AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

April and the case sent back to the District
Court.
Right to education
An amendment to the Schools Act prohibiting
the placement of children from socially
disadvantaged backgrounds in “special”
schools solely based on their socioeconomic
background came into force in January.
However, Roma children continued to be
over-represented in “special” schools and
classes for children with “mild mental
disabilities” and were placed in ethnically
segregated mainstream schools and classes.
Despite ongoing infringement proceedings,
initiated by the European Commission in
2015 against Slovakia for breaching the
prohibition of discrimination set out in the EU
Racial Equality Directive in relation to the
access to education of Roma, there was no
evidence of the government taking any
effective measures to prevent or tackle the
issue. This was highlighted by the European
Commission in its annual assessment of
Roma integration plans, as well as by the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child.
A public interest case, initiated in 2015 by
the Centre for Civil and Human Rights
against the Ministry of Education and the
municipality of Stará Ľubovňa for the
segregation of Roma children at a primary
school, was dismissed by the District Court in
Bratislava on 6 October 2016. The Centre
appealed against the decision; the case was
pending at the end of the year.
Forced sterilization
In February, the Košice II District Court ruled
that the Louis Pasteur University Hospital in
Košice unlawfully subjected a Roma woman
to a forced sterilization in 1999. The woman
had been subjected to the procedure without
her informed consent after giving birth
through a caesarean section. It took Slovak
courts over 10 years to conclude the case
and award the victim €17,000 in
compensation. An appeal by the hospital was
pending at the end of the year.
COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY
Anti-terrorism provisions introduced into the
Constitution, the Criminal Code and the
Criminal Procedure Code, as well as several
other laws, came into force in January. They
include the extension of the maximum period
of pre-charge detention to 96 hours for
individuals suspected of terrorism-related
offences.
REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS
Despite placing “sustainable migration” high
on its agenda during its EU presidency,
Slovakia continued to oppose mandatory
relocation quotas for refugees from other EU
member states but expressed a willingness to
accept 100 refugees from Greece and Italy
by the end of 2017 on a voluntary basis. Only
three families were relocated from Greece by
the end of the year.
DISCRIMINATION
In August, the Slovak National Centre for
Human Rights and the State Trade
Inspectorate concluded that the owners of a
guesthouse in Bratislava discriminated
against three Turkish students. The owners
had rejected their booking request based on
a policy of “not accepting people from Turkey
or Arab countries due to security reasons”.
Prime Minister Fico continued to publicly
associate Muslims and refugees with
terrorism and used anti-migrant rhetoric. The
People’s Party – Our Slovakia organized anti-
Roma and anti-immigration marches in
January, March, June, July and October.
SLOVENIA
Republic of Slovenia
Head of state: Borut Pahor
Head of government: Miro Cerar
Asylum procedures were slow. The
International Protection Act was amended
to introduce expedited border procedures.
Discrimination against Roma continued.
324 Amnesty International Report 2016/17