There is no reason to grant asylum to Romanies who have attempted to emigrate to Finland, the Slovak joint departmental committee to solve problems associated with Romany migration ruled July 20. Juraj Hrabko, the main co-ordinator of the committee, and head of the Human Rights section of the Cabinet Office, stressed instead that the rights of the minorities are respected in Slovakia.
Some of the estimated 1,069 Roma who fled to Finland have already returned. Others remain, though no permanent asylum status has been granted.
The committee asked the Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry to send monitors to Finland to check the situation among the Romanies there and help them as they return to Slovakia.
