect to Czech arms industry and international politics towards China. We wish you an enjoyable reading.

This issue of the Review offers you a summary presentation of conclusion of the European Network Against Racism report on the state of racism and discrimination in the Czech Republic, which was written primarily by Center's members. Additionally, the Review features articles about the turbulent developments in the Slovak judiciary as well as at the Czech Constitutional Court. Last but not least, we invite you to read about the most recent major cases against the Czech Republic decided by the European Court of Human Rights.

The new issue of the Czech Republic Human Rights Review includes next to the news on human rights developments in the Czech Republic, especially interviews with two very interesting personalities – Professor Manfred Nowak and Peter Robinson, legal advisor to Radovan Karadzic. 

The new issue of Czech Republic Human Rights Review brings you not only news about Czech human rights status, but also an interview with a well-known scholar and famous thinker, professor Peter Singer.

The Czech Republic held a parliamentary election in the last week of May 2010. We have examined how much space was devoted to human rights in the programs of the main political parties and what their preferences were concerning human rights. We have also analyzed the Czech "opt-out" from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and concluded that, similarly as has been pointed out in the cases of the UK and Poland, the opt-out might not have the effects their proponents hoped for. The Supreme Administrative Court dissolved the xenophobic Workers' Party in one of its most elaborated judgments; we offer a summary of the decision and fragments of our interview with the head of the court's chamber dealing with political parties. Also some problematic issues that have spoiled the human rights reputation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia - the sterilization of Roma women and the Labsi case in which Slovakia has not followed an interim measure of the European Court of Human Rights.