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PART I 1. Division of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic on January 1, 1993 resulted in the creation of two independent unitary states - the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In comparison with Czechoslovakia, the demographic structure has changed in both new countries. Czechoslovakia was founded in 1918 as a state with a strongly heterogeneous ethnic structure. Only 64.3 percent of the population declared appurtenance to the Czechoslovak national identity in the ethnic sense of the word. There were more than three million Germans, three quarters of a million of Hungarians, and the Russian (according to the terminology used at the time in Reports of the State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic the "Russian-Great Russian/Ukrainian/Carpatho-Russian" or "Russian-Small Russian/Ukrainian"), Jewish and Polish minorities were numerous as well. Even after the Second World War, despite Nazi genocide of Jews and Czech and Moravian Romanies and expulsion of German citizens, Czechoslovakia's ethnic make-up remained relatively heterogeneous, as minorities amounted to more than one million in a population of fifteen million (1992). Besides, this number does not include the Czech national minority in Slovakia and the Slovak national minority in the Czech Lands. After the breakup of the Czechoslovak federation, the Czech Republic became almost homogenous as far as the ethnic structure is concerned. Although national/ethnic minorities (hereinafter referred to as national minorities) represent 5.2 percent of the demographic structure of the population, the most numerous is the newly recognized Slovak national minority which is strongly culturally and linguistically integrated. Conversely, assimilation, especially linguistic, has affected the Romany, Slovak, German, Polish and other minorities. With the exception of numerous, but dispersed, groups of Slovaks and Romanies, no national minority occupies a prominent position in the current ethnic make up of the Czech population. Besides persons belonging to national minorities who are citizens of the Czech Republic, there are foreigners living on a permanent or long-term basis in the country (most of them are from Slovakia and Ukraine). However, they amount to only approximately two percent of the population. 2. In 1997 the gross national product of the Czech Republic totaled 1 649.5 billion Czech crowns in current prices and 1 281.8 billion in fixed prices. The annual index in comparison with the previous year, 1996, was 101.0. In the first three quarters of 1998 the gross national product totaled 1 282.6 billion Czech crowns in current prices and 909.8 billion in fixed prices. The annual index in comparison with the previous year, 1997, was 97.9. As of September 30, 1998 the Czech Republic had a population of 10, 295, 725 (in comparison with 1997 the population decreased by 7 917). 3. Protection of the rights of national minorities in the Czech Republic is enshrined in the Constitution of the Czech Republic and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (see Appendix 1). Individual areas are covered by specific laws. In addition, protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities is ensured by bilateral agreements between the Czech Republic and neighboring countries, in particular the Federal Republic of Germany, Poland and Slovakia. 4. Protection of minority rights is also guaranteed by the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and other international treaties, at present especially the Convention. These legal standards are considered to be a part of the Czech law in accordance with Article 10 of the Constitution of the Czech Republic. This Article states: Ratified and promulgated international treaties on human rights and fundamental freedoms, whereby the Czech Republic is obligated, shall be directly binding and shall have precedence over the law. 5. In the modern history of the Czech Lands the status of national minorities has been defined in the law since the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. After the end of the First World War, the legal status of minorities was based on international peace treaties, in particular the treaty between leading allied and associated powers and Czechoslovakia signed in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 19192. Articles 8 and 9 of this Treaty specified conditions for protection of the rights of Czechoslovak citizens who belonged to "ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities". The same principles of protection of "national, religious and linguistic minorities" were enshrined in the Constitutional Act of Czechoslovakia from 19203 as well as the implementing law on the principles of language rights in the Czechoslovak Republic4 which formed a part of the Constitution. In a like manner, after the Second World War the status of minorities was always defined in the Constitution. 6. After the creation of the Czechoslovak federation in 1968, the Parliament adopted a constitutional law on the status of national minorities5. The list of national minorities set forth in the law included the German national minority in addition to the already included Hungarian, Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) minorities. Other minorities, including the Romany minority were not recognized. According to the Constitution and the above mentioned law, Czechoslovakia comprised two nations (in the ethnic sense of the word) at that time, i.e., Czechs and Slovaks, and four ethnic groups described with a term other than nation (in Czech narod), that is the term ethnic group (in Czech narodnost). Minorities themselves have not been and are not described as national (in Czech narodni), as was the case between the First and Second World Wars, but with the adjective "ethnic" (in Czech narodnostni). This tradition of double ethnicity is still alive in the Czech Republic of today despite the fact that the Czech law, which honors civil principles, does not recognize the term of state-forming (ethnic) nation. The term nation is generally associated with language, culture and kinship rather than a state. 7. Besides, even the Czech translation of the Convention does not use the adjective national (narodni) but the term ethnic (narodnostni) which designates a group whose importance does not attain the significance of an ethnic nation. This approach was and still is based on the post-war assumption that it would be unsuitable to recognize members of minorities as belonging to a nation in the ethnic sense of the word, for example the German, Polish or Hungarian nations. This approach could support irredentism with which citizens of Czechoslovakia had tragic experiences in 1938 from the part of the states in which the above mentioned minorities formed the majority. 8. In 1991 the Constitutional Law on the Status of National Minorities from 1968 was superseded by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms6 which defines protection of national minority rights in Articles 24 and 25. The Charter accords persons belonging to minorities both collective and individual rights. It differentiates between national and ethnic minorities without defining the difference. Definition of this difference is absent in the Czech law. (For the purposes of this information we focus on national minorities, excluding ethnic minorities.) After the breakup of the Czechoslovak federation the Charter became a part of the constitutional order of the Czech Republic on January 1,19937. 9. The Government of the Czech Republic formulated principles of the policy concerning national minorities in the document Concept of the Government's Approach to Issues Concerning National Minorities in the Czech Republic (Government Resolution No. 63/1994). Although this political document is not legally binding, its importance lies in the fact that it sets forth basic starting points of the policy concerning national minorities, including principles of the status of minorities and protection of their rights (see commentary to Article 3 of the Convention). 10. According to a public census carried out in the Czech Republic in 1991, 531 688 persons, that is 5.2% of the population, declared a national identity other than Czech. The results of this voluntary and anonymous declaration of national identity and mother tongue are as follows: Population of the Czech Republic according to National Identity and Mother Tongues8
11. The proportion of the population whose national identity is other than Czech varies in individual districts and regions of the Czech Republic. The Slovak national minority, which was de facto the largest national minority in the Czech Lands already during the existence of the Czechoslovak federation and after the dissolving thereof has been recognized as a national minority, is dispersed throughout the entire Czech Republic. The highest concentration of Slovaks is found in the districts of Sokolov (9.9% of population), Cheb (9.370), Cesky Krumlov (8.370), Karvina (8.370), Bruntal (8.170) and in other cities, including Prague (2.0%). Some citizens who have declared the Slovak (and also Hungarian) national identity are Romanies. 12. There is a significant concentration of persons belonging to the Polish minority located in the continuous settlement along the state border with Poland. In two districts, Frydek-Mistek and Karvina, persons belonging to the Polish national minority amount to more than 8% of the local population. The educational system in this region includes Polish minority schools from preschool establishments to the level of high schools and specialized secondary schools (including the Polish Pedagogical Center seated in Cesky Tesin which was established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, a special office of the Czech School Inspection, and an educational-psychological counseling center) as well as Polish cultural and educational organizations. 13. Persons claiming German national minority live in the eastern, northern and western border regions of the Czech Republic, in an environment of former German language islands (such as the districts Jihlava and Vyskov). The greatest number of citizens who claim German national identity live in the districts of Sokolov (6.1%), Karlovy Vary (3.1%), Chomutov (2.6%) and Teplice (2.4%). In Moravia a greater concentration of citizens declaring German national identity is found in the Opava district (0.9%). 14. Despite territorial dispersion of the Romany population throughout the Czech Lands, this national minority can be considered concentrated in industrial cities in Northern Bohemia and Northern Moravia and in Prague. 15. Less numerous minorities - the Bulgarian, Russian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, and also Jewish minorities - are dispersed throughout the country. In the case of Hungarians and Ukrainians there are greater concentrations especially in Prague, the Central Bohemian and Northern Moravian regions, and in the case of Greeks in the cities of Krnov and Brno. 16. As regards compliance with the basic objective of the Convention, the Czech Republic has adopted a number of measures. Some of them (16.8.,16.10.,16.16.) were adopted or began to be adopted already before ratification of the Convention. 16.1 During ratification of the Convention an international seminar on "Legal Instruments for the Protection of National Minorities" took place in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament. Joint meetings of representatives of the Chamber of Deputies, the Office of the Government, ministries and national minorities were regarded very positively. The results of these meetings were published9. 16.2 At the time of adopting the Convention, the Chamber of Deputies approved a voluntary resolution (No. 561/1997) which obligated the Government to analyze, following the adoption of the Convention, legislative standards in respect of issues concerning minorities, to propose modifications which would reflect the principles set out in the Convention, and to harmonize policies at the executive level with provisions of the Convention. This task in now fulfilled by the Governmental Commissioner for Human Rights who is also Chairman of the Council for National Minorities of the Government of the Czech Republic (Rada pro narodnosti vlady CR) - hereinafter referred to as the "Council", a consultative body of the Government. The Commissioner is also Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Commission for Roma Affairs (Meziresortni komise pro zalecitosti romske komunity) and the Council for Human Rights of the Government of the Czech Republic (Rada vlady Ceske republiky pro lidska prava), two additional consultative bodies of the Government. The position of a Commissioner who coordinates protection of human rights and proposes legislative changes and executive measures to the Government was created by the Government formed in September 1998 following parliamentary elections earlier that year. 16.3 The Council, whose members comprise representatives of six national minorities - Slovak, Romany, Polish, German, Hungarian and Ukrainian - and deputy ministers whose competencies include issues concerning minorities, has elaborated on articles of the Convention in respect of the legislative and executive conditions in the Czech Republic. Hence, a summary overview about the legislative situation regarding national minorities has been made for the Government. 16.4 The Council of Europe has prepared a questionnaire concerning the forms of participation of minorities in the decision-making process which has been forwarded to the Advisory Committee for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. 16.5 In accordance with the determination expressed in the Preamble of the Convention to enforce principles set out in the Convention through national legislation and the relevant governmental policy, the Government has included in its legislative plans for 1999 the drafting of a law on protection of the rights of national minorities in the Czech Republic with the aim to apply principles of the Convention to the law of the Czech Republic. The draft of the law is to be presented by the Government Commissioner for Human Rights by the end of 1999. Work on the law is based on the legislative need for a law which would implement constitutional principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Absence of a more detailed legislation, as presupposed by the Charter, has been a legislative deficit since the adoption of the Charter in 1991. The law could enter into effect in the second half of 2000. 16.6 In accordance with the Government's Policy Statement, the Minister of Interior submitted a draft of an amendment to the Citizenship Law in December 1998. The Government approved the draft in February 1999 and advanced it to the Chamber of Deputies. Changes put forward by the draft substantially facilitate the granting of Czech citizenship to former Czechoslovak citizens who have had permanent residency in the Czech Republic since the breakup of the federation. In recent years the Czech Republic has been criticized by various foreign institutions for difficulties faced by many persons, most of them of Romany origin, with respect to receiving Czech citizenship and ensuing rights after the division of Czechoslovakia. If the Parliament approves the proposed draft, the law could enter into effect in the summer or fall of 1999. 16.7 In February 1999 the Government approved the Concept of the Subsidy Policy of Financing Organizations of Persons Belonging to National Minorities (Government Resolution No. 131/1999) which outlines financing of operations of these organizations through government subsidies. In addition, there are plans to amend the law on budget rules in the future. Attention paid to issues concerning the Romany community is considerable. Based on a resolution of the Government, ministries regularly monitor their activities with respect to Romanies. In the last two years progress has been achieved for example in education (establishing of preparatory grades for Romany children, continuing education for adults). The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has submitted to the Government the National Plan of Employment in the Czech Republic which contains affirmative measures focused on creating conditions for higher employment, especially on the basis of the program Measures for Solutions to Problems of Persons Who Face Difficulties on the Labor Market with Special Attention to Persons Belonging to the Romany Community. The proposed measures apply to job creation, development of business, increasing of adaptability, and support of equal opportunities. In this regard the Government is preparing changes in the competencies of governmental employment authorities and amendments to employment laws, the law on trades, and the Commercial Code. 16.8 Crimes motivated by racism, ethnic intolerance and xenophobia began to appear in a greater extent after 1989, especially in the form of skinhead attacks on Romanies and citizens with dark complexion. Since 1994, when the Czech Government included racial conflicts among the most important security risks in the "Report on the Security of the State", the Government, the Ministry of Interior, the police and other authorities have been paying close attention to crimes committed with a racist motivation. In response to a negative development of criminal activities motivated by racism or nationalism, important measures were adopted in 1995. Among these measures was the adoption of the Government's draft of an amendment to the Criminal Code. Entering into effect on September 1, 1995, this amendment has resulted in harsher penalties for crimes motivated by racial or nationalist intolerance. The last occasion on which the Czech Government discussed penalties for these types of crimes was in January 1999 in connection with verification of compliance with the Government Resolution No. 686/1997 (which published the Report on the Situation of the Romany Community in the Czech Republic submitted by Minister Pavel Bratinka) which among other measures charged the Minister of Interior with monitoring criminal offenses committed in a racial context and providing the Government with regular reports on development of these crimes. An overview of criminal prosecution of these offenses in 1998 is included in Appendix II. 16.9 It is likely that the reported number of crimes motivated by racism for which charges have been laid is far from the actual number of such offenses committed. Among other causes, this is due to the Romanies lack of trust in the police which is reflected in the fact that many Romanies do not report verbal or physical attacks at all. 16.10 The current (since 1995) criminal laws which apply to crimes motivated by racism or nationalist intolerance, as defined in the Criminal Code, are fundamentally satisfactory. The applicable crimes are defined especially in Part V, called Crimes Seriously Disrupting Civil Life. Among these crimes are:
An important measure was taken in the area of criminal law in respect of the fight against crimes motivated by racism - an amendment to the Criminal Code which entered into effect on September 1, 1995. This amendment specifies with respect to the following criminal offenses: murder (Article 219, paragraph 2, letter g), bodily harm (Article 221, paragraph 2, letter b), extortion (Article 235, paragraph 2, letter f) and damaging another person's property (Article 257, paragraph 2, letter b) as a circumstance allowing the imposing of a more severe punishment (especially aggravating circumstance) if "such a criminal offense is committed on a person (or on the property of another person) due to such a person's race, national identity, political orientation, religion or the fact that such a person has no religion". Hence, the greater gravity of crimes motivated by racism is reflected in more severe penalties. 16.11 In spite of that, it needs to be admitted that effective penalization of these types of criminal offenses remains a pressing problem. The public as well as many police officers and other law enforcement officials often downplay racist crimes. Numerous attacks therefore remain either unpunished or attackers receive inadequately light sentences. Statistical information from 1998 shows that only 13 attackers were given unsuspended sentences; moreover, six of them were sentenced to imprisonment shorter than one year (see Appendix II), while the number of violent assaults alone is substantially higher. In many criminal proceedings of skinhead violence against Romanies, problems occur with proving racial motivation of attacks. Although the perception of the public and especially the media of the social danger of racist attacks has improved in recent years, the difficulties faced by law enforcement authorities in most cases point quite definitely to persisting xenophobia, especially with regard to Romanies. 16.12 Another serious problem stems from inadequate legislative possibilities of penalizing offenses which are motivated by discriminatory, racist or nationalist prejudice and which are not considered crimes due to their lesser severity and intensity. In addition, preventive measures have not been applied in a sufficient extent, especially among trade school students where neo-fascist and neo-Nazi movements continue to develop (skinheads). The Government is aware that repression alone, however necessary, cannot succeed without preventive measures, such as the planned campaign against racism (see 16.15). However, it can be expected that it will be a long-term problem which, besides education, will have to be dealt with by systematic elimination of social difficulties faced by these young people who are easily manipulated. 16.13 An improvements is expected to take place on the labor market and at work, where discrimination against Romanies is most pressing. Already in September 1998 the Government approved an amendment to the law on employment, including a new anti- discriminatory clause based on which the Government will be able to impose sanctions - strict financial fines on individuals or legal entities which discriminate against people on the basis of their race, national identity, complexion, etc. The draft of the amendment is currently being discussed by the Chamber of Deputies. The amendment will provide a solution to open discrimination which the Government is trying to outlaw. Fight against hidden discrimination will have to continue. 16.14 In January 1999, the Czech Government passed a resolution describing as gravely disturbing a plan of the council of the municipal district Usti nad Labem - Nestmice in Northern Bohemia to build a fence between family houses inhabited by the majority Czech population on one side of Matini Street and municipal buildings designated for social emergency residency purposes on the other side of this street; these buildings are inhabited mostly by Romany families who have been evicted from their original dwellings due to a failure to pay rent. Although the cause of the endeavor of local residents to build the fence may not be racial prejudice but an effort to eliminate or lessen specific problems of coexistence with their Romany counterparts, which have deep social causes, the Government has pointed out to the local authorities that execution of this plan could be understood as a possible degrading of the persons belonging to the Romany community who live in the locality. For this reason the Government has decided that in case that construction of the fence is approved, it will try to use legal means to cancel such a decision. The Government has also charged its Commissioner for Human Rights with monitoring the situation and maintaining a dialogue with the local authorities in order to find a solution acceptable for all parties involved in the affair. Government Resolution No. 35/1999 and the Government's standpoint for CERD are enclosed in Appendix In. 16.15 The current Government has decided to launch a campaign against racism which was initiated already by its predecessor. In Resolution No. 34/1999 from January 11, 1999 the Government has charged its Commissioner for Human Rights with calling a tender to select an agency which will prepare and execute the campaign. The campaign, for which the Government has allocated ten million Czech crowns, will include media presentations, educational events and use of various advertising techniques. The aim of the campaign is not only to fight racism in a narrow sense of the word, but also to eliminate culturally motivated causes of intolerance and ethnic misunderstandings. This campaign will be a part of a broader project aimed at educating the population about multiculturalism which is also supported by the European Union through the PHARE program. 16.16 Nonetheless, efforts of the Government to overcome widespread xenophobia are at the very beginning. It will be necessary to use sociological methods to examine to what extent are xenophobic acts related to isolationist aspects of the Government's policies after the division of the Czechoslovak federation. A certain aversion of the population is not directed only against people coming from the East but also against those who originate in the West; in this respect this antipathy is related to traditional anti-German attitudes. Central governmental authorities and increasingly also lower state administration bodies have to deal with various situations, such as petitions submitted by citizens who demand that no Romany families or families of repatriated Kazakh Czechs or refugees be provided accommodation in their neighborhood. In addition, the media - including, unfortunately, those in public ownership - sometimes encourage xenophobia by inciting fear of foreigners and criminal offenses which they may commit. The population tends to be strongly prejudiced against asylum seekers and other refugees. 16.17 The current Government has built on the initiative of its predecessors by seeking a manner which could be used to confer dignity to sites where Romany concentration camps were located during the Nazi occupation, that is the localities in Lety in the district Pisek, and in Hodonin u Kunstatu in the district Blansko. Serious problems are faced especially in Lety, where the site on which a concentration camp was formerly located is occupied by a large-scale hog farm. In Resolution No. 36/1999 from January 11, 1999 the Government charged its Commissioner for Human Rights with instituting a joint committee of historians, Romanists, representatives of descendants of Romany victims, and state administration officials. By the end of March 1999 this committee will provide the Government with conclusions of evaluation of the historical context and current social, moral and economic needs and requirements with respect to implementing measures conferring dignity to both localities. The aim is to use public funds to relocate the hog farm and to reconstruct both localities in a dignified manner. It is not the objective of these projects to provide direct support to the Romany national minority, but to define the majority's relationship to the Romany minority and its dramatic past. 17. The Czech Republic is a country associated to the European Union (the European Association Treaty from 1993 entered into effect on February 1, 1995). The Czech Republic applied for membership in the European Union in January 1996, and on March 31, 1998 accession talks began. One condition for membership in the European Union is compliance with so-called Copenhagen criteria which include the protection of human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. The state of securing rights and protection of minorities is evaluated in regular reports of the European Committee which focus on the progress made by the Czech Republic as part of accession proceedings. Based on these reports, the situation concerning minorities in the Czech Republic is satisfactory with the exception of the Romany national minority. Improved protection of human rights, concerning in particular the position of Romanies, has been possible also thanks to execution of programs financed from the PHARE fund.
(2) Law No. 508/1921 Coll., Treaty between Leading Powers Allied and Associated and Czechoslovakia signed in Saint-Gennain-en-Laye on September 10,1919. (3) Law No. 121/1920 Coll., which introduces the Constitutional Act of the Czechoslovak Republic. (4) Law No. 122/1920 Coll. based on Article 129 of the Constitution which sets out principles of language rights in the Czechoslovak Republic (5) Law No. 144/1968 Coll., on status of national minorities in Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. (6) Law No. 23/1991 Coll., which introduces the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms as a constitutional law of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. (7) Law No. 2/1993 Coll., Resolution of the Czech National Council from December 16,1992 on declaration of Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms as a part of the constitutional order of the Czech Republic. (8) Ethnic make up of the Czech population. Basic information from final results of the 1991 public census. Prague 1993; Statistical Yearbook of the Czech Republic 1993, Prague 1993, p. 412-413. The table does not include the Moravian and Silesian national identities. These national identities were introduced for the first time in the history of the Czech Lands during the 1991 public census. The Moravian national identity was declared by 1 362 313 persons (13.2%) and the Silesian national identity by 44 446 persons (0.4%). This was a sign accompanying the search of identity in some areas of the Czech Republic during the process of social transformation following the change of regime in November 1989. It is certain that those citizens of Moravia and Czech Silesia who declared appurtenance to the Moravian or Silesian nationalities do not form a national minority which would in any way be covered by legislation on national minority rights. The issue was politicized by leaders of Moravia-oriented movements during a discussion about the so far unresolved status of Moravia and Silesia in the territorial and administrative structure of the Czech Republic. In the ethnic structure of the Czech Republic the population of Moravia and Silesia is not in the position of a national minority. This is evident from this population's unlimited possibilities to exercise civil and political rights with respect to receiving education in the mother tongue (the Czech language), diffusion and reception of information in the mother tongue (the Czech language), and development of culture, including regional culture. The Moravian and Silesian dialects do not significantly differ from the official standard of the Czech language. On the contrary, the data concerning the Romany minority contained in the statistical overview is substantially underrated. Even though fewer than 33 000 persons declared the Romany national identity during the census, qualified estimates and comparisons with registration of Romany citizens before November 1989 show that currently about 200,000 Romanies live in the Czech Republic. Of this number 20,000 are Vlax Romanies whose culture and language are substantially different. More than 95 percent of Romanies, Czech citizens living in the Czech Republic, moved to the Czech Lands from Slovakia after the Second World War or are descendants of these Romany migrants. The reason for the low number of persons who declared "romipen" (Roma, Romany national identity) is fear of possible consequences: Information collected in a 1930 public census, when all citizens were required to state national identity in a non- anonymous manner, was used in 1939 and thereafter to send Romanies into concentration camps and later to death transports. Due to the aversion of the majority towards Romanies, declaration of the Romany national identity, albeit anonymous, demands a certain amount of bravery. As regards the table of official results of the 1991 public census, it needs to be mentioned that there is no information about persons who declared the Croatian national identity. Nonetheless, according to available information a small number of persons belonging to this historically traditional national minority, which was originally settled in Southern Moravia and Southwestern Slovakia, are dispersed throughout Moravia and Silesia. After the Czechoslovak Communist Party came into power in 1948, Croatians were accused of collaborating with the Nazis and sympathizing with Joseph Tito. Individual Croatian families were forcefully relocated from their original settlements to various parts of Moravia and Silesia. (9) See Legal Instruments for the Protection of National Minorities - Position and Protection of National Minorities in the Czech Republic. Published by Information and Documentation Center of the Council of Europe Prague. Prague 1997.
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