In early May, UN member states discussed with the Slovak government delegation and assessed how the government is fulfilling its international human rights obligations. The discussion took place at the UN Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.

Our government delegation was asked a number of questions during this discussion. Last but not least, it also received a number of recommendations to eliminate the persistent discrimination and other violations of the rights of Roma and Romani women. You can read in detail about the course of the discussion and the recommendations of the individual states here: https://uprmeetings.ohchr.org/…/Slov…/Pages/default.aspx

We are pleased to note that many of the States’ recommendations address systemic shortcomings in the area of Roma minority rights, which we have long highlighted at the Advisory Council. Among other things, the Government has:

  • Adopt legislation to compensate Roma women who have been forcibly sterilised in the past
  • Enhance efforts to eliminate the segregation of Roma women in maternity hospitals, as well as verbal and physical violence against them by hospital staff
  • Ensure proper investigation of allegations and complaints of excessive use of force by police officers, including torture and ill-treatment
  • Eliminate discrimination and step up efforts to ensure that the anti-discrimination law is properly implemented in practice
  • Specifically ensure sufficient resources to protect the Roma population from discrimination, including the desegregation of Roma children in education

We believe that our efforts have directly contributed to these recommendations. Last autumn, we sent two reports to the UN Council highlighting these shortcomings. One of them was prepared in cooperation with our partner NGO, Women’s Circles.

The Slovak government must reflect these recommendations and translate them into concrete action. The need for government action stems from binding international treaties. In a few years’ time, Member States will assess the situation in Slovakia and the progress made again.