105. 在 2008 年 12 月 18 日举行的非盈利性非政府组织会议上，非政府组织 代表收到了本报告草稿。他们有机会就报告草稿提出书面意见；会上提出了多种 观点。随后，主管国家机关和非政府组织代表就这些意见进行了协商。讨论具有 建设性，并在报告中增加了许多意见。此外，非政府组织还强调了它们认为仍然 有待改善的某些具体领域：
(a) 罗姆族的发展战略――非政府组织支持采取更加有效的法律和行政措 施，解决罗姆少数民族的问题。非政府组织认为，现有的一些战略过 于笼统，而且缺乏有效的监督和评估机制。消除对罗姆少数民族的社 会排斥需要明确规定的目标和充足的资金，以实施相关方案。
(b) 受教育权――非政府组织强调有必要减少参加特殊学校的罗姆族儿童 的人数，使他们更多地参与混合教育系统。现行法律没有为罗姆人提 供充分的保护，使之不受教育歧视。例如，经修订的《学校法》仍然 将“处于不利社会环境的儿童”列入有特殊教育需要的清单。
(c) 患者的权利―― 一些非政府组织认为，在专业护理(治疗)方面，医疗 系统的质量高，可与发达国家相媲美。但是，就普通护理，特别是针
对卧床患者的普通护理而言，许多医院的质量都达不到目前的标准要 求。
(d) 残疾人的权利――除了特殊学校为残疾儿童提供实用教育，非政府组 织强调有必要使他们更好地融入“健康”人群。学生、家长和老师获 得的协助服务质量差制约了这一点。此外，应加大努力，消除学校及 其他公共设施中的障碍。一些非政府组织指出，有必要使残疾人更多 地参与残疾人问题政府理事会的决策制定过程。鉴于《改善残疾人生 活条件的国家方案》规定的工作经常无法按时完成，因此有必要制定 更加精确的控制机制，以评估该方案下工作的完成情况。一些非政府 组织强调有必要更好地执行关于有听力障碍的人的现行法律，包括在 实践中使用手语。
(e) 社会援助――非政府组织对(2009 年 1 月 1 日生效的)新《社会服务 法》的某些内容表示反对，他们认为这些内容极大地限制了申请者选 择社会服务提供者的自由。过去，主要由于缺乏社会服务，因此其获 得受到限制。新法案据称限制了许多申请者对社会服务的获得，因为 该法优待公共提供者(市政当局)，歧视非公共提供者(例如教会慈善机 构)。非政府组织认为，一项为严重残疾者提供资金补助的新法案打 击了依赖私人护理的人员的就业，因为该法案通过考察收入以确定他 们是否有资格获得支付私人护理的资金补助。
(f) 人权教育――非政府组织认为，除了学校活动，应当更加重视针对成 人，特别是弱势群体，包括残疾人、老人等的教育活动。应当为非政 府组织创造适当条件，为此类人群提供培训活动。
注
1 Besides the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the working group includes a further ten national institutions – the Office of the Government, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, the Ministry of Education, the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government for Roma Communities, and the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights.
2 Under the Constitution, state power derives from its citizens, who shall exercise it through their elected representatives or directly. The National Council (the parliament) is the sole constitutional and legislative body, elected to represent the sovereignty of the state and its people. The parliament consists of 150 MPs elected by universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. It discusses and
approves the Constitution, constitutional laws and other regulations, and supervises their implementation.
Parliamentary committees, MPs and the government are vested with the right to legislative initiative.
Laws are approved by the parliament in a three-reading legislative procedure.
3 Constitutional Act No. 23/1991 Coll., which introduces the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms as a constitutional act of the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic.
4 Judges are independent in the performance of their function, and in decision-making are bound by the Constitution, constitutional laws, legally binding international treaties, acts of the European Union and national regulations.
5 The system of general courts includes the Supreme Court, 54 district courts, 8 regional courts and the Special Court having the capacity of a regional court, as well as military courts-martial. The courts decide in civil and criminal matters and conduct a judicial review of the lawfulness of decisions issued by public administration bodies, as well as of the lawfulness of decisions, measures and other acts of public authorities, if required by the law. There are currently 1,463 active judges.
6 Its jurisdiction includes not only criminal prosecution of persons suspected of criminal violations, but it also oversees the compliance with the laws by the police and other authorities prior to and during pre-trial criminal proceedings, the compliance with the laws in relation to detained persons and persons whose personal liberty was restricted by a court or other competent state authority, and, within the scope specified by the law, the compliance with the laws by public administration bodies in general.
7 When reviewing a petition, the ombudsman establishes which fundamental right has been infringed upon, and whether this infringement is attributable to a public authority. The ombudsman acts on the basis of a petition filed by a natural or legal person, or of his own initiative. All public authorities are obliged to cooperate with the ombudsman.
8 If the petitioner asks the ombudsman to keep his/her identity confidential, the complaint is handled solely on the basis of a copy of the petition and no personal data is disclosed. All parties to the proceedings who know the petitioner’s identity must keep it confidential. The ombudsman is not authorised to intervene in the decision-making process of courts and has no right to resolve disputes between natural persons.
9 The section also functions as the secretariat for the Council of the Government for National and Ethnic Minorities and the Council of the Government for Non-Governmental Non-Profit
Organisations. The human rights and minorities section co-authored the anti-discrimination laws and is engaged in its implementation both on the national and European levels. Specialised human rights departments have also been established within other executive bodies (Foreign Affairs Ministry and Justice Ministry); some ministries have set up departments specialised in a specific category of human rights, such as national and ethnic minority rights (Culture Ministry, Education Ministry).
10 As an independent legal person operating seven regional offices, the Centre plays an essential role in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the rights of the child and the equal treatment principle. In 2008, the powers of the Centre, having the status of a national equality body within the European Union, were extended to include the right to conduct independent inquiries into matters related to the violation of the equal treatment principle, as well as to prepare and publish reports and recommendations on discrimination-related issues.
11 The Council serves as a coordination and advisory body to the government for the promotion of activities performed by organisations engaged in community activities, especially in the area of humanitarian and charity work, care of children, youth and sport, education, human rights protection, healthcare, culture, environmental protection and regional development. Council members include representatives of NGOs, ministries and other central government bodies.
12 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols;
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol; Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two Optional Protocols.
13 The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, four Geneva Conventions and their three Protocols, as well as conventions of the Council of Europe, International Labour Organisation and other specialised organisations. As for the international humanitarian and criminal law, Slovakia actively cooperates with international criminal judicial bodies, in particular with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) within the extent specified under the Agreement between the Slovak Government and the United Nations concerning the execution of sentences imposed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of 7 April 2008 (the Agreement came into force on 3 November 2008).
14 http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/62/747&Lang=E
15 Slovakia stressed the intention to promote the principle of equality in civil and political rights and economic, cultural and social rights, including the right to development. Further, it undertook to observe the highest human rights standards, to contribute to the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and to promote universal ratification of human rights treaties.
16 Act No. 365/2004 Coll. on equal treatment in certain areas and on protection against discrimination and on amendments to certain acts (the Antidiscrimination Act), as amended.
17 On the occasion of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All (2007), a nation-wide anti-discrimination, information and media campaign under the motto “Discrimination Is Illegal”, was carried out, as well as eight projects by non-governmental organisations. In 2008, Slovakia joined the
“Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS”, by means of a project submitted by the Občan a demokracia (The Citizen and Democracy) civic association. The project
amounting to EUR 414,147, was accompanied by a media campaign called “Towards Equal Treatment”.
18 Constitution of the Slovak Republic, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, and Act No. 308/1991 Coll. on religious freedom and the status of churches and religious societies, as amended. The applicable legislation guarantees that all churches and religious communities are equal before the law. The relationship between the state and registered churches builds on the acknowledgment of their social and legal status of “sui generis” entities; the state takes a specific approach to, and
cooperates with them, on the principles of partnership cooperation.
19 Act No. 305/2005 Coll. on the social and legal protection of children and the social custody and on amendments to certain acts, and Act No. 36/2005 Coll. on Family and on amendments to certain acts, as amended.
20 One of the crucial tasks performed by the offices of labour, social affairs and family, in connection with new legislative amendments concerning the performance and conditions of institutional care, was to examine the situation of all children where courts have ordered their placement in children’s homes, special boarding schools, re-educational facilities, crisis centres and social service facilities for
children. Based on this examination, it was proposed to release 326 children from institutional care. In 2006, 158 children were released.
21 Act No. 300/2005 Coll., the Penal Code. The perpetrator being a person vested with the power to exercise public authority, the crime must be committed in connection with the exercise of that
authority. The elements of crime have been extended to also include ill-treatment, which is defined as any act that adversely affects the physical or mental aspects of an individual. In addition, more severe prison sentences have been introduced for the aforementioned crimes.
22 The Police Inspection Service annually submits to the Ministry of the Interior a report on the criminal activities of the police. Since 2002, the Interior Minister has presented annual reports on this matter to the government. The statistics for previous years imply that the number of complaints registered by the Police Inspection Service has a downward trend. Crimes committed by military police officers are monitored by a specialised department of the military police directorate. Several military police officers have been prosecuted for the misuse of public authority; these cases involved, for the most part,
inappropriate behaviour during interrogations.
23 Prosecutors are entitled to immediately issue written release orders when they find out that a person is kept in such a facility unlawfully and to cancel decisions made by respective managing
authorities if they are in conflict with the law. However, cases where reasons exist for such interventions by a prosecutor are very rare (three cases per year on average). They usually involve delayed court decisions to extend detention, decisions to place a person in a healthcare facility (court-ordered therapy) without consent from the person concerned, or cases where a court has failed to release a person after the statutory limited period for detention/custody expired.
24 Act No. 576/2004 Coll. on Healthcare and Related Services.
25 Act No. 152/1998 Coll. on Complaints.
26 Act No. 245/2008 Coll. on Education and Training and on amendments to certain acts.
27 Act No. 16/2004 Coll. on Slovak Television as amended, and Act No. 619/2003 on Slovak Radio as amended.
28 Act No. 599/2003 Coll. on Support in Material Need, government regulation No. 336/2008 Coll. which modifies the amounts of material need allowances and housing benefit, Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on Social Services and on amendments to Act No. 455/1991 Coll. on Licensed Trade, Act No.
447/2008 Coll. on financial contributions to compensate severe disabilities, Act No. 601/2003 Coll. on Subsistence Minimum, measure of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family No. 225/2008 Coll.
on changes in the amounts of subsistence minimum.
29 Act No. 300/2005 Coll., the Penal Code, and Act No. 301/2005 Coll., the Code of Criminal Procedure.
30 Act No. 48/2002 Coll. on the Sta0y of Aliens and on amendments to certain acts, as amended.
31 Act No. 480/2002 Coll. on Asylum and on amendments to certain acts, as amended.
32 Indicative allocations under individual operational programmes for the implementation of the comprehensive approach are as follows:
Operational programme Funds in EUR
Regional operational programme 85,000,000.00
OP Environment 22,937,163.00
OP Competitiveness and economic growth 14,000,000.00
OP Health care 10,000,000.00
OP Education 17,000,000.00
OP Employment and social inclusion 26,500,000.00
Total 175,437,163.00
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