Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission to prepare report on Slovakia

Strasbourg, 15.11.2013 – A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Slovakia from 4 to 8 November 2013 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During its visit, ECRI´s delegation gathered information on legislation, hate speech, violence, integration policies, LGBT issues and other topics.

The delegation held meetings in Bratislava with representatives of the government, parliament, independent bodies and other authorities, as well as of international organisations and NGOs. The delegation also visited a Roma settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou and met with the Mayor of this municipality; it visited a community centre in Kecerovce and held meetings in Košice with the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court and representatives of NGOs.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report to be published in 2014 in which it will make a fresh set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in the country. Among these, two will be revisited in two years’ time as part of an interim follow-up procedure.

In its 2009 report, ECRI highlighted concerns over: the functioning of the National Centre for Human Rights entrusted with ensuring the implementation of the Anti-discrimination Act; the capacity of the Office of the Plenipotentiary for Roma to coordinate, monitor and assess the Action Plan of the Decade of Roma Inclusion; and the de facto segregation of Roma children in education.

ECRI is a human rights body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts, which monitors problems of racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, intolerance and discrimination on grounds such as “race”, national/ethnic origin, colour, citizenship, religion and language (racial discrimination); it prepares reports and issues recommendations to member States.

For more information on ECRI: www.coe.int/ecri

Link to the 2009 rapport on Slovakia

Press contact: Stefano Valenti, Tel: +33 (0)3 90 21 43 28, stefano.valenti@coe.int
Council of Europe Directorate of Communication
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax: +33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
pressunit@coe.int
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