Slovakia

Key Laws and Policies Combating Antisemitism and Antigypsyism in SLOVAKIA

The National Strategy for Roma Equality, Inclusion, and Participation (2021–2030)

The strategy is a long term Slovak government initiative led by the Office of the Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities to improve living conditions, strengthen rights, and combat systemic antigypsyism. It focuses on reducing discrimination, hate speech, and hate crime while promoting equality and positive intercommunity relations nationally.

The strategy implements deliverables such as local action plans, awareness campaigns about antigypsyism, and augmenting education, employment, and housing opportunities.

Conceptual Framework for Countering Radicalisation and Extremism (2025 – 2028)

The framework sets out a national strategy to address radicalisation through civic engagement, democratic education and coordinated action across ministries including civil society, media, and security institutions. Aligned to EU standards, it seeks to increase public awareness, support for at risk individuals, youth focused educational programmes, and provides guidelines for responsible media reporting.

The Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Other Forms of Intolerance (2012)

The Committee is a ministerial working group created to respond to discriminatory activities nationally. It combines the efforts state institutions, civil society experts, and international observers to monitors developments, evaluates and update policies, and as well as set local and national strategies.

Its work includes analysing hate incidents, advising ministries, and facilitating consultations on national frameworks.

Civil Society Best Practices in Countering Antisemitism and Antigypsyism

In Slovakia, a broad variety of antidiscrimination best practices are in operation, including but not limited to educational experience, referral and support systems, online advocacy initiatives, storytelling programmes, training courses and more. Some initiatives are purpose built, such as the Holocaust Museum in Sered, whilst others are networks of concerned organisations or individuals like the Bez Hejtu network, an organisation of educators working against hate in school settings.

Other services are focused on victim support. Since January 2022, the Human Rights League provides accredited legal, social, and psychological assistance to victims of hate crimes in Slovakia as part of the SalamSK. This includes targeted support for foreigners, refugees, and migrants who experience racially, ethnically, or religiously motivated violence or threats.

Some efforts are digitising, with the Together Against Antigypsyism Online (TAAO) project tackling online hatred against Roma and Sinti communities with counternarrative approaches.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Policies and Initiatives

Across the policy and practice measures, evaluation relies on a combination of of inputs including frequent upstream and public reporting, indicator monitoring, and stakeholder feedback loops. Both the Committee and the National Strategy engage in government reporting to track whether recommendations are incorporated effectively, and if new ones are required. The National Strategy supports this with direct feedback from Roma stakeholders. Meanwhile, the Conceptual Framework measures progress through indicators such as reduction of incidents and levels of public awareness. The evaluation systems combine to provide varied and continuous assessment.

Evaluating the Success of Policies and Programmes

The Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Racism and Intolerance measures its success by how its recommendations are incorporated into national strategies and reports annually to the government, though no specific impact data is immediately available. The National Strategy is evaluated through annual indicator monitoring and final evaluations with Roma stakeholders, but outcome changes such as improvements in education, employment, or discrimination levels, are not immediately available. Similarly, the Conceptual Framework assesses success by the delivery of ministerial tasks, reductions in extremism incidents, and public awareness levels, with ongoing government monitoring, yet no concrete results, like decreases in hate crime or improved perceptions of safety, are immediately available.