DISCRIMINATION on the basis of sexual orientation is the second most widespread form of discrimination in Slovakia, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák told the Pravda daily. He also gave an open account of the hate-fuelled campaign that has targeted the ministry, and admitted Slovak society might not be ready to accept wider rights for LGBTI people yet.
In early September 2013 the Foreign Ministry, which is responsible for the human rights agenda in the current cabinet, revealed that it has become the target of an organised campaign to spam the e-mail addresses of Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák and other ministry officials, and to deliver “personal invectives, rough offences and hateful blackmail” that “fanatical opponents of human rights in Slovakia” had been sending to the secretary of the government’s Human Rights Council.
The ministry announced that if the campaign does not stop, they will take appropriate legal steps, including submitting criminal complaints about specific people.
The hateful campaign was started after the presentation of the draft strategy for the protection and support of human rights in Slovakia, which includes a section on LGBTI rights.
The ministry postponed the original deadline for submitting the strategy to June 2014. Until then, the ministry plans to run a nationwide discussion on the strategy, including organised workshops open to the public, Lajčák told The Slovak Spectator.
If no agreement is reached on the strategy by that time, Lačák admitted he might have to write in the strategy that this topic divides society and that a lack of tolerance is preventing necessary steps from being taken.
Source: Pravda
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
