Minority experts continued analyzing drafts of laws and meeting with MPs

Independent minority experts continued their work in the Group of Friends of National Minorities in the National Council of the Slovak Republic this spring too.

The Group of Friends of National Minorities in the National Council of the Slovak Republic had a final meeting last week, on 29th May 2025 and before on 27th March with the members of parliament on the draft of laws that concern the rights of national minorities fully or partially.

For the last meeting, the independent minority experts have reviewed ten thematic areas with a significant impact on minority communities in Slovakia.

The Group of Friends of National Minorities in the National Council of the Slovak Republic (GFNM in NC SR) during the Spring meeting on 29th May with MPs in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The GFNM in NC SR has reviewed the draft of the constitutional amendments, which are introducing the concept of “national identity” but without defining it, and constitutional recognition only of the two sexes, male and female. The draft limits the range of people who can adopt a minor child, with negative consequences for gay couples. As well, this draft guarantees the parents the right to refuse “the participation of children in the educational process provided by schools and educational establishments if it is beyond the scope of the state educational programme”. The state educational programme has to be in accordance with the constitution, and this draft establishes explicitly areas such as “formation of intimate life and sexual behaviour” where education and training may only be provided with the consent of the legal representative. The experts recommended that MPs do not vote for this draft, since it significantly affects the minority rights, especially of the LGBTQI+ people, as well as children to sexual education.

Other examined drafts included the amendments of the Employment Services Act by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic with the leitmotif “Those who can work and refuse to do so will lose their material need assistance (MNA)” and which target people who because of various reasons can’t work and are recipients of MNA. The experts also recommended that MPs also in this case, do not vote for this draft of the bill.

Experts didn’t support the draft of the bill on the municipal system, the education law establishing compulsory pre-school education from the age of three for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

The supported bills were the draft of the law on support for priority districts, the school act introducing a new system for excusing absences by parents, draft law on state administration in education and school self-government which strengthens the control of segregation at the school district level, draft law on equal treatment in certain areas and protection against discrimination (Anti-discrimination Act) which makes it compulsory for employers to publish data on the gender pay gap in jobs, draft law on the residence of foreigners which should allow same-sex couples who have married or entered into a registered partnership abroad to live together in Slovakia and lastly the draft to adopt the Single Parent Household Assistance Act.

The Group of Friends of National Minorities in the National Council of the Slovak Republic (GFNM in NC SR) is the renowned flagship of the Matthias Bel Institute and More information about GFNM in NC SR can be found here.

Our President and Senior Researcher at the Minority Issues Research Institute (MIRI), Dr Svetluša Surová, is an expert member of the GFNM in NC SR.