Category Archives: Slovakia

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma, History, and Discrimination

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Roma, History, and Discrimination

Slovak Ombudsman Róbert Dobrovodský emphasizes that even 81 years after the tragedy in Dubnica nad Váhom, Roma are not protected from all forms of discrimination.

The fate of the Roma during the Holocaust was overlooked and tabooed for decades. That is why it is an obligation to talk about these tragedies openly and without relativization. In connection with the 81st anniversary of the murder of Roma in the detention camp in Dubnica nad Váhom, the public defender of rights Róbert Dobrovodský stated this on the social network.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Robert Botoš

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Robert Botoš

At the age of 54, Robert Botoš, known as Romana King Robert I, died on Sunday evening. Information about his death was published on the social network by former member of parliament and Košice city councilor Otto Brixi.

Botoš had recently been suffering from serious health problems. In early February, he underwent surgery at the East Slovak Institute of Heart and Vascular Diseases (VÚSCH). Although doctors subsequently released him for home treatment, his condition at home became more complicated.

There have been numerous articles about his death in the Slovak press.

Te avel o droma angla leste phuterdo e i phuv lokhi.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Attacks

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Slovakia: Attacks

According to the article, fear prevails in Zlaté Moravce, Slovakia. Residents have been warning for months about aggressive groups of local Roma youth who are said to attack people without warning. Just a few days ago, they brutally beat a pensioner (66). Last year, a man († 39) died there after a brutal attack.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma and Social Care

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Roma and Social Care

A good article on Roma in Slovakia. They say:

The Roma issue is not a question of ethnic “cause”, but of social barriers and poverty. Improving living standards, access to education and job opportunities is possible.

Common myths about the Roma, that the majority live in settlements or shantytowns, do not want to work, get an education or have an “innate” tendency towards crime or maladjustment, are wrong. This is confirmed by all relevant facts, research, but often also by common sense.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: New Housing

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Slovakia: New Housing

In early February, the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities approved three more projects aimed at improving housing in municipalities included in the Atlas of Roma Communities, totaling over 6.6 million euros. The investments are directed to Rudny, Chminianske Jakubovy and Gemerská Hôrka, where new or renovated housing is to help almost three hundred residents.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia Roma Program

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Slovakia Roma Program

People are protesting against the proposed governmental Roma proram, to which 17 mio. Euros are allocated.

Former MEP Peter Pollák Sr. pointed out that after conversion, the project comes out to approximately 85 thousand euros per participant, while the result is only a certificate without real benefits. He says that up to nine million euros are to be directed to project management and trainers. He also criticizes the method of preparing the project, which, according to him, was created without expert discussion, involvement of local governments and people from the field.

Hungary News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Janos Lazar – Slovak View

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Janos Lazar – Slovak View

Two articles in the Slovak press about the Hungarian Constrcion and Transport Minister Janos Lazar comment that Roma are good at cleaning “shitty train toilets.”

These articles stress the discrimination faced by Roma in Hungary.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

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Slovakia and Roma

The Association of Municipalities and Cities of Slovakia (ZMOS)  and the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS)  reject the National Employment Project for 17 million euros. This is a government project aimed at marginalized Roma communities. Both ZMOS and SaS believe that it is too much money considering how many people this project will employ.

The project is to be implemented in 140 municipalities and employ 200 members of Roma communities over 30 months, who will complete 39 hours of training in soft skills during these 30 months.

This would amount to almost 3’000 euros per employed person per month. Way over the average salaries in Slovakia.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Social Benefits

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Slovakia and Social Benefits

“They live on benefits.” A statement that has been repeated in Slovakia for years. Most people associate it with poor people and especially Roma communities. Almost always, when the living standards of the majority population deteriorate, this sentence becomes a shorthand description of the social system in political debates and on social networks.

This is a myth. “When people talk about the social system, they usually mean benefits for the unemployed. However, they forget that the largest part of it is pensions and healthcare,” pointed out Viliam Páleník, a researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and president of the Employment Institute.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Hate Crimes

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Slovakia and Hate Crimes

The Roma Union in Slovakia rejects the amendment to the Criminal Code from the coalition SNS, which reduces penalties for extremist crimes. It argues that it gives a “green light to fascists”. It calls on the proposers to withdraw it from the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic.

They are right

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Serbia Slovakia

Milena Hübschmanova

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Milena Hübschmanova

A radio show in Serbia presenting the work of the prominent Czech linguist and ethnographer Milena Hübschmanova, a pioneer in the research of the Romani language and culture. She was among the first to lay the foundations of Romani studies in the then Czechoslovakia and one of the few who dedicated her life to the study and preservation of the Romani language, recording folk tales, songs and life testimonies of the Roma. Her work was of enormous importance for the affirmation of Romani identity and education, and her studies continue to serve as the basis for contemporary research on the Roma in Europe.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

People for Castles

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People for Castles

Roma and long-term unemployed people joined the restoration of monuments. They managed to restore 31. The Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities (ÚSVRK) reported it. The completion of the People and Castles project is therefore assessed as successful.

Well, transporting stones and digging holes is not a long-term integration. So while it was good that it is done, the long term impact is more than relative.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Czechia, Slovakia, and Christmas

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Czechia, Slovakia, and Christmas

The well-known Roma musician Gejza Horváth can tell you at length how they celebrated Christmas. He was born in 1948 in Písečná in the Šumpersk region, but spent his childhood in the settlement of Kolinovce near the Slovak town of Krompachy. He comes from a musical family and was already playing with the biggest bands in Slovakia at the age of twelve. So he was definitely not bored at Christmas. In Gejza Horváth’s childhood, Roma would go around the village to play carols for the gádže

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Human Rights in Slovakia

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Human Rights in Slovakia

In 2025, human rights were most weakened since the founding of the Slovak Republic. This was pointed out by the Human Rights Coalition, which presented the Human Rights Balance 2025. In it, the organizations pointed out a widespread deterioration of human rights and freedoms. The analysis reveals a dramatic increase in interference with the rule of law, a weakening of media freedom, deepening discrimination against Roma, a shrinking space for civil society, and also restrictions on the rights of children, women and LGBTI+ people.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

No Media House

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No Media House

The Roma media house will not be built in the near future. The project, which was part of the action plans for the Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of Roma by 2030 for the years 2025-2027, no longer appears in the draft of the updated document. Changes to action plans were approved by government on Wednesday.

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