Promising Practice

Report on standing and rights of national minorities for the period 2017–2018 / Report on the use of national minority languages for the period 2017–2018

Every two years, the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities (PGNM) prepares a report on the standing and rights of national minorities, and a report on the use of national minority languages, to map the development of use of rights of national minorities. Both reports are publicly available and approved by the government. They are prepared in cooperation with various ministries, municipalities and other state authorities that provide data, so the reports include all the relevant information on the use of rights by national minorities.
Country
Slovakia
Type
Institutional and structural guidelines
Foster inter-institutional cooperation
Facilitate effective use
Operational guidelines
Mainstream equality data
Category
Racial or ethnic origin

 


In this page:


Why was the practice needed?

Preparation of these reports started after the position of PGNM was created in 2012. The PGNM’s main duties are monitoring, analysing and evaluating compliance with the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. Thus, preparing these reports is an essential part of the PGNM’s mandate, and the reports can also provide background for any legislative changes.

How was it implemented?

Report on standing and rights of national minorities for the period 2017–2018 deals with the areas of cultural rights (e.g. how many libraries, museums, theatres and publications exist and how much time is allocated for broadcasting programmes in languages of national minorities on TV and radio), education (e.g. number of schools where national minorities’ languages are taught and where they are the primary languages), language rights and, lastly, national minorities’ participation in addressing issues that concern them. The aim of the report is to summarise the current developments in individual areas of respecting the rights of persons belonging to national minorities and to name the areas where progress has been made, as well as those where problems or shortcomings still exist. The frequency of drawing up this report was changed from annual to biannual. The report was prepared by the office of the PGNM in cooperation with state administration bodies, local self-government authorities and other relevant entities.

Report on the use of national minority languages for the period 2017–2018 specifically addresses the topic of the use of national minority languages, maps out the national legislative framework for the use of national minority languages in Slovakia, and sums up the process and results of the implementation of the international legal framework and the institutional framework. A substantial portion of the report presents information about progress of implementation of the obligations under Act No. 184/1999 Coll. relating to the use of national minority languages by local state administration authorities, local self-government authorities and legal entities established by local self-government authorities in the municipalities. The practice itself is transferable, although it is mostly based on data provided by other authorities and on monitoring of existing practices rather than on experiences of the persons concerned regarding access to their rights.

Outputs

Both reports are printed in Slovak and English, distributed to all relevant stakeholders and publicised on the website of the PGNM:

Key success factors

  • Periodicity
  • Established coordination mechanisms in data collection
  • Visibility

Technical information

  • Data sources covered: Administrative data
  • Areas of life covered: Education; Access to goods and services; Others: cultural rights, language rights, access to authorities in minority language
  • Target audience: National minorities
  • Duration: Repeated every two years
  • Geographical scope: Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for National Minorities (PGNM)
  • Leading institution: The reports are prepared in cooperation with the state administration bodies, local self-government authorities and other relevant entities. They do not map personal experiences of members of national minorities regarding use of their rights.
  • Other organisations involved/consulted:
  • Financial & human resources: Budget: Approximately €6,000 for printing and translation of the Report on standing and rights of national minorities for the period 2017–2018; approximately €4,900 for printing and translation of the Report on the use of national minority languages for the period 2017–2018; Source of the budget: Budget of the Office of the PGNM within the budget of the Government Office of the Slovak Republic; Staff: Four employees of the Office of the PGNM

Contacts

Email: sofia.daskalova@vlada.gov.sk