1. Anti-discrimination Law and Practice in Slovakia Lessons Learned
Jarmila Lajčáková
Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture
Bratislava, Slovakia
Skopje, 19 February 2019
Working group II Social Policy and Employment

2. adoption of the Antidiscrimination Act in 2004, main barriers & overview
15 years looking back – accomplishments
remaining challenges
key case law
emerging positive models
conclusions

3. Transposition of EU Directives through a single antidiscrimination legislation
2000/43/EC Racial Equality Directive (race & ethnicity in education, employment, social affairs, health, goods and services), 2000/78/EC, Equal Treatment in Employment (religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation) + directives on Gender Equality 76/238/EEC and 86/378/EEC.
major opposition against prohibition on the grounds of sexual orientation
365/2004 Coll. Act on the Principle of Equal Treatment (Antidiscrimination Act)

4. Positive action on the grounds of ethnicity– ‘temporary equalizing measures‘ -the government in 2004 successfully challenged the provision as unconstitutional with the Slovak Constitutional Court

5. Antidiscrimination Act 365/2004 Coll., as amended
Prohibited grounds: Sex and gender, religion or belief, race, belonging to a national minority or an ethnic group, disabiliy, age, sexual orientation, marital status, skin color, language, political or other beliefs, national or social background, property or other status

6. The Scope employment and occupation; education;
social protection, security and social benefits;
healthcare;
provision of goods and services, including housing.

7. Prohibited Forms of Discrimination
direct discrimination
indirect discrimination
harassment
sexual harassment
an instruction to discrimination
undue infliction (unfavourable treatment related to filing a complaint, pursuing legal action or providing a testimony in a discrimination case)

8. Exemptions – pursuing legitimate objectives, proportionate and necessary (pension system, however, not different age of pensions for men and women), temporary equalising measures specific exemptions (regulation relevant for non-citizens, army, secret services, fire brigades, religious groups in relations to religious beliefs)

9. Some of the Adressed Issues
actio popularis (as of 2008) – a right of a public entity (typically an NGO but also the Equality Body) to pursue litigation against a discriminatory practice that affects a higher or indefinite number of individuals
Definition of shifted burden of proof
temporary equalizing measures (can be adopted municipal and state administration, private entities, NGOs, professional organisations, schools etc)

10. Remaining Challenges multiple discrimination;
limits in training of judges - the ability to correctly apply the law especially in relation to the shifted burden of proof;
limits in training of public prosecutors, school and labour inspections to properly recognize discrimination;
institutional protection – the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights – limited powers and capacities;
limited access to legal aid by the victims of discrimination especially those from the disadvantaged background.

11. Application of the Act in Practice
Infringement procedure pursued by the EC against Slovakia for violation of RED in failing to curb segregation of Romani children in education (on going since 2015)

12. Successful litigations
Spatial segregation of Romani children (Centre for Civil and Human rights vs. The Elementary School in Sarisske Michalany (2012)
Residential segregation of Roma (Telek case (2018) 8 petitioners vs. Town of Sabinov and the Ministry of Construction) – 12 years of litigation
Discrimination in employment on the grounds of ethnicity (Viera Pompova vs. Spisska Nova Ves (2018) 8 years of litigation

13. Emerging Positive Practices Curbing Discrimination (Affirmative Action)
municipal firms preferably recruiting disadvantaged job seekers (mostly Roma)
public procurement with social aspects using ESIF
program of Roma health mediators
NGOs activities targeting girls encouraging to study IT, Roma to study economics

14. Final Comments
systematically train and support expert capacities of judges, public prosecutors, inspectors
build institutions curbing discrimination – equality bodies, school inspectorates, labour inspections
empower victims & provide accessible legal aid for disadvantaged groups