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Title: Slovak Republic Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
The Slovak Republic became an independent state in 1993, following the
dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR). Its
Constitution provides for a multiparty, multiethnic parliamentary
democracy, including separation of powers and an independent judiciary.
Slovakia chose to carry over the entire body of CSFR domestic
legislation and international treaty obligations, which gradually are
being renewed or updated.
The national police, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry
of Interior, are the primary law enforcement agency. In addition to
domestic law enforcement, the national police also have responsibility
for border security. The Slovak Information Service (SIS), an
independent organization subordinated directly to the Prime Minister, is
responsible for all civilian security and intelligence activities. A
five-member parliamentary commission, which includes only government
coalition deputies, oversees the SIS. The civilian authorities maintain
effective control of the security forces. At year's end, investigations
were in progress regarding the violent abduction across the Austrian
border of President Kovac's son in which involvement by SIS personnel
has been alleged. Police have been used in what appeared to be
politically motivated actions aimed at intimidation of government
opponents.
Slovakia has made intermittent progress toward a market-based economy,
with over 60 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) now generated
by the private sector. However, the Government has been reluctant to
relinquish control over certain sectors such as agriculture and those
deemed "strategic" (transportation, telecommunications, energy). GDP
growth in 1995 was strong at around 6 percent, inflation was under 8
percent and falling, and the National Bank of Slovakia, in concert with
the Government, continued its adherence to a disciplined monetary and
fiscal policy. The privatization process, while moving rapidly, lacked
transparency and largely excluded foreign investors. The economy is
industrially based, with just 7 percent of GDP derived from agricultural
production. Major exports are machinery and transport equipment,
chemicals and fuels, minerals, and metals. GDP per capita is
approximately $2,400, providing most of the population with an adequate
standard of living. Unemployment was high, though declining, at 13.5
percent, with some areas of the country reaching levels as high as 28
percent. A large number of unemployed are Roma.
While the Government generally respected most of the human rights of its
citizens, disturbing trends away from democratic principles emerged.
There were credible allegations of politically motivated dismissals of
public officials, intimidation of opponents of government policy, police
misuse of authority, and interference with the electronic media.
Discrimination and violence against women are serious problems. Roma
faced societal discrimination, and the police failed to provide adequate
protection against continued attacks on them by skinheads.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of political or other extrajudicial killings.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
The Constitution prohibits such practices. The President's son was
tortured during the course of his violent abduction to Austria in which
SIS personnel are alleged to be implicated. The SIS initially refused
to permit its personnel to be questioned and accused police
investigators of wrongdoing. One lead police investigator resigned
under pressure; another was removed from the case, as was their
supervisor. An opposition journalist covering the case asserted that he
had been under surveillance and was beaten. In September an opposition
politician was beaten at his home after 2 days of surveillance. In all
three cases some government representatives sought to discredit the
victims' reports of their injuries, while others denied any government
involvement.
Prison conditions meet minimum international standards, and the
Government permits visits by human rights monitors.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile, and
the Government observes this prohibition.
A person accused or suspected of a crime must be given a hearing within
24 hours and either set free or remanded to the court. During this
time, the detainee has the right to an attorney. If remanded to a
court, the accused is entitled to a hearing within 24 hours, at which
time the judge will set the accused free or issue a substantive written
order placing the accused in custody. Investigative detention may last
up to 2 months and may be extended. The total length of pretrial
detention may not exceed 1 year, unless the Supreme Court extends it by
determining that the person constitutes a serious danger to society.
Pretrial detainees currently constitute roughly 25 percent of the total
prison population. The average pretrial detention is 7.2 months. The
law allows family visits and provides for a court-paid attorney if
needed, although human rights monitors point out that this applies only
to defendants whose alleged offenses are punishable by more than 5 years
in prison. A system of bail exists.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution provides for courts that are independent, impartial,
and separate from the other branches of government. Some critics
allege, however, that the dependence of judges upon the Ministry of
Justice for logistical support, the granting of leave requests, and
other services undermines their independent status. Also, the Ministry
of Justice can and did remove several Presidents and Vice Presidents of
the courts. The stated reason was incompetence, but at least in one
instance the judge in question had written a newspaper article critical
of the Government. In April the independent Association of Slovak
Judges (ASJ) revoked the ASJ membership of Chairman of the Senate of the
Supreme Court Jozef Stefanko, after he publicly criticized a peaceful
demonstration critical of the Government.
The court system consists of local and regional courts with the Supreme
Court as the highest court of appeal. In addition, there is a separate
military court system, the decisions of which may be appealed to the
Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. Under the Constitution, the
President appoints and removes Constitutional Court judges. Parliament
elects other judges, based on recommendations from the Ministry of
Justice, and can remove them for misconduct.
Persons charged with criminal offenses are entitled to fair and open
public trials. They have the right to be informed of the charges
against them and of their legal rights, to retain and consult with
counsel sufficiently in advance to prepare a defense, and to confront
witnesses. There was a report that one lawyer withdrew from the defense
of a government opponent after his wife was threatened with loss of her
government job. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have
the right to refuse to testify against themselves. They may appeal any
judgment against them.
The "lustration" law of the former CSFR, barring from high public office
persons who previously collaborated with the Communist-era secret
police, is technically still in effect in Slovakia, though not enforced.
Opponents of enforcement consider the law discriminatory and a violation
of due process because decisions would be based on unverifiable secret
police records, and no mechanism for legal appeal is available. The
law's supporters cite the need to ban from public office those
responsible for abuses of power and repression during the years of
Communist rule.
With respect to the Romani minority, human rights monitors continued to
charge that police appear reluctant to take the testimony of witnesses
to skinhead attacks on Roma. Further, they reported that police used
the device of countercharges to pressure Romani victims of police
brutality to drop their complaints, that medical doctors and
investigators cooperated with police by refusing to describe accurately
the injuries involved, and that lawyers often were reluctant to
represent Roma in such situations, for fear this would have a negative
effect on their practice.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Criminal Code requires police to obtain a judicial search warrant in
order to enter a home. The court may issue such a warrant only if there
is a well-founded suspicion that important evidence or persons accused
of criminal activity are present inside or if there is some other
important reason. Police must present the warrant before conducting the
house search or within 24 hours after the search. There were credible
allegations that SIS conducted routine surveillance of all senior
political figures and their spouses.
In July police with a legal warrant searched the diocesean headquarters
of Bishop Rudolf Balaz, Chairman of the Conference of Bishops. The
search occurred soon after Balaz had led the Conference in a statement
of support for President Michal Kovac, who has been the target of
criticism by supporters of Prime Minister Meciar. Police said that
Balaz was involved in the illegal sale of art works listed in the
register of national treasures. Denying this, Balaz's office director
stated that the Government was intent on discrediting Balaz and that
police had searched areas clearly inconsistent with their alleged
mission.
The 1993 Police Law regulates wiretapping and mail surveillance for the
purposes of criminal investigation, which may be conducted, on the order
of a judge or prosecutor, only in cases of extraordinarily serious
premeditated crimes or crimes involving international treaty
obligations.
In September the President's son reported that police investigators,
while questioning him in connection with his abduction, revealed
knowledge of his private domestic conversations that could only have
been obtained by electronic surveillance. There were no reports of mail
tampering.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, and the
Government generally respects this right in practice. Though mostly
dependent on state-owned printing and distribution companies, the print
media are free and uncensored, and newspapers and magazines regularly
publish a wide range of opinions and news articles. However, the
politicization of state-owned broadcast media remains a significant
problem.
A number of individuals reported that they no longer felt free to
criticize the Government openly without fear of some form of reprisal.
The use of police to investigate signatories of Democratic Union (DU)
electoral petitions (see Section 3), the abduction of the President's
son (see Section 1.c.), the beating of an opposition politician and
journalist (see Section 1.c.), and widespread dismissals of public
officials for political reasons contributed to an atmosphere of
intimidation, as did public questioning of the patriotism of citizens
and journalists who spoke critically of developments in Slovakia. An
April proposal to amend the Criminal Code, which would make it a
punishable offense to facilitate the spread of false information
damaging to the interests of the Slovak Republic, added further to
citizens' fear of speaking out freely. In September a prominent writer
sued the Slovak Republic at the European Court of Human Rights, arguing
that the Supreme Court had admitted that his charges against a prominent
politician (in 1993) were true but had still found him guilty of
defamation. In another case, human rights monitors noted continued
police interrogation and investigation, based on a Criminal Code
provision prohibiting defamation of the President, of a newspaper editor
who published a letter of a reader (in 1994) which was indirectly
critical of the President.
In October Peter Toth, a journalist investigating the abduction of
President Kovac's son, was physically attacked outside his apartment.
Slovak radio and television are supervised by three boards appointed by
Parliament. The Slovak Television and Radio Councils establish
broadcasting policy. The Slovak Radio and Television Council is
responsible for issuing radio and television broadcast licenses. The
Radio and Television Council has made significant progress in fostering
the spread of privately owned broadcast media. Twenty-seven private
radio stations have been issued licenses. Of these, only five are not
yet on the air. State-owned Slovak television broadcasts on two
channels. A private company has been granted a license to broadcast
nationwide on a third channel. Four private companies and one local
government have been granted licenses to broadcast regionally. One
company broadcasts nationally via satellite. There are 73 cable
television license holders, including private companies and
municipalities.
The state-owned electronic media have become increasingly politicized
since the new Parliament named new Television and Radio Councils, which
hired new directors in November 1994. The diversity of views, political
coverage, and objectivity of news and documentary programming on Slovak
television have dropped sharply, which is a disturbing trend since an
estimated 84 percent of the population watches television. Slovak
radio's coverage of internal political developments, although severely
cut back, remains more objective. Opposition views are given scant
coverage in news programs. Slovak television also carries relatively
little coverage of the activities of the President, who has been the
target of repeated attacks by members of the governing coalition. In
April it refused to broadcast a speech by the President, although it has
carried others. In December an employee of Kosice television was forced
to resign after protesting editorial refusal to cover President Kovac's
trip to the region.
In January the new director of Slovak television refused to continue
broadcasting three highly popular satirical programs which had as their
main targets members of the new Government. Opposition leaders and the
producers of the programs organized a petition campaign and mass public
demonstrations in March, calling for the programs' restoration and
charging that the cancellation violated freedom of speech. Although the
Government did not interfere in the demonstrations, television coverage
omitted a report of their content; it did broadcast a critical
commentary by the Chairman of the Supreme Court. Several of the
canceled programs are now being broadcast by private satellite
television companies.
In August the Board for Radio and Television Broadcasting granted Radio
Free Europe a 1 year license extension, rather than the requested 3 year
extension. The license was conditioned on the "improvement" of the
"anti-Slovak" editorial bias.
The law provides for academic freedom, which is generally respected.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for these rights, and the Government respects
them in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religious belief and faith, and
the Government fully respects this provision. Under existing law, only
registered churches and religious organizations have the explicit right
to conduct public worship services and other activities, although no
specific religions or practices are banned or discouraged by the
authorities. The State provides financial subsidies only to registered
churches and religious organizations, of which there are 15.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation
The Constitution provides for these rights, and the Government respects
them in practice. The Government cooperates with the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees. There were no reports of forced expulsion of those
having a valid claim to refugee status. However, some refugee claimants
had difficulty in getting access to initial refugee processing. A law
on refugees, passed by Parliament in November, limits the period for
filing asylum claims to 24 hours from the time of arrival and contains
no provisions for family reunification once refugee status has been
granted.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
Citizens have the constitutional right to change their government
through the periodic free election of national representatives.
Citizens over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, and voting is by
secret ballot. The Constitution reserves certain powers to the
President as Chief of State (elected by the Parliament), but executive
power rests with the Government. Legislative power is vested in the
National Council of the Slovak Republic (Parliament).
A number of actions served to consolidate the Government's power in a
manner, which, taken as a whole, gave rise to concern over the future
course of pluralism, separation of powers, and democratic development
overall. For example, in the absence of a civil service law, the
Government replaced hundreds of national and local government officials
with its supporters, apparently based largely on political loyalty. The
government-controlled Parliament took away the President's right to name
the Director of the intelligence service and the Chief of the General
Staff, placing these institutions under government control. In
September and again in December, Parliament refused to include any
opposition representation on the body which oversees the Slovak
Information Service; Parliament continued to allow only token opposition
representation on other key committees and oversight bodies.
In December it approved a budget which radically reduced the President's
budget for the second year in row, while sharply increasing funds for
the Prime Minister and the intelligence services. Finally, the
government coalition, in its handling of the privatization of large
state enterprises, appeared to favor primarily its supporters.
There was another disturbing instance of apparent abuse of government
authority for political reasons in May, when police began questioning
nearly 15,000 individuals who signed Democratic Union Party petitions,
to verify that they had signed their names for the DU, an opposition
party, to run in the fall 1994 parliamentary elections. In some cases,
police also allegedly questioned these citizens on their political views
and threatened them with reprisals, such as loss of their pensions, if
they confirmed their signatures as genuine. The Government claimed the
action was a legitimate investigation of charges that the DU signatures
were fraudulent; opposition leaders strongly disagreed, saying the
Government was using the police to intimidate their supporters, and
pointed out that the Slovak election commission had certified the DU as
eligible to run in the 1994 elections. In a further violation of
privacy, unknown persons used the state printing press to publish a book
containing the names of all who had signed the DU petitions.
Women are underrepresented in government. They hold only 2 of 15
ministerial portfolios: Labor/Social Affairs and Education. One of
three Deputy Prime Ministers is a woman. Women hold 22 seats in the
150-member Parliament, a reduction from 26 in the previous Parliament.
The large ethnic Hungarian minority, whose coalition gained 17 seats in
the 1994 elections, is well represented in Parliament and in local
government but not in the central Government. Roma are not represented
in Parliament and hold no senior government positions.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of human rights groups operate without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Nonetheless, on occasion government officials responded aggressively
toward nongovernmental organizations (NGO's). In May, for example,
following criticism of the Government by international philanthropist
George Soros, who funds a number of human rights NGO's in Slovakia, the
head of the Slovak National Party (SNS) filed a petition asking the
General Prosecutor to investigate Soros-funded NGO's. The General
Prosecutor agreed to conduct the investigation, which appears based
purely on politics.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The law prohibits discrimination and provides for the equality of all
citizens. Health care, education, retirement benefits, and other social
services are provided regardless of race, sex, religion, disability,
language, or social status.
Women
Violence, particularly sexual violence against women, remains a serious
and underreported problem. Experts say that in 1993, the latest year
studied, there were 47,000 acts of violence or intolerance (defined as
physical, sexual, emotional, and economic) against women. Physical and
sexual violence accounted for almost half of all reported cases. These
experts conclude that most of the unreported cases, estimated to be as
high as half of all cases, involve sexual violence. They note that
although police (in 1993) reported a drop of 19 percent in officially
reported cases of sexual violence, counseling centers registered a 60
percent increase in such cases. Police estimate that two-thirds of
female rape victims fail to report the cases for personal reasons.
Police deal with spousal abuse, child abuse, and other violence against
women in the same way as other criminal offenses; specific sections in
the Criminal Code deal with rape, sexual abuse, trade in women,
pandering, and illicit abortions.
As a result of amendments to the Criminal Code which took effect in
1994, prostitution is not an illegal act. However, the Code prohibits
activities related to prostitution, such as renting apartments for
conducting prostitution, spreading contagious diseases, or trafficking
in women for the purpose of prostitution.
Women are equal under the law. They enjoy the same property,
inheritance, and other legal rights as men. Women are well represented
in the judicial and administrative professions but are underrepresented
in other public service areas. Labor law prohibits women from engaging
in certain types of work considered dangerous to their health.
Despite the lack of overt discrimination, women face large wage
discrepancies in the workplace. Women receive 25 to 30 percent less pay
than men for the same work. A February report prepared by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in advance of the U.N. Conference on Women stated
that for the period 1988-1993, "gross earnings of men are 71 percent
higher than those of women." The report concluded that "since there is
little difference in the level of education achieved by men and women,
and since a significantly greater number of women are graduates of
technical universities as well as universities, the discrepancy in wages
is caused by factors other than educational achievement."
The Democratic Union of Women of Slovakia (DUZS) monitors observance of
the rights of women and their families in light of internationally
accepted documents and the Constitution, especially as they affect the
social and family spheres. A May DUZS poll found that the number one
problem facing women was insufficient resources to provide for everyday
family needs. Other major problems included women's health and the
health of their family members. In a June meeting, the DUZS pushed to
establish a parliamentary committee on women and the family and to
obtain quick passage of a law on the family. Regarding the latter, the
DUZS was particularly interested in more day care and preschool
programs. The DUZS also complained about growing discrimination against
middle-aged and older women in employment.
Children
The Government demonstrates its commitment to children's rights and
welfare through its system of public education and medical care. The
Ministry of Labor oversees implementation of the Government's programs
for children. The Constitution, the law on education, the Labor Code,
and the system of child welfare payments to families with children each
provide in part for children's rights.
While there is no evidence of a pattern of societal abuse of children,
some problems remain. In June workers at orphanage homes, as well as
representatives of foundations and local government, founded the SOS
group to protest the standard of living of orphans. The group stated
that this standard had fallen below the minimum and complained that the
Government had not fulfilled its financial responsibilities. They
advocated establishing orphanages as legal entities to make the
Government more responsive. Recognizing the lack of statistics on
children's welfare, the head of the Slovak U.N. Children's Fund
committee said in April that his most important task is to produce an
analytical work on the state of children in Slovakia.
People with Disabilities
The Constitution and implementing legislation provide for health
protection and special working conditions for mentally and physically
disabled persons, including special protection in employment relations
and special assistance in training. An October 1994 decree provides
incentives to employers who create a "sheltered" workplace, that is, a
certain percentage of jobs set aside for disabled persons. The law also
prohibits discrimination against physically disabled individuals in
employment, education, and the provision of other state services.
Nevertheless, experts report discrimination in such areas as
accessibility of premises and access to education (especially higher
education). Although not specifically required by law, a September 1994
government decree mandates the provision of accessibility for the
disabled with regard to new building construction. The decree provides
for sanctions, but lacks a mechanism to enforce them.
The Government in February created a coordinating committee for issues
concerning disabled citizens, chaired by Labor/Social Affairs Minister
Keltosova. The committee is made up of representatives of various
central government ministries, local government, advocacy organizations,
and other groups.
Religious Minorities
Isolated incidents of verbal harassment of Jews by skinheads and others
continued during the year. Despite Jewish community protests over
commemoration of the wartime Slovak Fascist state, Matica Slovenska, the
nationwide Slovak cultural organization, sponsored an exhibit in April
extolling wartime President Josef Tiso. The exhibit, which Education
Minister Slavkoska attended on opening day, depicted Tiso as the savior
of the Slovak nation during World War II and a martyr for Slovak
independence. In August vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in
Stupava, near Bratislava. Local police are investigating the incident.
Also in August, Premier Meciar presented a journalism award to a weekly
which had printed anti-Semitic cartoons and targeted international
philanthropist George Soros for being a Jew.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The Constitution provides minorities with the right to develop their own
culture, receive information and education in their mother tongue, and
participate in decisionmaking in matters affecting them. The Government
continued to provide funding for cultural, educational, broadcasting,
and publishing activities for the major ethnic minorities but at greatly
reduced levels. In March the Government signed a bilateral treaty with
Hungary, which deals extensively with treatment of ethnic minorities.
Parliament, however, had not ratified the treaty by year's end. In June
Parliament ratified the Council of Europe framework Convention on Ethnic
Minorities.
The politically active ethnic Hungarian minority, which is the most
numerous, is concentrated primarily in southern Slovakia, with a
population registered at 570,000 (many of whom are also Roma). Most
ethnic Hungarians and ethnic Slovaks living in mixed areas coexist
peacefully, but there were occasional outbreaks of anti-Hungarian
feeling, mostly in areas where the two do not coexist. In May, after a
soccer match in northern Slovakia, several ethnic Hungarian fans were
thrown from a train; one remained in a coma at year's end. Ethnic
Hungarian leaders complained about large cuts in government subsidies to
Hungarian cultural organizations, as well as a number of government
initiatives which they said sought to reverse gains made in previous
years. Most importantly, the leaders criticized the Ministry of
Education's "alternative education" plan, which seeks to introduce the
use of the Slovak language for certain subjects in schools where
Hungarian is the language of instruction. They claimed that the
Government had as its ultimate goal the assimilation of ethnic
Hungarians. The Ministry denied this charge, noting that the initiative
was entirely voluntary, was being implemented only in the few schools
where parents had requested it, and was intended only to improve the
Slovak language ability of ethnic Hungarian school children.
Ethnic Hungarians also expressed great concern over the State Language
Law enacted in November saying that it violated constitutional minority
language rights as well as the Council of Europe Convention on Minority
Rights. Government leaders have denied these accusations, declaring
publicly that minority rights will not change as a result of the law.
These leaders have also committed the Government to passing a separate
law on the use of minority languages, particularly with regard to
official communications. The OSCE High Commissioner on Minorities has
expressed concern with the law and stated that he would evaluate the
State Language Law after the enactment of the promised new law on
minority languages.
Roma constitute the second largest ethnic minority and suffer
disproportionately from high levels of poverty and unemployment.
Credible reports by human rights monitors indicated that Roma continued
to suffer from discrimination in employment, housing, and administration
of state services. Skinhead violence against Roma was a serious and
growing problem, and human rights monitors reported that police remain
reluctant to take action. In July skinheads attacked a number of Roma
in Ziar Nad Hronom, central Slovakia, injuring many. One Rom, Mario
Goral, whom the skinheads set afire with a flammable liquid, died of his
injuries. Ten days after the incident, the Government issued a
statement condemning racial intolerance, offering Goral's family
monetary compensation and proposing the establishment of a government
plenipotentiary to deal with problems of "disadvantaged citizens."
Romani groups welcomed the establishment of the plenipotentiary but
asked that the office deal solely with Romani affairs, or, at the very
least, that a Rom occupy the position. In September the Government
affirmed the general nature of the office and named a non-Rom as
plenipotentiary.
Persons of color also suffered occasionally from attacks or
discrimination. In March a Sierra Leone native working for a Western
consulting firm was called derogatory names and then beaten unconscious
at a local bar in Bratislava; he sustained serious head injuries.
Despite the lodging of a complaint, police charged no one in the
incident. In October skinheads severely beat an Asian medical graduate
student on a public bus; also in October, skinheads beat an African
tourist, breaking his nose, while he was waiting with his family at a
bus stop.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution provides for the right to form and join unions, except
in the armed forces. According to one reliable independent estimate,
approximately 50 percent of the work force is organized. Official
sources state that the figure is closer to 75 percent. Unions are
independent of the Government and political parties. There are no
restrictions on the right to strike, but there were no reports of
strikes during the year. However, four demonstrations were organized
during the months of August and September by the trade union
confederation to protest increased public transportation costs and
social and economic conditions. All were carried out peacefully with no
government interference.
There were no reported instances of retribution against strikers or
labor leaders, but the law and regulations do not explicitly prohibit
such retribution. There were no reports of human rights abuses targeted
against unions or workers.
Unions are free to form or join federations or confederations and to
affiliate with and participate in international bodies.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law provides for collective bargaining, which is freely practiced
throughout the country. Employers and unions set wages in free
negotiations. The Law on Citizens' Associations prohibits
discrimination by employers against union members and organizers.
Complaints may be resolved either in collective negotiations or in
court. If found guilty of antiunion discrimination, employers are
required to reinstate workers fired for union activities.
The Customs Act of 1992 regulates duty-free stores and free customs
zones. Firms operating in several such zones must comply with the Labor
Code; to date there have been no reports of special involvement by the
trade unions. Slovakia has no special legislation governing labor
relations in free trade zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Both the Constitution and the Employment Act prohibit forced or
compulsory labor. There were no reports of violations. The Ministry of
Labor, as well as district and local labor offices, have responsibility
for enforcement.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The law sets the minimum employment age at 15. Children must remain in
school for 9 years or until age 15. Workers under age 16 may not work
more than 33 hours per week; may not be compensated on a piecework
basis; may not work overtime or night shifts; and may not work
underground or in other specified conditions deemed dangerous to their
health or safety. Special conditions and protections, though somewhat
less stringent, apply to young workers ages 16 to 18. The Ministry of
Labor enforces this legislation. There were no reports of violations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The current minimum wage, effective since October 1993, is $82 (2,450
crowns) per month. Even when combined with special allowances paid to
families with children, it does not provide an adequate standard of
living for workers and their families. The Ministry of Labor is
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. No violations were
reported. The standard workweek mandated by the Labor Code is 42.5
hours, although collective bargaining agreements have achieved
reductions in some cases (most often to 40 hours). The law requires
overtime payment up to a maximum of 8 hours per week, and 150 hours per
year, and provides 3 weeks of annual leave (though the norm is most
often 4 weeks). There is no specifically mandated 24-hour rest period
during the workweek. The trade unions, the Ministry of Labor, and local
employment offices monitor observance of these laws, and the authorities
effectively enforce them.
The Labor Code establishes health and safety standards which the Office
of Labor Safety effectively enforces. For hazardous employment, workers
undergo medical screening under the supervision of a physician. They
have the right to refuse to work in situations which endanger their
health and safety and may file complaints against employers in such
situations.
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