The United Nations (UN) is disturbed by the fact that Roma in Slovakia still face discrimination and segregation and that the country does not recognise homosexual couples. These were the main findings of the second periodic report on the Slovak Republic of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the SITA newswire reported.
“The commission [of UN experts who prepared the report] is afraid that Roma are still the victims of discrimination, mostly in the area of education, employment, health care and housing,” said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is based in Geneva and oversees implementation of the convention.
The committee also regretted that Slovakia had not provided it with the necessary statistics in this area.
Moreover, the UN is afraid that Roma children are still segregated and that they cannot study in classrooms with other children.
The UN committee also criticised the status of Slovak homosexual couples, saying that they “are not legally recognised” and that the country lacks “the legal framework to protect such couples”, SITA reported.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has recommended that Slovakia take several steps to resolve the issues it identifies, including passing a law on marginalised communities and legally recognising homosexual couples, SITA wrote.
Another problems stressed by the UN pertained to the differences between the earnings of men and women who do the same job, the very low minimum wage, sexual harassment, domestic violence, the high number of smokers and human trafficking.
The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry is already dealing with the recommendations and will take them into account, ministry spokesperson Renáta Goldírová said, as reported by SITA.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
