Bill lifting ban on nomadic life ratified by Czech Senate

15 May 1998

ČTK reported on March 4 that following moves by the Chamber of Deputies last month, the Senate has approved a bill to annul a 1958 law which bans people from leading a nomadic life. A number of senators described the 1958 law as racist because it had been aimed at Roma in particular, who were told where they had to live and work and how to conform to the majority. A similar law, the Law on Vagrant Gypsies passed in Czechoslovakia in 1927, is among the first laws in modern Europe to refer explicitly to „Gypsies".

(ČTK, ERRC)