The first detailed document on national minorities - the report of the government proxy for ethnic minorities on the status and rights of national minorities in 2012 - was approved by the government October 16.
The report gives a comprehensive picture of the status of national minorities in the Slovak social, economic, political context, and looks at how the rights of national minorities are respected in terms of compliance with national and international laws and conventions. It also provides information on the use of minority languages, as well as on education, culture and participation in public affairs of minorities. The report also includes a comparison of the status of national minorities in 2012 with the previous years. Among other things, the report points out that in 2012 and 2013, the Government Office received only two complaints related to the potential violation of national minority's rights to use their language, the TASR newswire wrote.
The report is based on facts and documents collected by the Office of the Government Proxy for National Minorities and on figures from the 2011 census, according to which 651,943 members of ethnic minorities live in Slovakia.
Head of the opposition Most-Híd caucus, László Solymos, criticised the report and compared it to the communist time “normalisation reports” which used to distort reality, the SITA newswire wrote. Most-Híd includes many ethnic-Hungarian politicians and it has on its agenda a peaceful coexistence of ethnic minorities with the majority.
The report is accessible on the vlada.gov.sk website in English as well.
(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
