Country report non-discrimination : transposition and implementation at national level of Council Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78 : Slovakia [2023]

The Slovak Republic is a country of 5.4 million people. In addition to Slovak nationals, a wide range of minority groups live in the country. The largest groups are Hungarians (7.75 %) and the Roma minority. The official number of Roma in the last census (2021) was 67 179 (1.23 %), although the Atlas of Roma Communities 2019 contains data on approximately 417 000 Roma living in 825 municipalities and estimates that there are 450 000 people of Roma origin in Slovakia. The other minority groups include Czechs, Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Croatians, Vietnamese, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Moravians and Jews. In Slovakia, many individuals and groups face serious discrimination due to some of their traits. For example, the Roma people face widespread, deep prejudice and discrimination, which exists in all areas of life and is often characterised by segregation and exclusion. Roma living in segregated settlements face an increased threat of forced eviction. Data from the EU SILC_MRK survey of the Office of the Roma Plenipotentiary for Roma communities published in October 2022 provides complex information about the housing of Roma in marginalised communities, including their social exclusion. It also shows on-going inequalities in terms of material quality of their housing, expenses for their housing and risks of losing their housing. In January 2022, the Košice District Court upheld the claim of nine complainants of Roma ethnicity that they were forcibly evicted from their homes in Košice (the district of Nižné Kapustníky) in 2012 under the pretext of waste removal by the city authorities.5 The Court ruled that forced eviction constitutes discrimination in the form of harassment and awarded each applicant non-pecuniary damages of EUR 1 000. In April 2022, the Slovak Government adopted the first action plans under the Strategy for the equality, inclusion and participation of Roma6, setting out particular tasks and activities for its implementation in the period 2022-2024. However, there are relevant aspects raised by NGOs indicating that the Strategy and the action plans may be falling short of the aims for their implementation in terms of a tangible impact.