The Legal Status of Minorities in the Slovak Republic
Office of the Government of the
Human Rights and Minorities Section
Piroska Gyuricsek:
Director of the Human Rights and
Minorities Department
The Legal Status of Minorities
in the
TITLE TWO of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic (No. 460/1992 Coll., full wording No. 135/2001 Coll., hereinafter only the "Constitution“) lays down the regulation of fundamental human rights and political freedoms and Section One General Provisions Article 12 paragraph 1 stipulates the principle of equality as follows: "All human beings are free and equal in dignity and in rights. Their fundamental rights and freedoms are sanctioned, inalienable, imprescriptible and irreversible.
The prohibition of discrimination is laid down in paragraph 2 of Article 12 as follows: Fundamental rights shall be guaranteed in the Slovak Republic to everyone regardless of sex, race, colour, language, belief and religion, political affiliation or other conviction, national or social origin, nationality or ethnic origin, property, descent or any other status. No one shall be aggrieved , discriminated against or favoured on any of these grounds." Thus, the list of reasons on grounds of which discrimination shall be prohibited is only illustrative.
In this context I consider mentioning the draft antidiscrimination law important.
The draft is based on Article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European Communities and it was necessitated by the accession process of Slovakia that as a candidate country has, thus, implemented the relevant EU Council Directive No. 43/2000 laying down the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin and EU Council Directive No. 78/2000 laying down a general framework for equal treatment in employment and gainful activity. Directive No. 78/2000 has obliged the Member States to adopt necessary legislation before 2nd December 2003. Therefore the
The draft of the Antidiscrimination Act was submitted to the Government of the
After 2002 autumn parliamentary elections the second governmental draft antidiscrimination law, that was not accepted by a coalition partner in the interministerial commenting procedure, was prepared, and thus, it had become an issue of political decision making. Therefore the Government has not debated this draft law yet.
You may know that at the time when the original draft law was under preparation a discussion concerning its need developed. Its opponents submit that the prohibition of discrimination is sufficiently regulated in our legal order and that the grounds, in particular sexual orientation, on which discrimination shall be prohibited, seem to be questionable.
It is a fact that in our legal order several laws include the prohibition of discrimination and that the above directives have been partially transposed in the New Labour Code, however, it is necessary to state that in these cases it is only a partial legislative regulation. Furthermore, the mentioned directives also include such legal instruments that are so far unknown in our legal order.
The draft antidiscrimination legislation as a general regulation presents a comprehensive legislative regulation covered by one law. It prohibits discrimination while the list of reasons on grounds of which discrimination shall be prohibited is illustrative and at the same time broader than in the Constitution. In contrast to other regulations prohibiting discrimination this draft law defines all forms of discrimination (direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation including instigating or encouraging to discrimination) thus, pursuing the objective of ensuring a uniform application practice and uniform interpretation of terms for the decision-making by courts, too. It also includes provisions on justified different treatment and appropriate measures for the disabled. Other important provision regulates legal protection. Under this provision a victim of discrimination has the right to sue the discriminator - be it a natural person or a legal entity - to refrain from such conduct and, if possible, to reinstate. They may also claim appropriate satisfaction and compensation for other than proprietary harm this being without prejudice to damages under the Civil Code. The draft law also introduces another important institute, namely reversing the burden of proof on the respondent in prima facie cases.
In this context I would like to inform you that the Human Rights and Minorities Section of the Offices of the Government organised an international colloquium under the title "Prohibition of Discrimination: a Way to a more Tolerant
In its fight against discrimination the Government is also implementing other activities. The Act on Periodicals and Other Mass Media includes no provision laying down any regulation concerning the use of minority languages.
The so called Schools Act includes only one provision on the use of minority languages in the education process, namely Section 3 that reads:
„ Education shall be carried out in the Slovak language. The citizens of Czech, Hungarian, German, Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) ethnic origin are guaranteed the right to education in their tongue in a scope appropriate for their national development.".
This provision can be characterised as very general, vague, very flexible and allowing a broad range of interpretation (both absolutely everything and also absolutely nothing) without any guarantees. In addition, it does not allow education in the Romany, Bulgarian and Croatian languages.
In the case of the Roma minority a pilot project introducing teacher's assistants for Romany children and the so called zero grades for those children who failed to reach school readiness before mandatory school attendance is currently being implemented to address this situation.
In addition to regional authorities and district authorities there are also other, so called specialised bodies of state administration. For instance under Act No. 254/1993 Coll. on territorial financial bodies as amended tax authorities are also bodies of local state administration and under Act No. 240/2001 Coll. on bodies of state administration in customs the customs authorities fall under the same category. However, special procedural regulation applies to them almost on full scope and therefore the citizens cannot practically exercise their right to file written submissions and to receive answers in a language other than the state language in communication with them. This also applies to the police force and to many other bodies.
There is another important problem in the issuance of decisions. Section 2 paragraph 4 of Act No. 184/1999 Coll. lays down that "Upon a request the decision of a public administration body in administrative proceedings in a municipality under paragraph 1 shall be issued in a minority language exact copy in addition to the state language one. When in doubt, the text of the decision in the state language shall apply.". "Exact copy" is not a legal term.
Act No. 386/1997 Coll. on further education should be amended in the part that regulates education in languages other than the state one in such a way that the requirement of "and the possibilities of the educational facility" in Section 1 paragraph 1 is deleted.
Act No. 99/1966 Coll. (Civil Procedure Code) needs amending in all parts as follows:
- on the use of languages other than the state language and evidence-taking in such a way that it will be clear not only from the case law but also from the wording of the law that the languages include not only languages of foreigners but also national minority and ethnic group languages while using them or while submitting documents in them in a language other than the state one the party shall incur no additional costs for interpreting or translating.
It is the 2000-2001 and 2002 and 2003 Action Plan for the Prevention of All Forms of Discrimination, Racism, Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance. These documents approved and monitored by the Government give individual ministries tasks mainly in the area of human rights education or systemic training of professional groups (police officers, prosecutors, judges, etc.).
Fundamental human rights and political freedom are also regulated in the Constitution. Such fundamental rights and political freedoms that are also included in several international human rights conventions (the right to life, integrity and privacy, prohibition of forced labour, the right to maintain his or her dignity, honour, reputation and good name, the right to be free from unjustified interference in his or her private and family life, the right to be protected against unauthorised collection, disclosure and other misuse of his or her personal data, the right to own property, the right to secrecy of letters, secrecy of transported communications and other written materials and protection of personal data, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief) are confirmed in it. Political freedoms included are: freedom of expression and the right to information, voting right, petition right, the right to peaceful assembly, the right of free association, the right to participate in the administration of public affairs.
If to look at the issue from the perspective of minorities then it is necessary to mention that in these cases universal fundamental rights and political freedoms without automatically having the so called "language aspect" are concerned and they are not specific minority rights.
The Constitution includes a special section on national minorities and ethnic groups rights and its Articles 33 and 34 lay down the following provisions:
"Article 33
Membership in any national minority or ethnic group may not be used to the detriment of any individual.
Article 34
(1) Citizens belonging to national minorities or ethnic groups in the
(2) In addition to the right to learn the official language, the citizens belonging to national minorities or ethnic groups shall, under the conditions laid down by a law, also be guaranteed
a) the right to be educated in their language,
b) the right to use their language in official communications,
c) the right to participate in the decision making in matters affecting the national minorities and ethnic groups."
The realistic possibility of exercising these rights must be examined together with Article 6 of the Constitution under which:
" (1) The Slovak language is the official language of the Slovak Republic.
(2) The use of languages other than the official language in official communications shall be laid down by a law.".
On the basis of the above statements it may seem that everything is in order. As the Constitution refers to laws both in case of the special Article 34 and also Article 6 these laws must be examined to be able to conclude the real content and scope of these rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the sate language of the
Under Section 1 paragraph 4 of the State Language Act this law does not regulate the use of national minority and ethnic group languages. The use of these languages is laid down in specific laws this provision refers to.
This reference is for instance to the following laws: the Criminal Procedure Code, Civil Procedure Code, Act No. 81/1966 Coll. on periodicals and other mass media, Act No. 29/1984 Coll. on the network of primary and secondary schools (the Schools Act), Act No. 254/1991 Coll. on the Slovak Television, Act No. 255/1991 Coll. on the Slovak Radio, Act No. 191/1994 Coll. on the designation of municipalities in languages of national minorities.
However, when looking at these laws the following facts can be observed:
The Criminal Procedure Code includes a provision regulating the use of language in criminal proceedings (Section 2 paragraph 14) under which: "Every person shall be entitled to use his/her mother tongue before criminal justice agencies.".
Under Section 18 of the Civil Procedure Code: "Parties to civil court proceedings shall have an equal status. They have to right to use their mother tongue before the court. The court has the obligation to ensure them equal opportunities for the exercise of their rights.".
I would like to note that in both cases these procedural regulations also include provisions on the obligation of ensuring interpreting in these cases without any additional costs to be borne by the parties to the proceedings.
As Article 34 of the Constitution has the status of "lex specialis" and Article 47 paragraph 4 of the Constitution is included under Section 7 the Right to Judicial and Other Legal Protection it may be concluded that it is a right universally guaranteed to everyone, i.e. also to foreigners and not a specific right of national minorities and ethnic groups, though under this article of the Constitution: "A person who claims not to be in command of the language used in the proceedings under paragraph 2 shall have the right to an interpreter.".
The Slovak Radio Act and the Slovak Television Act shows the same deficiency as the Schools Act because it contains very general and almost identical provisions with respect to the use of minority languages:
"The Slovak Television ensures the materialisation of the interests of national minorities and ethnic groups living in the
"The Slovak radio ensures the materialisation of the interests of national minorities and ethnic groups living in the
Act No. 191/1994 Coll. on the designation of municipalities in languages of national minorities does not concern the official recognition of names of municipalities and parts thereof in minority languages either, it merely regulates the use of traffic signs indicating the beginning and the end of the municipality also in the minority language if the minority population reaches 20% of the total number of inhabitants of the municipality concerned. To explain this statement I must add that it would be an official recognition of these names if they could also be used on buildings that are the seat of public administration bodies, railway stations, bus stops, harbours, hospitals, etc..
An Annex to the Act lists those municipalities which may be designated with such a traffic sign.
Under the provisions of Section 3 paragraphs 2 and 3 of Act No. 191/1994 Coll. the inhabitants of a municipality may decide on the change of the designation of their municipality listed in the Annex to this Act or they may determine the designation of their municipality in this form if it is not listed in the Annex in a local referendum.
To achieve the validity of such voting the turnout of a simple majority of the inhabitants entitled to vote is required. The decision is adopted when 80% of the inhabitants participating in the voting cast a valid vote in favour.
In contrast to this, Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on the municipal establishment laying down the rules for local referenda stipulates in Section 11a paragraph 5 in general that voting results shall be valid when at least a simple majority of entitled voters participated in it and a simple majority voted in favour. Under Section 11a paragraph 1 subparagraph a) of this Act this provision shall also apply to the voting by the inhabitants of a municipality concerning the change of the name of the municipality and therefore the quoted provision of Section 3 paragraphs 2 and 3 of Act No. 191/1994 Coll. can be considered discriminatory.
The fact that the provisions of Section 3 paragraph 3 of Act No. 191/1994 Coll. excludes municipalities the names of which were changed in 1867 to 1818 and 1938 to 1945 from the decision-making in a local referendum is another serious problem. This applies e.g. to Bernolákovo, Gabčíkovo, Štúrovo, Sládkovičovo. These names have nothing in common with the history of these municipalities. This provision has thus fully stripped the inhabitants of these municipalities - in contrast to other inhabitants of municipalities that meet the same criterion - from the possibility to decide on the change of the name of the municipality by exercising direct democracy. For this reason they are double disadvantaged, discriminated against.
The State Language Act regulates the use of the state language in official communication in its Section 3. It defines the scope of official communication in such a way that the mandatory use of the state language applies to state bodies and state organisations, territorial self-government bodies and bodies of public authorities like e.g.: labour offices, Social Insurance, health insurances and many other. This obligation also applies to their employees and the publication of legal regulations, decisions, public deeds, meetings of their bodies, their entire official agenda, names of municipalities and parts thereof, streets and public areas, etc.. Concerning the designation of municipalities in other languages the law again refers them to Act No. 191/1994 Coll. I have already quoted.
The finding of the
Other provisions of Section 4 of the State Language Act cover the area of state language use in schools while this Act also only refers to the so called Schools Act in case of a different language of instruction and examination.
The use of state language in mass media, cultural events and public gatherings is laid down in Article 5 of the State Language Act. Exemptions from the mandatory use of the state language in this area are granted, one could say, in the already usual way, i.e. by reference to the already quoted Slovak Radio and Slovak Television Acts and the Periodicals Publishing Act and by granting exemption to cultural events of national minorities, ethnic groups, guest foreign artists and pieces of music with original texts while the accompanying word (moderating) must be first delivered in the state language, in paragraph 7. In case of regional or local television stations, radio stations and radio facilities broadcasting other languages than the state language may be used before and after broadcasting the programme in the state language.
I must note with respect to periodical and non-periodical press in minority languages that such press exists, however, without any legal basis, i.e. without a legal guarantee. In this context it is also necessary to mention e.g. Act No. 384/1997 Coll. on theatres as amended by Act No. 416/2001 Coll. that transferred some competences from the ministries to local state administration and regional self-governments or municipalities under the I-st stage of Public Administration Reform - it includes a specific provision on minority theatres that only states that currently the self-governmental region (i.e. a II-nd level local state administration body) "shall support cultural activities of national minorities in its territory and shall ensure the operation of professional theatres, namely the Alexander Duchnovič Theatre at Prešov, the Jókai Theatre at Komárno, the Romathan Romano teatro in Košice and the Thália Theatre in Košice." ( Section 2 paragraph 3 subparagraph c).
Theatres and museums of national minorities and ethnic groups as well as civil associations, foundations, interest associations and other activities focusing on their cultural activities and publishing of periodicals and non-periodicals are currently financed from the budget of the Ministry of Culture, the regional authorities budgets and dedicated transfers from the title of this Ministry according to the rules drafted by this Ministry. Therefore it would be desirable to regulate financing of cultural institution in a law.
The use of the state language in court and administrative proceedings is laid down in Section 7 of the State Language Act and this provision also includes a reference to the already quoted Criminal Procedure Code and Civil Procedure Code.
The use state language in economy, services and health care is covered in Section 8. Under this law the communication in health care of medical staff with patients shall usually be conducted in the state language; when the patient is a citizen or a foreigner not in command of the state language then the communication can also be conducted in a language the patient understands.
As already stated under Article 34 paragraph 1 of the Constitution the citizens belonging to national minorities and ethnic groups have - inter alia - the right to association in ethnic associations guaranteed, however, under Section 8 paragraph 3 of the State Language Act statutes of associations,, groups, political parties and political movements are executed in the state language. And finally, under this Act signs, advertisements and announcements having the purpose of informing the public may be translated into other languages but the text in another language must follow after the equally large text in the state language.
Another important area which needs mentioning is the right of national minorities and ethnic groups to use their language in official communication guaranteed by the Constitution. This area - as I have already indicated - is regulated in Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the use of national minority languages that is in effect since 1 September 1999. However, in contrast to its name this Act does not cover any other area of life but the use of minority languages in official communication. Like the State Language Act it also only refers to the same special laws I have already mentioned with respect to the State Language Act. Compared with the State Language Act, the Act on the Use of Minority Languages narrows down the scope of official communication by laying down that a citizen belonging to a national minority may file a written submission only to a body of state administration and self-government and this only in a municipality where these citizens account at least for 20% according to the last census. Under these conditions these citizens may actually exercise their right only with respect to local bodies of state administration, i.e. district authorities and municipal bodies. The same applies to the issuance of decisions.
The specification of the 20% eligibility limit is an important fact with respect to the practical exercise of the right of minorities to use their language in official communication because it automatically and fully excludes the use of the Bulgarian, Croatian and Polish in official communication as the persons claiming to belong to these minorities fail to reach this level of concentration in any municipality. According to the Annex to Regulation of the Government No. 221/1999 Coll. issued to implement the Act on the Use of Minority Languages 655 municipalities out of a total of 2,920 municipalities in
According to the last 2001 census of people, houses and flats these figures have changed, namely in favour of the Ruthenian language. Reducing the 20% limit to 10% would strengthen the position of other languages, too. However, in case of the Bulgarian, Croatian and Polish languages the situation would stay unchanged. Therefore, a lower percentage limit or another appropriate approach is being proposed for these languages. Under the Act on the Use of Minority Languages municipalities in which minority language can be used in official communication shall be determined according to the results of the last census of persons, houses and flats and this necessitates the change of the respective regulation.
In this respect it is also necessary to point out that the Annex to the Act on the Designation of Municipalities in Languages of National Minorities includes a list of municipalities that shall be marked with a traffic sign in a minority language. This list includes 425 municipalities that will also have signs in the Hungarian language (under regulation of the Government No. 221/1999 Coll. their number is 512).
The list includes 96 municipalities that will have signs also in the Ruthenian or Ukrainian languages (under the above Regulation the number is 86). In case of German signs the list includes 2 municipalities and the Regulation of the Government only 1. As far as the designation of municipalities in the Romany language is concerned the list does not include any such municipality at all. However, it is also questionable whether there are any names of these municipalities existing as historic names in this language. However, it may be stated that there are definitely differences between these two lists in case of the Hungarian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian and German languages. In addition, the municipalities listed in the Annex to the Act are divided according to the districts under Act No. 517/1990 Coll. on the territorial and administrative division of the
Because the citizens using regional or minority languages do not reach the 20% limit in any regional seat Act No. 184/1999 Coll. fails to provide a possibility for the staff of regional authorities to use regional or minority languages, and this is even true for the Hungarian language. Furthermore, under Section 7 paragraph 1 of this Act the employees of public administration bodies (this is the abbreviation for a body of state administration and a body of territorial self-government used in this Act) only may use minority languages.
Out of 79 district seats 8 have Hungarian minority population reaching the 20% requirement and the Ruthenian minority qualifies only in one seat. Other minorities fail to reach the required limit in any district seat. Therefore the possibility to file oral or written submissions in communication with district authorities in other languages is absolutely excluded, and the same applies to the possibility of receiving answers in these languages.
The I-st stage of the Public Administration Reform has been completed and a relatively high number of competences has also been transferred to municipalities bringing the public administration closer to the citizens and, thus, the possibilities for using minority languages in official communication have expanded compared with the situation before the Public Administration Reform.
The Act on the Use of Minority Languages regulates the issuance of decision only with respect to proceedings subject to a general regulation, i.e. Act No. 71/1967 Coll. on administrative proceedings. The provision of Section 2 paragraph 4 anyway refers only to this general procedural regulation that can, however, only be used subsidiary provided a special procedural regulation does not provide otherwise. Taking into account tge: EN-GB">It is inappropriate because it raises doubts. It is doubtful how it can be an exact copy, i.e. a copy of a decision issued in the state language when it is in another language than the state one. In case of a verbatim grammatical interpretation it would mean that it is not possible to issue decisions in another language than the state one, at all.
Municipalities also decide in administrative proceedings when the performance of state administration has been transferred to them (most recently with Act of the NC SR No. 416/2001 Coll.), which means that a partial positive change has occurred but even then the problem of a decision issued under a special procedural regulation that cannot be issued in another but the state language (e.g. building permits and other decisions) persists and the problem of the term "exact copy" also stays.
All in all, it may thus be states that Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the state language of the Slovak Republic and Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the use of minority languages are currently hindering compliance with obligations resulting from the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities or which result from the obligations undertaken when signing the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and therefore they need amending.
Therefore the amendment of these regulations is recommended by the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe in their Opinion on Slovakia of 22 September 2000 as well as in Resolution by Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ResCMN(2001)5 adopted on 21 November 2002 to the implementation report to this convention. The Advisory Committee does, though "welcome the recent improvements in the legal status of minority languages in official contacts, however, it finds that the legislative framework touching upon minority languages still contains shortcomings stemming inter alia from the content of the State Language Law and from the lack of detailed legislative provisions on education in minority languages". The Advisory Committee further finds that "the State Language Law, Section 5 paragraph 6 lacks clarity in such an essential issue as the right to receive and impart information and ideas in minority languages and could lead to undue limitations on this right.".. The Advisory Committee notes that "the Law on the Use of National Minority Languages does not explicitly address the issue of interrelations between it and the State Language Law and therefore the Law on the Use of National Minority Languages is lex specialis and as such should take precedence.".
Act No. 270/1995 Coll. on the state language of the Slovak Republic and
Act No. 184/1999 Coll. on the use of minority languages need amending in parts which regulate:
· the quota of citizens having the right to use national minority or ethnic group languages in official communication in such a way that they number at least 10% of the total population of a municipality; or in case of less frequent languages to set an even lower floor;
· the territory in which regional and minority languages are used should be defined in such a way that it can be applied not only to the territory of the municipality but also to the territory of higher administrative units and regional self-government units, i.e. to use the principle of absolute numbers of citizens belonging to national minorities and ethnic groups for the seats of these units;
· the entity of bodies with respect to which these languages can be used should be defined in such a way that the term body of public administration includes equal entity as the term "public body" in Act No. 270/1995 Coll.; alternatively: the enumeration of bodies in the text of the law should be amended as appropriate;
· issuing of decisions in administrative proceedings in such a way that the legislation would also cover decisions issued in proceedings under special procedural regulations, to explicitly allow issuing bi-lingual decisions and commonly used official forms;
· signs of bodies of public administration on buildings where they have their seat in such a way that in addition to their designation in other than state language it would also allow to give the name of the municipality in other than state language;
· meetings of the body of territorial self-government in such a way that the relevant council decides on the use of a language other than the state one with a simple majority of present elected representatives while interpreting into the state language should be ensured according to the need;
· signs of streets and other geographic locations in such a way that traditional and administrative local names can also be used or taken over;
· issuing generally binding regulations by bodies of public administration in such a way that they can also be issued in languages other than the state one and at the same time it should explicitly be provided for having important regulations published in the Collection of Laws also in these languages;
· the use of minority languages by public administration bodies and their employees in such a way that they are imposed the duty to ensure use of regional or minority languages when translation or interpreting are requested;
· final provisions of the law should explicitly formulate its relation to Act No. 270/1995 Coll.;
· the list of municipalities where minority language can be used in official communica>
Act No. 141/1961 Coll. on criminal court proceeding (Criminal Procedure Code) should be amended in these parts:
- on the use of languages other than the state language and evidence-taking in such a way that it will be clear not only from the case law but also from the wording of the law that the languages in the whole procedure include not only languages of foreigners but also national minority and ethnic group languages and the accused shall have the right to use his/her regional or minority language in the whole proceedings guaranteed, it should be ensured that motions and evidence, written or oral, shall not be considered inadmissible only on grounds of being submitted in these languages and the persons concerned shall incur no additional costs for interpreting or translating.
The Slovak Television Act
The Slovak Radio Act
When drafting the new Slovak Television Act and Slovak Radio Act the following obligations should be implemented:
· appropriate measures should be adopted so that the operators offer programmes in regional or minority languages including the STV and SRo programmes
· production and dissemination of audio and audio-visual products in regional or minority languages should be supported and/or made easier,
· the freedom of direct reception of radio or television broadcasting of neighbouring countries in a language used in an identical or close form to the regional or minority language should be ensured and transmission of radio and television broadcasting in such a language from neighbouring countries should no be hindered,
· it should be ensured that the interests of regional or minority languages users are represented on or at least taken into account in bodies that can be created for the purpose of ensuring freedom and plurality of media in compliance with the law ,
· the law should lay down legal and financial independence of minority editorial units (the Pátria Radio in the SRo and other minority programmes, the Hungarian Broadcasting Editorial Team and the National Minority Broadcasting Editorial Team in the STV)
Minority Cultures Funding Act
National Minorities Act
As such laws do not exist in the Slovak Republic yet their drafting should also be based on the obligations undertaken.
According to the 20003 Plan of Government's Legislative Tasks, the draft law on the Slovak Television and the Slovak Radio should be prepared in June, the legislative idea on education in September and the draft legislative idea of a media act and the draft law on national minority culture funding and draft law on national minorities in December.
This presentation was delivered at the follow-up seminar:
"On the Implementation of the First Results of the Monitoring on
the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
in the Slovak Republic"
at Bratislava, 8 July 2003