Commission Report 2002 (Slovakia)

Minority rights and the protection of minorities

A new census was conducted in May 2001, the results of which were published at the end of the year. 520 528 people (9.7 per cent) declared themselves to be Hungarian, 89 920 (1.7 per cent) Roma, 44 620 (0.8 per cent) Czech, 24 201 (0.45 per cent) Ruthenian, and 10 814 (0.20 per cent) Ukrainian origin. Estimates put the Roma minority, however, at up to 10% of the overall population.

Implementation of the basic treaty with Hungary has continued. As regards the issue of creating a faculty for Hungarian teachers at the university in Nitra, mentioned in last year's report, the autonomous administrative bodies of this university have not taken a decision on the matter yet.

Despite further efforts across all sectors, the situation of the Roma minority has remained difficult.

The office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma affairs has been strengthened, enabling it to function more effectively than in previous years. A regional office was opened in October 2001 in Eastern Slovakia, where the vast majority of Roma live. This is a positive development. The new Plenipotentiary, appointed last year, has significantly improved communication with the Roma community, the public and media, inter alia, by establishing an informal Advisory Board with a large number of representatives from the Roma community and civil society. The Office, in co-operation with other institutions, has started codifying the Roma language.

As a follow-up to the two stages of the Roma strategy, the office drafted ``Priority tasks for the Roma community in 2002''., which were approved by the Government in April 2002. The focus is put on education, support for housing and technical infrastructure, public opinion, establishment of a social-cultural centre for Roma and sociological research on the Roma community. The new strategy also includes a ``complex development programme for Roma settlements'', which is ambitious in scope, covering infrastructure, education and training, support for enterprises and social work. Finally, there is a pilot programme for social field-workers, aiming at establishing the position of specialised social worker in municipalities.

The Act on Public Service was amended in June 2002, introducing into the school system the position of assistant teacher and pre-school education. These measures are of special importance in facilitating the integration of children of Roma background into the standard educational system.

An Inter-Ministerial Commission for Roma Community affairs was established at the end of last year, with the aim of better targeting and co-ordinating activities of the individual sectors, making more efficient use of financial means and supporting the co-ordination role of the Plenipotentiary office. This Commission plays, however, only an advisory role and has no decision-making power. Meetings have taken place, so far, only very rarely.

co-ordination among the relevant ministries and bodies, dealing with Roma issues, remains very weak, and some of these institutions are not properly staffed. co-ordination problems between ministries hamper, in particular, the proper implementation of the Roma strategy. Given that municipalities and regional self-governments, as a result of last year's public administration reform, have acquired new competencies in such areas as regional development, education and social protection (see the section above on the executive), implementation is increasingly carried out at this level. It appears that in a number of cases the discriminatory attitudes of local communities towards the Roma make proper implementation of the projects very difficult, underpinning and perpetuating the segregation of the Roma minority in some parts of the country. On the other hand, a number of municipalities have taken local initiatives of their own in order to improve living conditions by practical measures on the ground, e.g. in housing.

Overall, despite the further positive steps taken, the majority of persons belonging to the Roma community continue to be exposed to social inequalities, and continue to experience widespread discrimination in education, employment, the criminal justice system, and access to public services. The gap between good policy formulation and its implementation on the spot, as observed in last year's report, has remained. Efforts need to be continued and reinforced to remedy this situation.

Housing conditions, notably in the so-called ``settlements'' mostly in the Eastern part of Slovakia, remain a matter of concern. Access to basic utilities such as water and electricity is frequently missing. The often unresolved land ownership issue prevents municipalities from vigorously tackling this problem. Solutions are being found in selected locations, either with the support of foreign donors, or due to efficient partnerships between municipalities and NGOs.

Access to public and social services has been slightly improved. NGO-run training courses have given Roma the opportunity to visit state and public institutions. However, Roma clients are not always given adequate service at district labour offices, and continue to face discrimination in daily contact with the lower levels of the state administration. Access to health care remains of particular concern. There have been few concrete developments as regards the position of Roma advisers in the public administration. There are only a small number of trained Roma advisors in Slovakia, two at regional offices, and two at district offices. No legislation has been adopted to establish the position of Roma adviser, nor has the Government disbursed funds to support this proposed policy.

The under-representation of Roma students in the education system has persisted, hand in hand with over-representation in schools for retarded children. Many good initiatives such as pre-school preparatory classes or the employment of Roma assistant teachers are still at the pilot phase, but have already achieved promising results. It is necessary that these initiatives gain more state support, including financial support, and become less dependent on support by foreign donors.

As set out above, persons belonging to the Roma community run a particular risk of being the victim of racially motivated violence, notably at the hands of ``skinheads''. In 2001, the police recorded 40 racially-motivated crimes, with Roma being the largest group of victims. The Ministry of the Interior has established a commission to co-operate with NGOs in investigating racially-motivated attacks.

Financial means from the state budget have been continuously increased, but remain limited, making it still difficult to translate good policy approaches into sustainable projects. The budget for the Plenipotentiary's office, however, has been doubled to around EUR 1.2 million, which is very welcome, albeit still insufficient.

Strengthened implementation of the Roma strategy, including adequate financial support at national and local level, as well as appropriate training of the people involved, is therefore urgently needed. The frequent lack of pre-school education, teacher training which does too little to make people able to cope with the specific needs of the Roma children, poor housing conditions, and high unemployment have largely contributed to a situation which further deepens social exclusion. These issues need to continue to be tackled as a priority. The number of wel-trained Roma advisors to the local authorities and the number of social workers at each level of public administration should be increased and accompanied by suitable legislative and financial support. The adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation would be a major step forward.

Concerning the implementation of the Law on the Use of Minority Languages, there continues to be limited availability of concrete data. The impression noted in the last two Reports, that in many areas national minorities do not make use of the rights granted under the law due to lack of information, remains valid.

As noted in previous years, the Slovak Republic is a party to the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities. In November 2001, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe concludedthat Slovakia had made valuable efforts to support national minorities and their cultures, and improvements had been achieved in recent years in inter-community relations in particular between the Hungarian minority and other parts of the population of Slovakia. The Committee added that legal guarantees pertaining to some articles of the Framework Convention needed to be strengthened, and, in a number of areas where satisfactory legal guarantees exist, further efforts were required to ensure their full implementation. Despite efforts by the Government, there remained problems in the implementation of the Framework Convention as concerns Roma, in particular discrimination encountered by persons belonging to this minority in various fields as well as their treatment by some law-enforcement officials and the extremely wide socio-economic differences between some of the Roma and the majority population.

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