In August, we filed a cassation complaint against the decision of the Bratislava Administrative Court.

Following a landmark decision of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic last year, our client’s case was once again brought before the administrative courts.

Last year, the Constitutional Court held that the Slovak Republic is obliged to respect its international obligations arising from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and that the decision of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in our client’s case cannot remain without a response at the national level.

The UN CERD Committee had previously found a violation of our client’s rights and recommended that Slovakia take specific measures, including an apology and adequate compensation.

Despite the Constitutional Court’s legal conclusions, the Bratislava Administrative Court once again rejected our administrative action seeking the implementation of the UN CERD Committee’s decision in favour of our client.

We therefore filed a cassation complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic. We argue that the decision of the Administrative Court is unlawful and that, in reaching its decision, the Administrative Court failed to respect the legal conclusions of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic.

In our cassation complaint, we therefore ask the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic to annul the decision of the Bratislava Administrative Court as unlawful.

This case is important not only for our client. It also concerns the question of whether the Slovak Republic will, in practice, respect its international human rights obligations and whether decisions of international human rights bodies will have a real impact on people whose rights have been violated.

We will therefore continue to advocate for the effective implementation of the UN CERD Committee’s decision in our client’s case and for the Slovak Republic to not only accept its international obligations, but to fulfil them fully and consistently.