The Council of Europe (CE) commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, visited Slovakia this week. On Monday, September 26, he met Slovak Foreign Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda.
The politicians discussed protection of human rights including minority rights and the issue of dual citizenship, the SITA newswire wrote. They also spoke about support for civil society in Belarus and the situation in Ukraine. Commissioner Hammarberg regularly visits member states of the Council of Europe to discuss topics concerning human and minority rights. He last visited Slovakia in April 2008.
During his visit to Slovakia, he discussed mainly the human rights of members of the Roma community and other minorities, and the rights of disabled people. Hammarberg on Tuesday met Slovak Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights and Ethnic Minorities Rudolf Chmel, to discuss minorities and reform of independent human-rights institutions in Slovakia. On the same day he also met Labour Ministry State Secretary Lucia Nicholsonová, members of the Slovak parliamentary delegation to the CE Parliamentary Assembly and ombudsman Pavol Kandráč, the Slovak Foreign Ministry reported.
Hammarberg praised the intentions and plans of the Labour Ministry concerning socially excluded communities and concentrated poverty, which also include the marginalised Roma communities, the ministry said, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Sources: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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