On October 23., the Centre organised one of a series of discussions on Rule of Law and Human Rights, this time in Košice at a local cultural centre Tabačka Kulturfabrik. The discussion focused on issues of access to justice, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups.

Our expert panel for this event consisted of :

• Petra Melikantová, KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), who works with unacompanied minors;
• Michaela Dojčinovičová, Liga za ľudské práva, lawyer providing legal aid to migrants and asylum seekers;
• Joachim Dušan Fraňo, lawyer working with civil society organizations in eastern Slovakia.

The discussion was moderated by Marian Filcik from the Centre. Discussion focused on equal access to justice as one of the fundamental human rights and how justice must be equally accessible and accommodating to all citizens, including particularly vulnerable people.

Our aim was to point out the barriers faced by all, such as financial costs and then highlight how vulnerable groups face others, including discrimination and mistrust in addition to the barriers faced by the majority population.

Our panel highlighted, that one of the main issues in Slovakia is the lack of sensitivity to even acknowledge someone’s vulnerable status, which is faced by all clients our experts work with, including unacompanied minors which are not deemed vulnerable as they reach an age closer to 18.

In our discussion we also highlighted some positive experiences with various local agencies and institutions, even though those are not the norm, yet.

As a recommendation for our work and engagement with responsible government agencies, the panel highlighted the need to recognize vulnerability of various groups based on status, rather than appearance or behaviour, which often, together with stereotypical expectations of how certain groups should look like and behave, seem to play a key role in how they are treated by state actors.

In the final Q&A the audience focused their questions on the positive examples mentioned in the discussion and how they could be promoted, especially given that clients often don’t wish to become public personas and such promotion may even backfire and harm the officials doing their job well. As an example the panel mentioned the Social Act of the Year award given out by the Ministry of Labor as an example of a way to appreciate and promote positive examples within public service.

On June 13, the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights held a webinar for non-governmental organizations focused on the monitoring mechanism of the European Social Charter. It aimed to explain how NGO representatives can contribute to the current reporting procedure and submit their comments concerning 14^th National Report on the implementation of the European Social Charter.

During the session, representatives from the Centre, Marián Filčík and Lenka Vestenická, presented an overview of the Charter’s monitoring mechanisms with focus on the reporting procedure for the currently monitored group of accepted provision. These provisions mainly concerned labour rights, such as equal pay, collective bargaining, the right to organise, et cetera. Accordingly, the Centre invited NGO representatives working in these areas.

The Centre has a previous experience with organizing and collaborating with civil society when it comes to submitting alternative reports and comments. The Centre finds it essential for the NGOs to engage in the international human rights monitoring mechanisms because contributions from NGO representatives with firsthand field experience provide a highly valuable perspective. Hence, the webinar served to motivate NGO to engage directly in the reporting process or to collaborate on the Centre’s own report. During the webinar, the attendees engaged in discussion on what insights from their work could inform the report. At the end, two organizations partnered with the Centre, contributing firsthand perspectives to its submission.

On July 24, the Centre publicly presented its 2024 Report on the Rule of Law in Slovakia in Bratislava, covering developments from January to December 2024 in the areas of judicial independence, media freedom, civic space, and the protection of human rights defenders.

The report was introduced by Marian Filčík, who emphasized key concerns such as the excessive use of fast-track legislative procedures, verbal attacks on judges, restrictions on freedom of assembly, and proposed discriminatory legislation targeting NGOs and their funding.

Katarína Batková, Executive Director of VIA IURIS, contributed insights from the civil sector, presenting an analysis as part of the European network Liberties that documents the systematic weakening of democratic institutions in Slovakia. Radim Dvořák, representing the European Commission in Slovakia, provided a broader European context, highlighting the need to protect democratic principles at a time of increasing polarization and institutional weakening.

Slovak National Centre for Human Rights highlighted the need for concerted efforts on reporting on the state of rule of law in Slovakia and its apparent backsliding, to prevent desensitization of both lay and expert public to mounting threats to rule of law, human rights and democracy and keep issuing recommendations to promote good governance and public’s legitimate expectations.