Born into a family living in eastern Slovakia, the youngest of ten siblings. In 1977, he was accepted at the Faculty of Law in Brno. In 1982, he started working as a public prosecutor in Sokolov, where he also established the theatre company Romen.

In 1986, he directed Nane oda lavutaris (There is no such violinist) for the International Festival Strážnice. Since 1988, he has been working as prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prague. He started a theatre and dance company Amare Roma (Our Roma) in Prague-Karlín. In March 1990, he was elected chairman of the Romani Civic Initiative at the constituent congress (600 delegates) in Prague. In April 1990, he was elected Secretary General at the International Romani Union Congress in Warsaw. His proposal to establish 8th April as the International Day of Roma was passed.

In July 1990, together with the art agency ROMART, he organized the first world festival, ROMFEST in Líšeň near Brno. 2,200 people performed on six stages and 25,000 spectators came to watch, including the president Václav Havel. In 1992, he began working as a defence counsellor and became the editor-in-chief of the Romani monthly, Amaroo lav (Our word).

In 1997, he began the first retraining workshops for Romani assistants, Romani counsellors and teaching assistants. In 2006 –2009, he founded branches of the original Kolin Romani High School school in Prague, Jihlava, Sokolov, Plzeň, Brno, Karviná, Jablonec nad Nisou, Liberec, and Hradec Králové. In 2007, he established the International Conservatory Prague (ICP). On 27 July 2000, at the Fifth International Romani Union Congress in Prague, Emil Ščuka was elected president of the IRU. The Congress adopted two key documents proposed by him – the Declaration of the Romani Nation and the IRU Charter.