Growing international attention to the plight of the Roma in the Czech Republic is due in part to the country's efforts to join the European Union. European Union membership is conditioned on respect for human rights, in addition to fulfillment of economic and political criteria. Second, large-scale migration of Roma from the Czech Republic to Western countries, namely, Canada and the United Kingdom, has drawn the attention and concern of the international community.Roma immigration to Canada and the United Kingdom began in 1997, after a Czech television program ran a story on the acceptance of Roma in these countries. More than 1000 requests for asylum, citing discrimination and violence in the Czech Republic, were filed by Roma between 1997 and 1998. Although the majority of asylum requests were denied, with only three out of 560 requests granted between 1997 and 1998 in the UK (US Department of State: "Czech Republic Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998"), the Roma continued in their attempts to emigrate.While the attempted emigration of substantial numbers of Roma in 1997 and 1998 brought the issue of Roma rights onto the Czech political agenda, the EU Commission's 1999 Progress Report concluded that greater attention to the issue of the Roma in the Czech Republic had not improved their situation.For example, in October 1999, a wall was erected to separate Romani and non-Romani residents in a district of the city of Ust nad Labem. This action drew international criticism and a statement from Gnter Verheugen, the EU's enlargement commissioner, who referred to the construction of the wall as a "violation of human rights" (Poolos, 21 October 1999).Local residents insisted that it was not an issue of discrimination but rather a means of dealing with the loud noise and disorder coming from the tenement building. The "noise and hygiene barrier," according to city spokesman Milan Knotek, would separate the "decent people" fr...
