The Czech authorities should amend national legislation to ensure that people belonging to national minorities can exercise the rights established by the Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities in a more flexible manner, and to prevent the strict application of population thresholds from hindering the enjoyment of these rights.
In addition, the authorities should ensure effective redress for sterilisation of women, in particular Roma women, unlawfully carried out in the past, and compensate the victims, and improve the general situation of the Roma, notably as regards access to education.
Priority recommendations on protection of national minorities in Czechia
These are some of the priority recommendations that the advisory committee on the Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities has issued to Czechia in an opinion published today.
The committee notes that, since the adoption of its previous opinion in 2021, the authorities have continued to demonstrate their awareness of the importance of protecting minority rights and have taken several measures to revise curricula and legislation on personal names (women's right to use their surname in a minority language has been expanded). In 2024 the government approved a request of the Georgians to be represented at the Government Council for national minorities, bringing the total number of national minorities represented to 15.
However, the committee also highlights that the implementation of national-minority-rights protection appears to be hinder by a lack of a systematic policy approach and resources.
It notes that the 2021 census confirmed a long-standing trend: a significant number of respondents (about 32%) did not declare a nationality or ethnic affiliation, which directly affects their ability to exercise specific rights at local and regional levels. The committee consequently recommends reviewing the census form and commissioning independent research to estimate the number of persons belonging to national minorities and speaking minority languages.
The advisory committee observes that both the Government Council for national minorities and the Government Council for Roma minority affairs facilitate regular contacts between the national authorities and the national minorities. However, the committee regrets that the Council for national minorities is understaffed. In 2022, the authorities established the Government Commissioner for Roma minority affairs to protect the rights of the Roma minority.
The number of Roma children attending kindergarten has continued to grow, and almost all Roma pupils are educated in the regular primary education curriculum, but school segregation and ensuring access to quality education remain challenges. In addition, access to housing for Roma remains a concern.
Regarding the 2021 law providing for the compensation of women, including Roma, sterilised illegally, the committee urges the authorities to ensure effective redress and to compensate the victims without delay.
Placename signs in minority languages
As regards the use of minority languages, the committee stresses that Polish is the only minority language which can be used for communication with local authorities. Also, at the moment, pre-school to secondary education is only available in a minority language to pupils from the Polish minority. However, plans are in place to introduce bilingual education in German and Czech. The committee calls on the authorities to introduce the teaching of Slovak in public education.
Topographical signs in minority languages exist only in Polish, since the Polish minority is the only minority that reaches the 10% population threshold in municipalities. Nevertheless, the authorities have announced they will encourage local authorities to use topographical signs also in other minority languages.
The opinion highlights that the authorities have improved the legal framework to combat hate speech and hate crime, including incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of affiliation with a national minority, and have organised training for the judiciary. Nevertheless, it notes that expressions of intolerance towards Roma persist.
Finally, the advisory committee calls on the authorities to support the creation of a sustainable institutional structure for cultural activities of individual national minorities, including funding, and to strengthen the offer of TV and radio programmes in public service media in minority languages, which is currently scarce.
The opinion, adopted in July 2025, has been published alongside the authorities' comments.
The Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities is Europe's most comprehensive treaty protecting the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. It is the first legally binding multilateral instrument devoted to the protection of national minorities worldwide, and its implementation is monitored by an advisory committee composed of independent experts. The treaty entered into force on 1 February 1998 and is now in force in 38 states.
Czechia applies the protection provided by the treaty to 15 national minorities (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Croat, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Roma, Russian, Ruthenian, Serb, Slovak, Ukrainian and Vietnamese), which are represented in the Government Council for national minorities.
Read the opinion in full (in Czech)
The Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities and Czechia
Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities
