COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS REVIEWS INITIAL REPORT OF SLOVAK REPUBLIC

CESCR
29th session
13 November 2002
Morning



The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights completed today a two-day examination of an initial report of the Slovak Republic, citing appreciation of the Slovak Government's institutional reforms to enhance the enjoyment of such rights but expressing concern over the situation of minorities, including the Roma.
The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the initial report on 29 November, the closing day of its autumn three-week session.
Committee Experts termed the situation of the Roma precarious, noting that their living standards, educational levels, and employment rates were lower than those of the majority population.
A Slovak Government delegation replied that numerous programmes had been implemented to improve the situation of this minority group, including school and economic reforms, and said there was no deep-rooted discrimination against any minority in the country.
Kalman Petocz, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovak Republic to the United Nations Office in Geneva, introduced the report, noting that even before 1989, Slovakia, as part of the former Czechoslovakia, had enjoyed a high level of economic, social and cultural rights, particularly in the areas of social security, full employment, free access to education and health care. However, he said, the quality of implementation and enforcement of those rights had been determined by the limits of the geographical and internal political framework of those days.
Other members of the Slovak delegation were Barbara Illkova, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Slovak Republic in Geneva; Igor Niepal, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Peter Guran, from the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family; Kamil Vilinovic, from the Ministry of Environment; Milan Olexa, from the Office of the Statistics; Jaroslav Liptay, from the Ministry of Culture; Peter Milus, from the Presidium of the Police Corps; Katarina Ondrasova, from the Ministry of Education; Nada Miklovicova, from the Office the Government on Minorities; Juraj Gemes, from the Ministry of Health; and Marietta Sencakova, from the Ministry of Justice.
The Slovak Republic is among the 145 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and is required to submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to implement the provisions of the treaty.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to take up a fourth periodic report of Poland.

Report of Slovakia
The initial report of Slovak Republic (E/1990/5/Add.49) describes the administrative, legislative and judicial measures taken by the State party to implement the provisions of the International Covenant. The Covenant entered into force for the country of Czechoslovakia on 23 March 1976; however, as a result of secession, the Slovak Republic became a State party to the Covenant in 1993. Internal legislation and measures taken for implementation of the treaty protect the economic, social and cultural rights of the citizens of Slovakia and persons under its jurisdiction.
The report notes that economic, social and cultural rights are guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to work, the right to free association, the right to establish trade unions and the right to strike are guaranteed. Article 42 of the Constitution provides for the right to education for everyone; school attendance is compulsory, and citizens have the right to free education at the primary and secondary schools. The Constitution also guarantees the right to free access to cultural heritage and freedom of scientific research and art.
In its conclusion, the report states that the Government adopted a declaration on the occasion of Human Rights Day and the fiftieth Anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which it declared its resolve to respect all principles contained in the Declaration, and to complete the development of an effective human rights protection system in the spirit of a democratic State within the rule of law.

Introductory Statement
KALMAN PETOCZ, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the country was a party to all the six international human rights treaties, as well as the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Slovakia also had ratified 67 International Labour Office conventions, 64 of which were in force.
Mr. Petocz noted that even before 1989, Slovakia, as part of the former Czechoslovakia, had enjoyed a high level of economic, social and cultural rights, particularly in the area of social security, full employment, free access to education and health care. However, the quality of implementation and enforcement of those rights was determined by the limits of the geographical and internal political framework of the time.
Mr. Petocz said that over the last three years, the Slovak Government had adopted a number of important documents setting its overseas development assistance (ODA) policy. Those documents envisaged that the ODA provided by Slovakia would increase to 0.125 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within the coming years. In 2001 Slovakia had ranked first among all the Central and Eastern European countries in terms of voluntary contributions to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Parts of the extensive social security system of the former Czechoslovakia had been preserved in the newly born Slovak Republic, the Ambassador said. However, under new economic and political circumstances and with new challenges, such as aging, unemployment, migration and deterioration of the situation of the Roma, the system had been and would be subject to significant changes. One of the problems of the country's development over the past 10 years had been the political instability, with consequent frequent changes in economic and social concepts. All that had negatively affected the efficiency of reforms. Now the situation had improved dramatically.

Discussion
In response to numerous questions put by Committee Experts on the first cluster of main topics for discussion, which included the general legal framework within which human rights were protected; non-discrimination; equality between men and women; and the right to work, the Slovak delegation said, among other things, that any claim that there was a deep-rooted attitude of discrimination against minorities in the country could be refuted. The population lived together and shared a common cultural heritage. The Slovak Constitution provided for equal rights for the Roma minorities, and these minorities were recognized as national minorities. They had the right to have education in their own language, as did the Hungarian minority, for example. However, the living conditions of the Roma was a concern for the Slovak Government. The problem needed a long-term effort.
The delegation said a decrease cited in the ethnic composition of the population was due to migration, particularly among the Hungarian minority whose share of the population had dropped from 10.48 per cent in 2000 to 9.7 per cent in the first half of 2001.
The Government of Slovak Republic had been endeavouring to improve the situation of the Roma through a range of programmes, the delegation said. In 1999, the Government had financed 109 projects designed to ease the living conditions of the Roma. Other efforts were also to provide them with adequate housing. Article 12 of the national Constitution protected them from any form of discrimination.
The issue of Roma settlement was a priority of the Government, the delegation said. The problem of their integration into society had been tackled through various means, including provision of adequate housing facilities, encouragement for employment and provision of education for Roma children. The effort of the Government to eliminate any form of discrimination against the Roma people had been supplemented by various non-governmental organizations. A cross-sectoral advisory committee had been established to deal with the Roma issue. Further, the Government had been giving priority to the issue of that minority. At present, 90,000 persons claimed to belong to the Roma minority.
A new authority had been set up to monitor cases of trafficking in women and children, the delegation said. Over six months, only 15 cases of trafficking had been detected. Other measures, such as legal reinforcement, had been taken by the Government to fight against such offences.
The delegation said that since its inception six months ago, the country's Commission of the Ombudsman had received 1,278 communications, out of which 78 had been settled. The Commission did not register communications in terms of the ethnic affiliation of those filing them.
There was no woman member of cabinet in the new Slovak Government, which was a unique situation, the delegation said. In addition, the number of women deputies in the national assembly was the lowest it had been for ten years' period. However, a standing committee for the rights of women had been set up in Parliament.
Responding to follow-up questions, the Slovak delegation said among other things that an identity card was sufficient identification for Roma to travel between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The fact that Roma traveled to the neighbouring country did not visibly alter their number in Slovakia. In 2001, for example, 2,000 people, including Roma, had left the country while the same figure had entered seeking permanent residence.
The Ministry of the Interior had established a committee to fight adverse phenomenon affecting the Roma minority. The Committee had Roma members, the delegation said.
Asked if the Government had taken follow-up measures to the Durban Declaration and Programme for Plan of Action, the delegation said the Government had been designing national plan of actions on various issues.
Responding to questions put under the second cluster of the main issues, which included the right to work; the right to just and favourable conditions of work; trade union rights; and the right to social security, the Slovak delegation said among other things that the rate of unemployment for the first half of 2002 was 18.6 per cent. However, the rate had been declining because of the effectiveness of social measures undertaken by the Government. Although the unemployment rate varied from one region to another, the rate in regions where the Roma people was notably higher.
The Government was fully conscious of a problem in the wage system, the delegation said. Although the majority of workers were women, the wage difference between men and women was still a problem. The labour inspectorate authority had reported several incidents of unequal pay for equal work.
A pregnant woman was entitled to social benefits before and after she delivered her child, if she was a working mother, the delegation said. The social security scheme covered medical and social benefits for employed women.
It was a crime if an employer published a recruitment notice referring to gender or age, the delegation said. A recent law enacted on the issue had clearly indicated the modality of recruitment by prohibiting preference for a certain sex.
The minimum wage paid to employees was largely sufficient for the living expenses of an individual, and it corresponded to the living standards of the country, the delegation said. A tripartite collective bargaining process, involving the Government, employers and trade unions, periodically set the minimum wage.
Because of traditional practice in the Slovak Republic, there was no recourse to strikes, as so often occurred in neighbouring Poland, the delegation said. However, there was no legislation prohibiting the right to strike.
The continuing process of economic transition had affected the mode of production, thus in turn harming the labour market, the delegation said. The recovery of the economy might take quite some time, and hence it could be a long time before the real income of workers began to climb significantly.
Responding to follow-up questions, the delegation said among other things that training had been emphasized to reduce the high rate of unemployment. Zhe Government had provided special training courses to Roma minorities and to disabled persons to help integrate them into the labour market.
No one in Slovak society could be poor because of family solidarity, the delegation said. "Somebody has someone to help him." The tradition of helping each other still existed in the country. [The report noted that poor households accounted for 12.1 per cent of all households and 7.7 per cent of households perceived themselves to be in poverty.]
There were only 200 labour inspectors for the whole country, the delegation said. Their authority varied from simple inspection to fining companies for lack of observance of guidelines.
Responding to questions put by Committee members under the third cluster of basic topics, dealing with the protection of the family and children, the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to health, the delegation said among other things that there was no law prohibiting prostitution. A draft law on the issue had still to be submitted to Parliament. The number of women working as prostitutes was estimated to be 5,000; and they were "working" in clubs. There was a law prohibiting trafficking in human beings. In 1998, eight cases of trafficking had been registered, rising to 20 in 1999, and 29 in 2000. There were 15 cases in 2001 and 31 so far for 2002. A centre had been set up by the Government to deal with victims of trafficking.
Asked about legislation to allow same-sex marriage, the delegation said the Government had no immediate intention to contemplate the issue.
Slovakia had a very good system of running water, the delegation said. With regard to access by the Roma to drinking water, there was a problem in reaching all those living in scattered areas. The Roma themselves created poor hygienic environments for themselves. The Government, however, had been funding projects to provide water to Roma minorities.
As regards the homeless people, there was no exact figure available immediately, the delegation said; however, their number was estimated to be around 5,000, mainly concentrated in the capital city, Bratislava. The homeless received social assistance from non-governmental organizations, which ran social assistance programmes.
According to the statistical data of the Government, in 2000 more than 23,000 abortions had been performed, the delegation said. To prevent unwanted pregnancies among teenagers, sexual education was provided in schools.
The Educational Act had been reformed to bring the educational system in line with the standard of the European Union, the delegation said; in addition, in some schools professional Roma assistants to teachers had been assigned help Roma children cope with the educational system. At present, 136 such assistants were working throughout the country. Education was available in four minority languages, including Hungarian. School attendance was closely monitored by the educational authorities; in past years, some 94.5 per cent of Roma children had missed classes. Children from disadvantaged families and Roma children were the most likely to drop out of school or to be absent.
Responding to a question on the exclusive use of the Slovak language in the issuance of school certificates and school stamps, the delegation said the country's 1995 language law had some restrictive aspects, which had later been softened in practice. All documents in minority schools were written in both Slovak and the corresponding minority language. In addition, two weeks ago the Government had decided to set up a separate Hungarian university.



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