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04 August 2000
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CERD
57th session
4 August 2000
Morning
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded this afternoon its consideration of the fourth periodic report of Slovakia on the measures that country had adopted to abide by the terms of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The Committee will issue its final, written conclusions on the report of Slovakia near the end of its current four-week session which will conclude on 25 August. The report was introduced yesterday afternoon and a 12-member Slovak delegation led by Kalman Petocz, Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, was on hand to discuss and answer questions raised by Committee members.
As one of the 156 States parties to the Convention, Slovakia must present periodic reports to the Committee on how it was implementing the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will first meet in private session with a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights before holding a public discussion on the forthcoming World Conference on Racism and Racial Discrimination.
Response of Slovakia
In response to questions raised by Committee experts in the previous meeting, the Slovak officials provided information on various issues. With regard to the demographic figures on the Roma people, the delegation said that they represented 1.6 per cent of the Slovak population. In addition, the Hungarian national minority was made up of 608,000 Hungarians who used their own language. Because of the mixed marriages between Hungarians, Slovaks and Czech, it was difficult to distinguish the racial origin of some citizens, except by referring to them as Slovaks.
Following the 1991 census, the Roma people became considered as a national minority like the Hungarian national minority, the delegation said. During the socialist era, the Roma were categorized as an ethnic minority. The 1991 census had also allowed the Roma to freely admit their ethnic belongings and had found that they numbered 80,000. However, some Roma preferred to identify themselves as Slovaks instead of releasing their ethnic origin. In the past, the Roma people used to hide their identities because of fear of persecution and discrimination.
Concerning police intervention in the Jehra area, the delegation said it had been a routine police intervention aimed at apprehending criminals who had attacked persons and had damaged property. Before the police intervention, 7 Romanis had been involved in robberies and attacks against non-Roma citizens and had been hiding among other Romanis. The intervention, which was carried out by 50 police officers, took place in the areas where the Romanis lived. Houses had been searched and rubber bullets were shot in the air. At last, the perpetrators were arrested and brought to justice. The incident had no racial motivation.
Further, police had to obey the rule of law and any abuse was reprehensible and could lead to disciplinary measures by the authorities, the delegation said. The rights and physical integrity of members of the minorities and other Slovak citizens were protected by the law and in practice. In addition, lessons on racial tolerance were provided in special training schools and in the police academy. Internal inspection was carried out to supervise police activities and their compliance with the official guidelines.
Only men were allowed to accomplish military service and it was obligatory, the delegation said; interested women could also join but were not obligated to do so.
The skinhead movement in Slovakia was an imitation of the white-power movements in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany and it was controlled from abroad, the delegation said. The Slovak skinhead movement was nationalist, racist and radical. Police intervention could only take place when crimes were committed. Recently, the Procurator General had established a special team which would investigate the links between the skinheads and find out the persons who supported their movement morally and financially.
On the high unemployment rate in the country, the delegation said the unemployment rate was 19.1 per cent. However, in places where the Roma people lived, the rate was higher than the national average because of the lack of professional training and lower education levels.
Acts of violence against foreigners had been noted in some parts among individuals, the delegation said. In Bratislava, foreign students were attacked and bodily harm had been perpetrated. Later, it was proved that the act involved racial bias.
With regard to Roma education, the delegation said that the majority were not interested in attending schools and parents were not motivated to send their children to educational centres. For that reason, there were no pre-school facilities for Roma children under 6 years of age. Roma children had no proper hygienical habits and they did not know the Slovak language well enough to attend schools. In addition, many kindergartens were closed because of the demographic change which resulted in low rates of birth.
RAGHAVAN VASUDEVAN PILLAI, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Slovakia, said that the laws enacted by the State would improve the situation in Slovakia. The discussion with the delegation had been informative and the written responses expected to be submitted in the future would be of great use.
He said that a series of laws had been enacted in the country and the Committee was of the view that those laws should be followed up. The issue of the Roma people had to be given special attention and the Government should continue its efforts in solving the problems concerning them.
The information provided by the delegation that a law would be enacted next year on the subject of migration and asylum-seekers to bring the standard to European levels was encouraging.
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57th session
4 August 2000
Morning
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded this afternoon its consideration of the fourth periodic report of Slovakia on the measures that country had adopted to abide by the terms of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The Committee will issue its final, written conclusions on the report of Slovakia near the end of its current four-week session which will conclude on 25 August. The report was introduced yesterday afternoon and a 12-member Slovak delegation led by Kalman Petocz, Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, was on hand to discuss and answer questions raised by Committee members.
As one of the 156 States parties to the Convention, Slovakia must present periodic reports to the Committee on how it was implementing the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will first meet in private session with a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights before holding a public discussion on the forthcoming World Conference on Racism and Racial Discrimination.
Response of Slovakia
In response to questions raised by Committee experts in the previous meeting, the Slovak officials provided information on various issues. With regard to the demographic figures on the Roma people, the delegation said that they represented 1.6 per cent of the Slovak population. In addition, the Hungarian national minority was made up of 608,000 Hungarians who used their own language. Because of the mixed marriages between Hungarians, Slovaks and Czech, it was difficult to distinguish the racial origin of some citizens, except by referring to them as Slovaks.
Following the 1991 census, the Roma people became considered as a national minority like the Hungarian national minority, the delegation said. During the socialist era, the Roma were categorized as an ethnic minority. The 1991 census had also allowed the Roma to freely admit their ethnic belongings and had found that they numbered 80,000. However, some Roma preferred to identify themselves as Slovaks instead of releasing their ethnic origin. In the past, the Roma people used to hide their identities because of fear of persecution and discrimination.
Concerning police intervention in the Jehra area, the delegation said it had been a routine police intervention aimed at apprehending criminals who had attacked persons and had damaged property. Before the police intervention, 7 Romanis had been involved in robberies and attacks against non-Roma citizens and had been hiding among other Romanis. The intervention, which was carried out by 50 police officers, took place in the areas where the Romanis lived. Houses had been searched and rubber bullets were shot in the air. At last, the perpetrators were arrested and brought to justice. The incident had no racial motivation.
Further, police had to obey the rule of law and any abuse was reprehensible and could lead to disciplinary measures by the authorities, the delegation said. The rights and physical integrity of members of the minorities and other Slovak citizens were protected by the law and in practice. In addition, lessons on racial tolerance were provided in special training schools and in the police academy. Internal inspection was carried out to supervise police activities and their compliance with the official guidelines.
Only men were allowed to accomplish military service and it was obligatory, the delegation said; interested women could also join but were not obligated to do so.
The skinhead movement in Slovakia was an imitation of the white-power movements in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany and it was controlled from abroad, the delegation said. The Slovak skinhead movement was nationalist, racist and radical. Police intervention could only take place when crimes were committed. Recently, the Procurator General had established a special team which would investigate the links between the skinheads and find out the persons who supported their movement morally and financially.
On the high unemployment rate in the country, the delegation said the unemployment rate was 19.1 per cent. However, in places where the Roma people lived, the rate was higher than the national average because of the lack of professional training and lower education levels.
Acts of violence against foreigners had been noted in some parts among individuals, the delegation said. In Bratislava, foreign students were attacked and bodily harm had been perpetrated. Later, it was proved that the act involved racial bias.
With regard to Roma education, the delegation said that the majority were not interested in attending schools and parents were not motivated to send their children to educational centres. For that reason, there were no pre-school facilities for Roma children under 6 years of age. Roma children had no proper hygienical habits and they did not know the Slovak language well enough to attend schools. In addition, many kindergartens were closed because of the demographic change which resulted in low rates of birth.
RAGHAVAN VASUDEVAN PILLAI, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Slovakia, said that the laws enacted by the State would improve the situation in Slovakia. The discussion with the delegation had been informative and the written responses expected to be submitted in the future would be of great use.
He said that a series of laws had been enacted in the country and the Committee was of the view that those laws should be followed up. The issue of the Roma people had to be given special attention and the Government should continue its efforts in solving the problems concerning them.
The information provided by the delegation that a law would be enacted next year on the subject of migration and asylum-seekers to bring the standard to European levels was encouraging.
* *** *