National minority groups:

2.      Slovaks (150,000)

3.      Poles (40,000)

4.      Germans (39,000 – a fraction of the one-time large minority, 2011 only 19,000!)

5.      Hungarian (10,000)

6.      Ukrainians & Ruthenians (5,000)

7.      Russians (numbers are on the rise)

8.      Bulgarians (4,000)

9.      Croatians (they faced oppression during communist times and were forcefully resettled and nearly eradicated)

Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Minority Act

Ombudsman

Roma face significant problems in the field of housing, employment and education. They are frequently victims of racially motivated attacks. There were reports of alleged coercive sterilisation of Romani women, which was a common practice in communist times but should have ended with the democratisation process. There is a lack of adequate comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and a lack of evaluation mechanisms. Central government institutions are unable to influence local policies effectively.

National minority groups:

2.      Germans (200,000-220,000)

3.      Slovaks (100,000-110,00)

4.      Croatians (80,000-90,000)

5.      Romanians (25,000)

6.      Serbs (5,000)

7.      Slovenians (5,000)

Special Law on Rights of National Ethnic Minorities: Minority Act

Office of the Minister’s Commissioner for Integration of Roma and Disadvantaged Children

National Gypsy Self-Government

Roma face multiple discrimination, e.g. in the fields of housing, education, on the work place. They a riddled by poverty and an extremely high unemployment rate. But Hungary has made a considerable effort in protecting the Roma community, but especially the issue of segregated schooling of Roma is immensely complex, as the European Roma Rights Centre with its seat in Budapest reports.

2.      Hungarians (520,000 – 2011 reduced to 460,000)

3.      Czechs (44,000)

4.      Ruthenians (24,000)

5.      Ukrainians (11,000)

Right for Education in the native language

EU directive on prohibition of discrimination

Commission for Addressing Racially Motivated Violence

The Roma suffer disproportionally from higher rates of poverty, unemployment (up to 80%), illiteracy, crime and disease. The government has made an effort in the field of education with introducing zero-grade classes to improve school entry standards, but segregation persists. The right of education in the native language does not include the Roma as a minority with the right for education in their native language. The relations between the majority population and the Roma have not changed for the better. Unfortunately, due to the increased efforts of Roma to emigrate to EU countries, general societal attitudes towards Roma in Slovakia have even worsened.

2.      Hungarians (7,000)

3.      Italians (3,000)

Ombudsman

In the north-east of the country Roma are integrated in society, but in the south they are not and therefore frequent tensions arise between the local population and Roma communities.