Slovakia

Slovak PM on Romani settlements: Incentivize employment, no tolerance for disorder

24.9.2018 7:48 News server WebNoviny.sk has reported that at last week's cabinet session in the town of Svidník, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said he does not intend to tolerate disorder in the country's Romani-inhabited settlements. The PM is demanding proposals from cabinet ministers on how to ensure security and uphold order and what he called "decent behavior" in the settlements.  full story

Slovak court finds Romani tenants were discriminated against during eviction and relocation

16.7.2018 9:23 A court in eastern Slovakia has decided that the authorities committed discrimination when they evicted tenants from buildings in the center of the town of Sabinov because their treatment of the non-Romani and the Romani tenants was not the same. The Regional Court in Prešov has now closed a dispute that has lasted more than a decade  with its decision.  full story

Slovak Parliament condemns growing displays of extremism

21.6.2018 20:01 The Slovak Parliament approved a resolution yesterday expressing concerns over the growing displays of extremism, hatred and intolerance in Slovakia. The
legislature has done so in response to the fatal May attack on a Filipino man in the center of Bratislava who succumbed to his injuries in hospital.  full story

Slovak court convicts Romani victims of police raid for making allegedly false accusations of brutality

21.6.2018 9:49 Five years ago a controversial police raid was conducted in a Romani locality of eastern Slovakia. Six Romani people were subsequently indicted for allegedly giving false testimony about the raid.  full story

videoSlovakia: Romani girl from bad neighborhood did the best on entrance exams, now tutors others

15.6.2018 13:37 Eva Marie Duždová, a Romani girl from Slovakia, is living proof that we should abandon our prejudices and not look at the world in terms of black or white. Eva just came in first place during the entrance examinations for an eight-year college preparatory school in Prešov.  full story

Slovak media have video footage of brutal attack that killed Filipino, suspect is in custody

5.6.2018 8:57 The assailant Juraj H. of Dunajská Streda, who harrassed women in the center of Bratislava and then kicked to death their colleague who came to their defense, Filipino citizen Henry Acorda, has been remanded into custody. A judge has made that decision following a motion by the prosecutor.  full story

Irena Biháriová: Comprehending the matrix of a Romani settlement in Slovakia is not easy

8.5.2018 16:27 Before I visit a Romani settlement, I always tell myself that being confronted by the poverty cannot startle me anymore. I have seen so much over the years that it will be possible for me to maintain my professional distance.
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Slovakia's national minority commissions to approve funding apparently rife with conflicts of interest

7.5.2018 15:04 News server Aktuality.sk reports that last year, when the Slovak Parliament approved the National Minorities Culture Fund, it was said that to be the first step towards justice for minorities in Slovakia. National minorities were empowered to determine independently where they most need to invest public money for support of their culture. In response to this news, Slovak MPs allocated a budget of eight million euros.
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Jana Balážová: Not acceptable for teachers to see Romani children as a burden

28.4.2018 7:58 Members of the human rights community shined a spotlight on the situations faced by Romani children and their parents in Central Europe at a screening of the documentary “Europe: Which Children Matter?” The film was shown at Cinema Galeries in Brussels to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  full story

Slovak appeals court confirms that town discriminated against Romani woman and must compensate her

31.3.2018 14:04 The Slovak town of Spišská Nová Ves discriminated against a Romani woman during a selection procedure for a job as a field social worker and must now compensate her. The Regional Court in Košice fully identified with and upheld the first-instance judgment of the District Court in Spišská Nová Ves, which ruled to that effect in March 2017.  full story

Slovakia: Second Romani schoolchild dies after February car accident

23.3.2018 15:26 A tragic car accident that happened in February near Poprad, Slovakia in the village of Spišské Bystré has now claimed its second victim at the hospital in Martin. One week after the accident a 12-year-old girl named Vanesa succumbed to her injuries there, and now her 14-year-old sister Alžběta has succumbed to her own injuries as well.  full story

Czech and Slovak Victims of Coercive Sterilization Await Justice

8.3.2018 8:21 In November 2017, nine governments of the United Nations urged the Czech Republic to provide compensation to women – in particular Romani women and women with disabilities – coercively sterilized between the 1960s and 2004. The Czech government is expected to provide an answer to these Governments in the UN Human Rights Council in March.  full story

Stano Daniel: A message from Slovakia. First, words fall. Then people.

27.2.2018 13:05 On Monday, February 26, Slovakia suffered from a shock. The frost outside came into households, offices, and workplaces. It was impossible to feel anything else while looking at the news. A 27-year-old journalist and his partner had been shot dead.  full story

Slovakia: Romani family rejected by neighbors before they even move in

22.2.2018 7:40 News server noviny.sk reports that the Štrkáč family recently bought a new home in the village of Oščadnici near Žilina, but their future neighbors disagree with their moving in, allegedly because they are Romani. Everything began on the day after the family bought the house and began reconstructing it.  full story

Illegally sterilized Romani women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic launch online petition as part of their fight for justice

24.1.2018 18:49 The Center for Civil and Human Rights, an NGO in Slovakia, has published a press release announcing an online petition that has been launched by illegally sterilized Romani women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The initiative is attempting to achieve justice from the government institutions in both countries that are responsible for delivering redress.  full story

Slovak anti-Romani law protested by Amnesty International, Justice Minister and Plenipotentiary for Roma Affairs

17.1.2018 19:37 Amnesty International Slovakia is criticizing proposed measures for combating so-called "Romani crime" which were presented last week by Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer) and Police President Tibor Gašpar. According to AI, the measures are aimed against ethnic Roma as a group and violated international and national legal regulations about discrimination and equal opportunity, which means they are illegal.  full story

Hungary: Romani duo from Slovakia win the "X Factor" music competition

1.12.2017 6:57 The Romani singing duo Claudia and Ricco, who are originally from Slovakia, have won the "X Factor" music competition in Hungary. The magnificent finale to the famous television show was broadcast Saturday.  full story

Slovak Police say shooting incident not racially motivated, gunmen wanted sex and didn't get it

18.10.2017 10:44 Slovak media are reporting that the shooting incident involving three men firing a submachine gun at the home of a Romani family in the Varguľa settlement in the town of Pohronská Polhora apparently had neither an extremist nor a racist subtext. According to the Banská Bystrica Regional Police Director, Štefan Šurek, the assailants were drunk and drove to the settlement because they wanted sex with local Romani women.  full story

Slovakia: Five machine gun bullets fired into home of Romani family, suspects in custody

12.10.2017 8:21 Media in Slovakia reported on 11 October that gunmen fired up to five bullets, probably using a machine gun, into the single-family home of a Romani family with young children in the town of Pohronská Polhora. Police are staying silent for the time being about the shocking case.

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Slovak Police charge politician with extremism

30.7.2017 6:00 News server Plus JEDEN DEŇ reported on 28 July that police in Slovakia have charged Marian Kotleba, the head of the ultra-right party "Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia" (LSNS), with extremism. In March he gave a socially vulnerable family a check for EUR 1 488, which is a number with a neo-Nazi code meaning.  full story