Slovakia: Discrimination

Researcher Michaela Ujházyová and lawyer Lucia Gandžalová from the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights did test Slovak restaurants. They focused on discriminatory practices against Roma in ten cities in eastern Slovakia.

During a test visit, a Roma couple in a restaurant was told that some products on the menu were not available. Or the staff told a Roma couple that the lunch menu or dessert was not ready yet or that they had already sold out. There was no problem with a non-Roma couple.

The research team involved couples in the situational testing who did not come directly from the places where the selected restaurants were located and who had not even been there. “In no case could it be an experience with specific guests who had previously behaved unacceptably there, disturbed other guests or had debts there,” explains Michaela Ujházyová.