Kategória ľudského práva: Enabling space for civil society and human rights defenders

5

The existence of domestic legislation on the establishment and functioning of CSOs reflecting all the international and regional standards

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Status requiring significant improvement
Status requiring moderate improvement
Compliant status

Domestic legislation on the establishment and functioning of CSOs reflects international and regional standards. Some improvements in implementation is needed.

The national legislation concerning establishment, functioning and dissolution of CSOs  is adequate. Strategy of Civil Society Development in Slovakia for 2022–2030 underlines the need to improve the legislation in areas where application practice, including international practice shows such need. This includes need to strengthen competences of the Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations, the Chamber of Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations or amending the Act No. 162/2014 Coll. on Public Collections and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts to reflect the current state of technology in the online environment. Legislation to increase the systemic resilience of civil society and participation of CSO is lacking.

The existing domestic legislation and policies on the financing of CSOs reflecting all the international and regional standards

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Status requiring significant improvement
Status requiring moderate improvement
Compliant status

Domestic legislation and policies on the financing of CSOs need improvement, including with regards to fragmented regulation and lack of long-term sustainable financing schemes for CSOs that are not project-based or short-term.

According to the European Commission’s Rule of Report 2023 concerning Slovakia, stakeholders continue to raise concerns over fragmented regulation and a lack of systemic funding of civil society by the state, creating obstacles for CSOs to access financing. Strategy of Civil Society Development in Slovakia for 2022–2030 underlines that up to 80 % of CSOs identified the lack of finance as an obstacle to the achievement of their objectives. CSOs report that project financing, as the predominant form of funding, does not allow to achieve financial stability and entails a high administrative burden.

The number of reported harassments or threats against CSOs

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Status requiring significant improvement
Status requiring moderate improvement
Compliant status

CSOs, including environmental, feminist and LGBTIQ organizations and human rights defenders continue to face threats and verbal attacks, including from politicians.

According to the European Commission’s Rule of Report 2023 concerning Slovakia, CSOs working on issues related to gender equality and LGBTIQ rights continue to face a difficult environment, exacerbated by disinformation campaigns and verbal attacks from politicians. The increasing intensity of hate speech was prevalent during the 2023 parliamentary election campaign, including purported association of CSOs with “liberal extremism”, or undermining their credibility and trustworthiness, labelling human rights NGOs as “Soros” organizations. Environmental human rights defenders were also targeted and referred to as “eco-terrorists” by several MP candidates.

Civicus Monitor

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Status cannot be evaluated

No updates since 2016

In its latest update in 2016, Slovakia scored 80 points out of 100 in the Civicus Monitor, meaning the civic space is ranked as “narrow”. No updates as of 2023 have been registered.

According to the information by the Civil Society Sustainability Index, in its latest update in 2021, Slovakia scored 3.0 points on a scale of 0-7 (lowest scores meaning the most sustainable), therefore overall CSO sustainability is ranked as “enhanced”. Financial viability of CSOs was ranked with the lowest level of sustainability, with a score of 3.6.