Amnesty says Czech schools still fail Roma Gypsies

Czech schools are still riddled with "systematic discrimination" that ensures Roma children get an inferior education, Amnesty International says.

The human rights group has called on the Czech Republic to end what it calls racial segregation in schools.

It says Roma (Gypsy) children are often sent to schools for children with mental disabilities.

In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights said this violated the right of Roma children to a full education.

Amnesty says although the Czech government in 2005 changed the name of these "special schools" to "practical elementary schools", "the system which places children in these schools and teaches a limited curriculum essentially remains the same".

In some places, it says, Roma children make up more than 80% of the students of practical elementary schools.

'Vicious circle'

Roma children who do stay in mainstream schools tend to end up in classes full of other Roma, as white parents will often move their children elsewhere, says the BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague.

These Roma-only schools often provide a lesser curriculum.

All this, says Amnesty, reduces children's prospects of finding decent employment in the future, and reinforces their sense of social exclusion.

Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia programme director, said: "Education is the way out of a vicious circle of poverty and marginalisation that affects a large part of the Roma population in the country.

"Unless the Czech authorities give them equal opportunities, they will be denying Romani children their chances for a better future and full participation in the life of the country."

The BBC has yet to receive a response to the report from the Czech government.

Previously, it has admitted to difficulties integrating the Roma community but has argued that since its schools were not set up specifically for Roma children, the system was not discriminatory.

No such thing as 'safe' cocaine, experts warn

The image of cocaine as a "safe party drug" is a myth that must be dispelled, say UK experts, as a study shows the drug is linked to 3% of sudden deaths.

The British Heart Foundation said the findings, published in the European Heart Journal, were a reminder that the drug can have devastating effects.

Although the data comes from south-west Spain, researchers said the results should apply to Europe in general.

They said anyone could suffer the deadly consequences of taking cocaine.

Fotini Rozakeas of the British Heart Foundation said: "The reality is that there are risks every time you use it.

"Cocaine can have devastating effects on the user including heart attacks, life-threatening heart rhythms, strokes and even sudden death.

"The potential deadly consequences from cocaine use can happen to anyone who takes it, even in previously young healthy people with no history of heart disease."

Deadly cocktail

In the study, 21 out of 668 sudden deaths were related to cocaine use and all of these occurred in men aged between 21 and 45.

Most involved problems with the heart and the majority of the men were also smokers and had been drinking alcohol at the same time as taking cocaine.

Lead researcher Dr Joaquin Lucena, of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Seville, said these habits added up to a lethal cocktail for the heart.

He said: "Our findings show that cocaine use causes adverse changes to the heart and arteries that then lead to sudden death."

His teams looked at post-mortem reports and investigated all the circumstances surrounding sudden deaths in Seville between 2003 and 2006.

Their findings suggested any amount of the drug could be toxic.

"Some patients have poor outcomes with relatively low blood concentrations, whereas others tolerate large quantities without consequences," they told the European Heart Journal.