The Slovak Government approved a National Action Plan for the Prevention and elimination of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance for the period 2016-2018. The main objective of the Action Plan is to prevent prejudices, stereotypes and hate speech resulting from national, racial, ethnic, religious or similar intolerance, as well as to prevent the spread of attitudes and actions resulting from racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, including hate crimes.
The Islamic Foundation in Slovakia reported two physical assaults, including one carried out by a group in which bottles and stones were thrown at a family; and one incident of damage to property.
The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, in the annual activity report following his country visit to Slovakia, recommended including gender identity as a protected characteristic in the criminal code. The Commissioner also expressed concern at the manifestations of intolerance against Roma and Sinti people, and called on the authorities to improve the registration of hate crimes, including through the training of police.
ODIHR observes that the law enforcement agencies of the Slovak Republic have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes.