Czech Republic Human Rights Review 2010

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.