Slovakia
Slovakia regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Slovakia has implemented ODIHR's Training Against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme since 2017 and the Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training (PAHCT) programme since 2018. In 2018, the Ministry of Interior co-organized with ODIHR and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights a workshop on understanding and improving hate crime recording and data collection, based on ODIHR's Information Against Hate Crimes Toolkit (INFAHCT). There is a high degree of hate crime specialization in both police and prosecutor structures in Slovakia.
The Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Racism, Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Intolerance was established as a Government advisory body. The Committee established working groups on hate speech on the internet and anti-Semitism, in line with the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic and the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia. The working groups include representatives of the police and prosecutor's office, as well as civil society organizations focusing on human rights, anti-Roma racism, and anti-Semitism.
OFFICIAL DATA REPORTED BY STATES
Year | Hate crimes recorded by police | Prosecuted | Sentenced |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | 46 | Not available | 5 |
2022 | 28 | 16 | 12 |
2021 | 20 | 13 | 15 |
2020 | 20 | 16 | 6 |
2019 | 50 | 38 | 8 |
2018 | 41 | 20 | 15 |
2017 | 34 | 16 | 10 |
2016 | 10 | 9 | 3 |
2015 | 6 | 30 | 2 |
2014 | 3 | Not available | 4 |
2013 | 7 | Not available | 7 |
2012 | 102 | Not available | 16 |
2011 | 242 | Not available | 16 |
2010 | Not available | Not available | 10 |
2009 | 132 | Not available | 18 |
About 2011 Data
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Police figures include crimes of incitement to hatred and hate speech offences (“extremist” crimes).
Sentencing figures comprise only crimes committed on the basis of a “specific motive”, i.e. hate crimes, for which a prison sentence has been handed down.
In addition to this sentencing figure, 49 other extremist crimes were committed.
Hate crime recorded by police
KEY OBSERVATION
INCIDENTS REPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY
INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Racist and xenophobic hate crime, Anti-Roma hate crime
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights visited Slovakia, where he expressed concern about hate crimes targeting the Roma population. His recommendations included adopting a broad definition of “racist incident” so that police are required to investigate potential racist motivation as soon as such incidents are reported and having authorities unequivocally and publicly condemn attacks against Roma as unacceptable in Slovak society, whenever they occur. He aslo called on the authorities to address shortcomings in the implementation of the criminal law against racially-motivated violence, notably the provision that establishes racial motivation as an aggravating circumstance in respect of all crimes.