ECRI: Slovakia Making Progress in Combating Racism, Some Issues Still Persist

Strasbourg/Bratislava, 11 June (TASR) - Slovakia has made progress and developed good practices in combating racial hatred and intolerance in recent years, but further measures are needed to combat hate speech and hate crime as well as to promote equality, access to rights and the inclusion of the Roma and LGBTI communities, TASR has learnt from Council of Europe (CoE) spokesperson Jaime Rodriguez in connection with a report prepared by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). The ECRI has welcomed positive developments, in particular the Conceptual Framework for Countering Radicalisation and Extremism, which was adopted in 2025, awareness-raising campaigns to alert young people about the dangers of online hate speech, and an increase in the number of training courses on combating hate crime available to police officers. It also highlighted additional support provided to Roma children in schools, in particular through the work of Roma mediators and partnerships between schools and NGOs. Significant improvement has been noted in access to health care for Roma and beneficiaries of temporary protection, partly thanks to the work of Roma mediators and a programme aimed at providing support to Roma women and young mothers. However, the ECRI also pointed to several persistent problems. The public discourse has become increasingly polarised, and hate speech, especially targeting LGBTI people, migrants and Roma, remains unchallenged. Hate-fuelled statements and comments have been made especially during election periods, both online and offline, according to the report. There have also been a number of violent hate crimes against individuals, including the murder of two LGBTI people that took place on Zamocka Street in Bratislava in 2022. Police units tasked with detecting and investigating hate crimes haven't yet been fully staffed and lack advanced digital tools, stated the ECRI. School attendance and attainment rates among Roma children continue to be significantly lower than among other pupils, and the problem of the segregation of Roma children in schools persists, states the report. According to the ECRI, mechanisms aimed at ensuring equal access for Roma patients to quality health care regardless of ethnicity should be put in place. There is also no legal prohibition of medical interventions regarding a person's sex characteristics without their consent, stated the ECRI, also pointing to a vacuum in addressing gender identity. In total, the ECRI issued 15 recommendations to Slovak authorities in areas where challenges persist. Composed of independent experts, the ECRI is the CoE's human rights monitoring body that specialises in questions relating to combating racism, discrimination, xenophobia, anti-semitism and intolerance in Europe. It prepares reports and issues recommendations to member states. jrg/df