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Slovakia:

EU page

Minorities:

Topic pages:

Country pages:

Minorities in Slovakia

Legislation 

• Constitution In English from ICL at the University of Würzburg. Also here, here and here.
• Part II - Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
• Part IV - Legal Self-governing bodies
• Constitutional Court (findings and rulings)

• Law Library of Congress Slovakia page
• CEESource: Slovak Republic (Gonzaga University School of Law Library and Computing Center)
• World Directory of National Parliamentary Libraries: Slovakia (German Bundestag / International Federation of Library Associations)
• World Law Index: Slovakia (Australasian Legal Information Institute)

• Treaty of Good Neighbourliness with Hungary (1995) 

• Law on Abortion and Population (1986)

• The linguistic aspect of the implementation of fundamental rights and freedoms (1997)
• Generally binding municipal regulations and the restriction of fundamental rights and freedoms (1997)
• Principle of equality of the parties to civil judicial proceedings  (1997)
• The constitutional right of parties to express their autonomous will, the right of parties to equality in civil proceedings and the right to use extraordinary legal remedy (1996)
• The constitutional principle of equality in protecting the right to property and expropriation (1996)

Organisations 

• Inforoma
• Obcan Rom (Slovakian only)
• Slovak Helsinki Committee
• Forum Institute
• Institute for Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO)
• Institute for Public Affairs
• Open Society Foundation, Slovakia
• EMPO  - Organisation for Help to People in Need
• CEMES Slovak Organisations page

Reports 

• Creation of Conditions for Development of Minorities in the Slovak Republic (2000)
• Report on Regional and Minorities Culture (1995) 

Amnesty International Slovakia Country Index

European Roma Rights Centre Slovakia Country Index

• Time of the Skinheads - Denial and Exclusion of Roma in Slovakia, 1997 (pdf)
• ERRC Letter to Slovak Prime Minister (February 23, 2000) 
• ERRC press statement: Strasbourg application charges Slovak towns with racial discrimination against Roma (March 12, 1999) 

 
• EMPO - 'Tolerance in Slovakia' (1996) (Chapter 4 - Considering the Romany issue)

• 'Slovak-Magyar Relations - History and Present day in Figures', by Augustin Marcko and Pavel Martinicky, 1995.

• Second Report (2000) - also pdf
• First Report (1997)

• Slovakia Roundtable in the United States
• Second Slovak Roundtable
• Joint Statement Between Slovak and Ethnic Hungarian Parliamentarians on Minority Language Law
• Political Participation and the Roma in Hungary and Slovakia

• 1999 report
• 1998 report
• Report of the IHF and the Slovak Helsinki Committee: Human Rights in Slovakia, 1997
• 1997 report

• 2000 World Report Entry on Slovakia
• 1999 World Report Entry on Slovakia
• 1998 World Report Entry on Bulgaria

• 1999
• 1998
• 1997 
• 1996 

EU 

The large Roma minority (1.6% of the population according to the last census, but from 4.8% to 10% of the population according to estimates) continued to suffer disproportionately high levels of poverty and unemployment, discrimination, violence at the hands of thugs (‘skinheads’) and lack of protection from the police. The reconstruction of Roma dwellings affected by the July 1998 floods in eastern Slovakia is still not completed. Roma children are over represented in schools for retarded children and other forms of school segregation are reported. In June and early July more than 1000 Slovak immigrants of Roma origin arrived in Finland seeking asylum on the grounds of discrimination. This prompted the temporary imposition of visas on Slovaks travelling to Finland. The cases examined so far by the Finnish authorities have been rejected. Similar asylum requests, although less numerous, were received in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Norway. The latter also introduced a visa obligation for Slovak citizens.

The Government has taken significant steps on Roma issues and nominated a commissioner for this purpose in February 1999 who advises the Government on policies and support programmes, including the Phare programme. Programmes have been launched to support the education of Roma and encourage school attendance and integration, including in co-operation with NGOs. Measures have been taken to improve monitoring and prevent racially motivated attacks. A strategy to tackle the problems of the Roma community was adopted in September. The strategy is general and lacks a precise timetable but is a step in the right direction. A budget  allocation of 1.4 million Euro is called for in the 2000 budget, four times the 1999 allocation. In spite of these positive developments more attention, including at local administration level, needs to be paid to improve the living conditions of the Roma and to change discriminatory attitudes in society, the state administration and the police. 

Phare

• Operational Programme BG 9903 (1999) 

Objectives: The objectives of the programme are to encourage a more open approach to different cultures, particularly as regards the younger generation; raise public awareness about the Roma community, with focus on opinion makers; reduce the level of anti-Roma prejudice and discrimination and contribute to an increased acceptance of the Roma community into broader society.
Budget: 0.5 million Euros

• Operational; Programme BG 9804 (1998)

Objectives: The main objectives of the programme are to: promote and develop civil society organisations through improving the legal and fiscal environment and providing better information, training and education for the NGO sector; increase the institutional capacity and effectiveness of NGOs through providing grant support for priority areas of community work. 
Budget: 0.2 Million Euros