Slovakia: Police violence against Roma not properly investigated and prosecuted

The country delegation was headed by Mr. Duéan Matulay, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the United Nations Office.

Main topics discussed:

While the Committee experts welcomed the apology by the Government for the excessive use of force by the police against Roma people in 2013 in Moldava and Bodvou, they wanted to know what measures have been taken to ensure the effective and impartial investigation, prosecution, and punishment of the acts of police violence, as well as to ensure that Roma victims have equal access to justice and remedies. They further raised questions about training of law enforcement officials on torture and other ill-treatment standards to prevent excessive use of force in the future. The Committee recalled that in 2022, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed similar concerns about racially motivated excessive use of force by the police against Roma.

Regarding involuntary sterilisation of Roma women, the Committee raised questions on how the women affected have effective access to redress and compensation and on how the revised law that criminalises sterilisations without consent is monitored and implemented.

The Delegation of Slovakia mentioned that it will ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in 2023 and an amendment to the Act on the Public Defender of Rights will establish the NPM.

The CAT's recommendation can be found here.

Follow-up recommendations:

The State party should provide by 12 May 2024 information on the implementation of the recommendations on :

• the definition of torture;

• the State party’s National Human Rights Institution;

• the involuntary sterilisation of Roma women;

• corporal punishment.

Watch here( Part one) and (Part two) here of the dialogue with the CAT.