Despite progress made in combating racial hatred and intolerance, Slovakia must adopt additional measures to counter hate speech and hate crime, promote access to rights and integrate Roma and LGBTI communities, says the Council of Europe’s Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), in a follow-up report published on Thursday 11 June and containing 15 recommendations.
“Considerable challenges remain”, the report notes.
“Public discourse has become increasingly polarised, with hate speech – especially targeting LGBTI people, migrants and Roma – often unchallenged, in particular during election periods, both online and offline”.
ECRI also points to the recording of hate crimes, including a terrorist attack against LGBTI people in 2022, as well as the lack of staff and digital tools in the police units responsible for this type of crime.
It also highlights the persistence of school segregation affecting Roma children and the need to introduce mechanisms guaranteeing equal access to healthcare, regardless of ethnic origin.
On the issue of legal gender recognition, highly specific to Slovakia since the 2025 constitutional amendment, ECRI calls on the authorities to ensure a “quick, transparent and accessible” procedure, which is not “contingent on abusive requirements, such as involuntary sterilisation, medical procedures and/or mental health diagnoses”.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/map (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)