Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Selected articles on gender equality
Article 3
Equal rights of men and women
31. The key documents on gender equality in Slovak society are the National Action Plan for Women in the Slovak Republic and the Policy Document on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. The policy document identifies the tasks of the State and of other actors in the areas with the most pronounced gender discrimination, and defines 31 measures and recommendations to be implemented with active participation of non-State entities.
32. The National Strategy for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women and in Family[1] was adopted in 2004 with the aim of ensuring a coordinated and integrated cooperation of all relevant actors in the prevention of violence, in the provision of timely and effective assistance, in an effective implementation of applicable legislation, and in the development of an adequate data base on violence against women. To ensure a consistent implementation of the Strategy, the Slovak Government approved the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women for 2005–2008. The implementation of the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women was reviewed in 2007 and 2008, and a new action plan for 2009–2012 was under preparation in2008. A new policy document on gender equality issues — the Gender Equality Strategy — will be prepared in 2008 as well.
33. An important change that took place in the relevant period concerned institutional arrangements for ensuring gender equality. At the level of Parliament (the National Council of the Slovak Republic), the gender equality agenda was assigned to the Committee on Human Rights and National Minorities which, as a result, was transformed into the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and the Status of Women. In conformity with the rules of procedure, the Commission on Equal Opportunities and on the Status of Women in Society set up within the Committee in 2002 played the role of advisory body to the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and the Status of Women. The task of the Commission was to review legislative proposals for their compliance with gender equality requirements and to address certain other issues facing the society. After the 2006 parliamentary election, the Commission’s agenda was taken up by the Standing Commission on Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities set up within the parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs and Housing.
34. At the level of government, the gender equality and equal treatment agenda in the relevant period was assigned to the family and gender policy department of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic (“Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family”); the position of the department within the ministry was strengthened in 2007 when it became a gender equality and equal opportunities department.
35. The Expert Group on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women created within the Government Council on Crime Prevention continued to focus mainly on promoting and monitoring the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women in the period of 2005–2008.
36. The Slovak Government pledged in its Manifesto that it will promote equality between women and men, which it considers to be an important prerequisite for strengthening democracy and implementation of human rights with a view to fulfilling the commitments arising from the Lisbon Strategy and from international instruments. To this end, the Government ensured the creation of institutional structures necessary for respecting gender mainstreaming requirements in all policies and decisions taken at all levels of governance of the society, including the creation of the Government Council on Gender Equality in 2007. The tasks of the Council include the formulation of measures aimed at ensuring coordination of gender-equality activities of government ministries and of other central State administration authorities with a view to achieving a synergy between these activities both in terms of their substantive content and timetable.
Gender equality and equal opportunities
89. The Slovak Republic, as a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, prepared its second, third and fourth periodic report to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The report contains information on legislative, judicial, administrative and other measures that were introduced with a view to ensuring practical implementation of Convention provisions and on the progress achieved in this area in the period between the presentation of the initial report in June 1998 and the year 2008. The current Slovak government’s Manifesto addresses for the first time the issues related to gender equality and equal opportunities.
90. Issues related to gender equality and equal opportunities in the area of labour law relationships and employment are provided for in the Labour Code, the civil service act, the act on the performance of work in public interest, and the employment services act.
91. Basic principles of the Labour Code state that women and men are entitled to equal treatment as regards access to employment, remuneration and promotion, vocational training and working conditions. Working conditions for women are created with due account of their physiological characteristics and of the social function of motherhood, and working conditions of women and men are created so as to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities for the upbringing and care of children.
92. The Labour Code lays down the obligation of employers (para. 13 (1) and (2)) to treat their employees in labour law relationships in compliance with the principle of equal treatment pursuant to the Antidiscrimination Act. The principle of equal treatment prohibits discrimination also on the ground of marital and family status, colour of skin, language, political or other conviction, trade union activity, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
93. As regards wages and remuneration, the Labour Code provides (para. 119a) that wage terms must be agreed without any gender-based discrimination; this applies to all forms of remuneration for work and remuneration that is or will be due in connection with employment pursuant to other provisions of the Code or other relevant legal provisions.
94. Men and women are entitled to equal wages for equal work or for work of equal value. Equal work or work of equal value means work of equal or comparable complexity, responsibility and difficulty, performed under the same or comparable working conditions, and achievement of the same or comparable performance level and results of work in the employment relationship with the same employer.
95. If the employer applies a job appraisal scheme, this appraisal must be based on the same criteria for men and women without any discrimination based on gender. In appraising the value of work done by women or men, the employer may apply also other objectively measurable criteria that are applicable to all employees irrespective of their gender. This also applies to same-gender employees performing equal work or work of equal value.
96. Average wages of women and their percentages in average wages of men in the 3rd quarter of 2007 were:[1]
- In the business sector: SKK 48,744/month, i.e. 80.9 per cent of average wages of men
- In the non-business sector: SKK 27,202/month; this, however, represented as much as 90.1 per cent of average wages of men
Selected statistics on employment of women
97. The number of workers with higher education in 2007 was 367.6 thousand, 47.6 per cent of them women (174.8 thousand). Of this number, 5.6 thousand workers had higher education at tertiary level – around 4 thousand of them men and 1.7 thousand women.
98. The employment rate of persons with higher education in the 15–64 age category in 2007 was 83.8 per cent, 78.4 per cent of them women and 89.3 per cent men.
99. According to the Classification of Occupations, out of the total number of 375.4 thousand persons in groups 1 and 2 in2007, 183.7 thousand were women, i.e. 48.9 per cent of the total number of workers in groups 1 and 2.[2]
Table 4
Workers according to the classification of occupations, total, women in occupation groups 1 and 2 (average for the period in thousand persons and in per cent)
| Classification of occupations |
2006 |
2007 |
||
|
Number |
% |
Number |
% |
|
| Workers – Total |
2 301.4 |
100 |
2 357.3 |
100 |
| Major group of occupations | ||||
| 1 Legislators, senior officials and managers |
131.8 |
5.72 |
128.5 |
5.45 |
| – Women |
36.8 |
27.92 |
39.7 |
30.89 |
| 2 Professionals |
251.9 |
10.94 |
246.9 |
10.47 |
| – Women |
145.4 |
57.72 |
144.0 |
58.32 |
| 1 and 2 – Total |
383.7 |
16.67 |
375.4 |
15.92 |
| – Women |
182.2 |
47.48 |
183.7 |
48.93 |
100. In conformity with European Parliament and Council Directive 2006/54/EC[3] and ILO Convention No. 100 concerning equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, the Labour Code provides (para. 119a (3)) that if the employer applies a job appraisal scheme (as a basis for, e.g., the hierarchical ranking of jobs for tariff class purposes depending on their complexity), the appraisal must be based on the same criteria for men and women without any gender-based discrimination.
101. The right of employee representatives to oversee compliance with labour law legislation, including wage regulations and commitments arising from collective agreements, is laid down in the Labour Code (para. 239). Employee representatives are authorized, inter alia, to request relevant information and documentation from the management, to request employers to issue instructions to correct the deficiencies, to propose that the employer or other body responsible for overseeing compliance with labour law legislation applies adequate sanctions against management members who violated labour law provisions or obligations arising from collective agreements, and to demand information from employers concerning measures taken to correct the deficiencies identified by the controls.
102. Employees who are (feel to be) harmed as a result of the violation of obligations arising from labour law relationships may lodge a complaint with the competent labour inspection body. According to the labour inspection act and the act on illegal work, the body entrusted with the task to oversee compliance, in an objective and independent manner, with Labour Code provisions on equal working conditions for men and women, including equal remuneration of men and women, is the labour inspectorate with territorial competence for the employer’s registered office. The Labour Code provides (para. 14) that the disputes between employees and employers concerning the rights arising from labour law relationships are heard and decided by independent courts.
Special protection of mothers
209. The legislation enshrines gender equality in terms of employment. The special position of women is established only with respect to the need to ensure their protection due to their physiological characteristics and duties of motherhood. Women may not be assigned work tasks which are physically inappropriate for them and which cause damage to their health, in particular work tasks that pose a threat to their role as mothers. The lists of work tasks and workplaces that are prohibited for pregnant women, mothers until the ninth month after the delivery and for breastfeeding mothers are laid down in Government Regulation No. 272/2004 Coll.
210. Furthermore, pregnant women, mothers until the ninth month after the delivery and breastfeeding mothers may not be assigned work tasks that, according to medical opinion, pose a threat to their pregnancy for reasons arising from their health condition (paragraph 161 of the Labour Code). In terms of protection with respect to the care for a child, the legal status of male employees caring for a child is equal to that of female employees.
211. The Labour Code enshrines the protection of a pregnant woman, woman or man caring for a child prior to the termination of employment. An employer may not give a notice to an employee within a protected period, i.e. within the period of employee’s pregnancy, or when an employee is on maternity leave or a female or a male employee is on parental leave, or when a female or male employee cares for a child of up to three years of age as a single parent (paragraph 64 (1) (c) of the Labour Code). Employment may be terminated only in special cases, i.e. if the employer or part of employer’s organization is wound-up or relocated, or – as far as pregnant employee, female and male employee on a parental leave or female or male employee caring (as a single parent) for a child of up to three years of age are concerned, in cases justifying the employer to immediately terminate the employment relationship (paragraph 63 (1) (a) of the Labour Code).
212. When designating employees to work shifts, an employer shall be obliged to take into account the needs of pregnant women, and women and men caring for children (paragraph 164 of the Labour Code). If a pregnant woman, men and women continuously caring for a child younger than 15 years of age requests a reduction in working time or other arrangement to the fixed weekly working time, the employer shall be obliged to accommodate such request if it is not prevented by substantive operational reasons. A pregnant woman, a woman or man continuously caring for a child of up to three years of age, or a single man or woman continuously caring for a child younger than 15 years of age, may work overtime only with their consent. Stand-by duty may only be assigned following an agreement with such persons.
213. The Act on Civil Service protects pregnant civil service employees and mothers. If a pregnant civil servant employee performs a civil service that is forbidden or harmful to pregnant women as indicated by a medical opinion, the civil service office is obliged to make temporary adjustments to civil service duties in order to prevent such threat (paragraph 76 of the Civil Service Act). Where this is not possible, the civil service office is obliged to transfer her to civil service that is suitable for her. Following such transfer, the civil servant is entitled to receive the service salary attributable to the civil service performed which, however, may not be less than the service salary she received prior to such transfer. This applies equally to a civil servant after the end of her maternity leave (nine months after delivery of a child). The provisions of the Labour Code apply to the protection of pregnant civil servants and mothers accordingly.
214. In connection with caring for a newborn child, man is also entitled to parental leave to the same extent, if caring for a newborn child. During maternity leave (parental leave pursuant to paragraph 166 (1) of the Labour Code), a female employee (male employee) is not entitled to wage or wage replacement, but to sickness benefit/maternity benefit.
215. In order to improve the care for a child, an employer is obliged to provide the female/male employee with parental leave until three years of the child’s age at their request. If the child’s long-term health condition is serious and requiring exceptional care, the employer is obliged to provide the female/male employee with parental leave until six years of the child’s age at their request. Such leave shall be provided to the extent requested by the parent, typically for a period of one month at least.
216. If an employee returns to work following the end of his/her maternity leave or parental leave, the employer shall be obliged to assign such employee to his/her original work position and workplace. If this is not possible because such work position no longer exists or the workplace was cancelled, the employer must assign such employee to other work tasks that are in line with the employment contract.
356. Important documents in the area of gender equality adopted in the previous period were the National Action Plan for Women in the Slovak Republic and the Policy Document on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. Both documents included measures aimed at enforcing gender equality in practice. The National Strategy on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women and in Families and the National Strategy on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women for the period 2005–2008 are the relevant documents targeted to violence against women. The Measures for Reconciliation of Work and Family Life is a document with relevance for employment issues.
357. The “Strengthening of Administrative Capacity in the Field of Gender Mainstreaming in the Slovak Republic” PHARE project was an important effort with effective outcomes in the practical implementation of gender equality through the gender mainstreaming strategy. Within this project, civil and public servants at various levels were trained in introducing the gender aspect into governance.
358. Several strategies such as quotas, mentoring and couching, networking, reconciliation of work and family life can be used to change the image of dominance and hierarchy, to eliminate barriers in society that deny women access to the top levels of governance in policy and management in economy. Gender correct role models, working place culture, change of work culture and company organization may help to change preference for men in leading positions. The anti-discrimination law does not allow introduction of quotas and the adoption of other special temporary measures to achieve de facto equality of women and men. Current legislation does not include the obligation of proportional representation of men and women in nominating candidates for election tickets.
359. Most activities for increasing the number of women in decision-making positions were implemented through projects conducted in cooperation of the political party in power and NGOs. Within the MATRA project, the 2001–2004 “Empowering Women for Functions in Public and Political Life in the Slovak Republic”, platforms to create alliances of political parties for supporting the idea of defining own internal rules for increasing the number of women on the tickets of political parties were formed mainly before the 2002 elections. Courses and training for women interested in working in political parties were also held.
360. In the context of equality between men and women, it is necessary to mention that under the “Employment and Social Inclusion” operational programme, measures were adopted to support creation of equal opportunities in access to the labour market, integration of disadvantaged groups and facilitation of reconciliation of work and family life.
Table 26
The 2004 European Parliament elections
|
|
Total |
Women |
% of women |
|
Number of member candidates |
187 |
47 |
25.13 |
|
Number of elected members |
14 |
5 |
35.71 |
Table 27
2005 elections to higher territorial units
|
|
Total |
Women |
% of women |
|
Number of deputy candidates |
2 833 |
526 |
18.57 |
|
Number of elected deputies |
355 |
57 |
16.06 |
|
Number of chairmen candidates |
64 |
7 |
10.94 |
|
Number of elected deputies |
8 |
0 |
0.00 |
Table 28
2006 elections to the bodies of municipal self-governments
|
|
Total |
Women |
% of women |
|
Number of lord mayor/mayor candidates |
8 358 |
1 884 |
22.54 |
|
Number of elected lord mayors/mayors |
2 905 |
597 |
20.55 |
Table 29
2006 Elections to the National Council of the Slovak Republic
|
|
Total |
Women |
% of women |
|
Number of member candidates |
2 352 |
535 |
22.75 |
|
Number of elected members |
150 |
24 |
16.00 |
The Committee urges the State party to effectively implement measures recently adopted to ensure equal pay for work of equal value and to reduce the wage gap between men and women.
374. On 1 September 2007, an amendment to the Labour Code[1] that introduced a separate § under the title “Wage for equal work and work of equal value” to the Labour Code entered into effect.
375. According to this provision, the employer has the obligation to pay women and men equal wage not only for equal work but also for work of equal value, i.e. when a woman or a man performs work of comparable difficulty, the terms and conditions of pay of employees must also be agreed without any gender based discrimination. This principle applies to any performance for work as well as to any performance paid or to be paid in the context of employment under other provisions of this law or under specific legislation.
376. Equal work or work of equal value means work of identical or comparable difficulty, responsibility and complexity performed under identical or comparable working conditions while achieving identical or comparable performance and results of work under an employment contract with the same employer. When assessing the value of work of women and men, the employer may use other criteria that can be objectively measured and that can be applied to all employees regardless of their gender, in addition to these criteria.
377. According to the information system on average pay, the average wage of women and its percentage on the average wage of men in the 1st quarter of 2008 was:
- In the business sector, SKK 19,691 per month in absolute figures, which was 76.1 per cent
- SKK 17,802 per month, which was 84.3 per cent on the average wage of men, in the non-business sector
The Committee calls upon the State party to enforce its legislation on domestic violence and to take appropriate preventive measures in order to give the required assistance to victims of domestic violence.
387. In 2004, the Government of the Slovak Republic started to address violence against women and domestic violence by adopting the National Strategy on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women and in Families.[1] With a view to promoting effective implementation of the national strategy, the Government approved the 2005–2008 National Strategy on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women.[2] The fundamental goal of the national action plan is to implement adequate and effective procedures for preventing and eliminating violence against women.
388. The 2005–2008 National Strategy on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women emphasised interpreting violence against women as a gender-related problem and included specific measures and proposed solutions with different deadlines. It included mainly the implementation of basic steps in prevention, education, research and building an institutional framework of coordinated assistance to women who had been victims of violence including the very important area of improving the legislation applicable to this matter.
389. The Progress Report on the 2005–2008 National Strategy on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women has just been finished. A new 2009–2013 national action plan will be drafted and it should be submitted to the Government for approval in December 2008. This action plan will pursue continuing work in those areas where foundations for helping women, victims of violence, have already been developed. It is also necessary to formulate new tasks that could not be included in the first 2005–2008 action plan.
390. Proposed framework measures will focus on developing a national institutional framework of coordinated assistance, amending legislation, implementing activities in the area of assistance to victims of violence,[3] prevention, education and research. Other measures will address work with offenders. Main emphasis will be on ensuring funding for the implementation of individual activities.
391. As regards the legislation in the area of violence against women, amendments to the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the infraction act, the Civil Procedure Code, the Civil Code, the act on compensation to victims of violent crimes, and the social assistance act that were adopted in Slovakia in the 1999–2002 period have the potential to significantly contribute to improving the effectiveness of the process of eliminating violence against women. A review of the effects of these amendments that has already started and seems to suggest that the situation in addressing domestic violence issues has improved.
392. The most substantial changes have taken place in what is referred to more broadly as “domestic violence”. The Criminal Code extended the definition of the terms “a significant other” and “a person in one’s care”, thus broadening the applicability of the provisions relative to acts constituting the criminal offence of ill-treatment of a significant other or of a person in one’s care to a wider category of entities, introduced the so-called protective treatment that the court may impose on the offender who committed a violent offence against a significant other or a person in his or her care and when the offender can be expected to continue such violent actions.
393. The amendments to the original Criminal Code introduced restraining orders barring from coming to the victim within a radius of5 metresand the prohibition from staying close to the dwelling of the victim. Under the amended Criminal Procedure Code, criminal prosecution of the offender can be initiated even without the consent of the victim. Newly adopted provisions stipulate that no consent of the victim is required in criminal offences that are characteristic of domestic violence (such as ill-treatment of a significant other or of a person in one’s care, rape, sexual violence, etc.). Moreover, they make it possible to grant a new consent in case the consent was denied or withdrawn, where such denial or withdrawal were not made by free expression of will. A new criminal offence of “sexual violence” was introduced in 2001. The perpetrator of this type of criminal offence may be a man and also a woman.
394. In the reported period, several amendments were adopted to the social assistance act,[4] which is the basis for building a network of specialized facilities for women affected by violence, offering them specialized social help and social assistance, social and psychological counselling, access to legal counselling and to other forms of specialized counselling. The act assigns responsibility for administering and financing the facilities that assist women-victims of violence to self-governing regions. Specific forms of social assistance and the breakdown of funds allocated to individual facilities for the above purposes were outlined in the assessment report on the National Action Plan on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women submitted to the Government in June 2008.
395. The most important information and awareness-raising effort with the aim of enhancing the awareness of the population of gender-related violence involving experts on these issues was a national campaign on “Let’s stop domestic violence against women” responding to the appeals and implemented along the lines of the all-European campaign of the Council of Europe.
396. The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family initiated and coordinated this campaign while also cooperating with the Information Office of the Council of Europe in view of its European dimension, representatives of several churches in Slovakia, NGOs associated in the initiative called Every Fifth Woman that attracted media attention by organising first media campaigns intended to lift the taboo on domestic violence in Slovakia. Other sectors, for instance education, health care, the interior, joined the activities of the campaign and cooperated in certain selected activities of the campaign. Cooperation with media was important.
397. The campaign was launched with a press conference attended by the minister of labour, social affairs and family and the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly Committee of the Council of Europe for the Equality between Women and Men on 22 November 2007. The event included a moderated discussion on “Let’s Engage Men in the Fight against Domestic Violence”. The exhibition called “Silenced Witnesses” displayed in the building of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family and the Ministry of Health, and later, in several other health care facilities, was a part of this campaign. Further, the www.zastavmenasilie.sk website was created, competition of draft national posters of the campaign was organized (two of these works were exhibited at the national posters exhibition of all Council of Europe member states in the foyer of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg). The campaign will continue with distributing thematic leaflets and educational materials for selected medical professions.
398. Interested sectors and institutions were given posters; Council of Europe posters with an appeal “We Can’t Afford to Not Hear the Call for Help” were presented on billboards and city lights proportionally in all regions of Slovakia. In the framework of the campaign, radio and TV spots and movie by director Nina Kusturica called Sign of Escape were broadcast. Several media presented programmes on violence against women where experts discussed the issue and shared relevant information.
399. During the campaign, experts from NGOs prepared information leaflets and brochures for various target groups and cooperating professions such as the leaflet and brochure “Act against Violence against Women”, publication “Act against Violence against Women and Children”, comics “Game Over” explaining the children violence, brochure for politicians and political parties and a brochure on political aspects of violence. The X Human Rights Olympiad held in 2008 included prevention of and zero tolerance for domestic violence and violence against women as a separate theme.
400. According to the Criminal Code (para. 208), ill-treatment of a significant other or of a person in one’s care is considered a criminal offence. This provision grants protection not only to minors but also to all significant others who, for any reason, depend on care provided by other persons (old age, disability, disease, etc.). A significant other means relatives in direct descent, adoptive parents, adoptees, siblings and spouses; other persons in family or other similar relations are considered significant others only if they would perceive the harm suffered by one of them as their own harm.
401. Ill-treatment in the meaning of the Criminal Code means inflicting physical or mental suffering by repeated beating, kicking, hitting, causing wounds and burns of various kinds, humiliation, contempt, stalking, threatening, causing fear or stress, enforced isolation, emotional blackmail and other conduct that puts at risk physical or mental health of the person and restricts person’s safety, unfounded denial of food, deprivation of rest or sleep and denial of necessary personal care, clothes, hygiene, health care, housing, raising and education, forcing to beg and/or repeated performance of activities requiring disproportional physical or mental effort considering the age or health or capable of causing damage to health, exposure to the effect of substances that could damage person’s health and unjustified restriction on access to property the person is authorized to use.
402. The Criminal Code stipulates a sentence of imprisonment between three to eight years for this crime. An offender, who committed this crime out of special motive, in an aggravated manner or when sentenced for such crime and discharged from the sentence of imprisonment for such crime in the previous 24 months or caused severe bodily harm or death, shall be punished by a stricter sentence. An offender shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of fifteen to twenty five years or a life imprisonment when causing several persons serious bodily harm or death while committing such crime.
403. The Criminal Code also establishes as criminal offences other forms of conduct that violate the above article, depending on specific circumstances of the case. This includes, for instance, injury to health, deprivation of personal liberty, restriction of personal liberty, extortion, racketeering, duress and others.
Table 30
Number of persons convicted of selected crimes: OCC – old Criminal Code
NOCC – new Criminal Code[5]
|
§OCC |
Year |
||||||||
| Criminal offence |
§NCC |
2004 |
Of which |
2005 |
Of which |
2006 |
Of which |
2007 |
Of which |
| Pandering |
§204 OCC |
6 |
9 |
0 |
10 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
§367 NCC |
x |
x |
x |
X |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
| Ill-treatment of a significant other |
§215 OCC |
322 |
336 |
14 |
243 |
19 |
96 |
5 |
|
|
§208 NCC |
x |
x |
x |
X |
38 |
1 |
160 |
1 |
|
| Unauthorized abortion |
§227–229 OCC |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
§150–153 NCC |
x |
x |
x |
X |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
| Rape |
§241 OCC |
64 |
70 |
1 |
47 |
0 |
22 |
0 |
|
|
§199 NCC |
x |
x |
x |
X |
4 |
0 |
21 |
0 |
|
| Sexual violence |
§241a OCC |
9 |
21 |
0 |
11 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
|
|
§200 NCC |
x |
x |
x |
X |
3 |
0 |
20 |
0 |
|
| Sexual abuse |
§242–243 OCC |
185 |
168 |
9 |
105 |
4 |
55 |
1 |
|
|
§201–202 NCC |
x |
x |
x |
X |
68 |
4 |
114 |
5 |
|
| Trafficking in human beings |
§201–202 |
6 |
6 |
15 |
|||||
|
§179 NTZ |
1 |
2 |
|||||||
Table 31
Statistics of imposed sentences and protective measures related to domestic violence (ill-treatment of significant other) imposed in 2007[6]
|
2007 |
||
|
§215 OCC |
§208 NCC |
|
| Number of convicts |
96 |
160 |
| Number of imposed protective measures |
24 |
53 |
| Number of conditional sentences with probation oversight |
1 |
45 |
The Committee urges the State party to adopt effective measures, including through regional cooperation, to combat trafficking in women and to adopt preventive programmes to combat the sexual exploitation of women, adolescents and children.
404. Victims of trafficking in human beings are mostly women aged 18 to 25 mainly from regions of Slovakia hit by high unemployment. The victims are not only single women and single mothers but also married women with several children who come usually from socially disadvantaged families.
405. Abroad, the victims seek help from embassies or the local police contacts embassies with a request for cooperation when apprehending a woman, who is a Slovak national. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) participates in the return of these persons in cooperation with the embassies under the Return and Reintegration Programme for Trafficked Persons.
406. Victims mostly seek help only when they get into trouble. In many cases, it is difficult to determine whether it is voluntary or forced prostitution because the women do not want to report true information and the reasons for seeking help. Partially, it is because they fear potential consequences from organizers of the trafficking or because they want to continue their activity after the problem is solved. After returning home, only a negligible percentage of victims informed the police that they were victims of trafficking in human beings. When they really need help, they prefer to contact an NGO. They usually refuse to cooperate with the police either because of fear of reprisal from dealers, though, the main reason, however, is that they do not want their community to know that they were engaged in prostitution.
407. Prevention projects aimed at preventing crime, focused on the Schengen context and prevention of trafficking in human beings, were organized under the “Information campaign on impacts of Schengen on the citizens of the Slovak Republic and the risks of trafficking in human beings”. The objective of the campaign was to inform the representatives of State administration, self-governments, primary and secondary school teachers and students, NGO representatives, municipal police, churches and community centres and to train coordinators at primary and secondary schools on this issue.
408. The information campaign was organized by the Council of the Slovak Republic for Crime and Other Anti-Social Behaviour Prevention in cooperation with the coordinators of crime and other anti-social behaviour prevention of the Regional Office at Košice and the Regional Office at Prešov, the International Office for Migration (IOM), the Office of Border and Alien Police of the Ministry for the Interior of the Slovak Republic and the Department of Criminal Law of the School of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University at Košice. In the information campaign, 2,030 persons from target groups and 24 representatives of print and electronic media, thus, indirectly also the public of the whole of Slovakia, were addressed.
409. Statistical data on the crime of trafficking in human beings provided by the police do not reflect the actual picture because of the high latency of this kind of crime. In view of the situation, the Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Crime Prevention has promoted the need to initiate research of latent crime through victim surveys that would give a “more realistic” picture of the situation represented only through criminal statistics until now. On the initiative of the Council of the Slovak Republic for Crime and Anti-Social Conduct Prevention, the department for criminology and crime prevention was established at the Ministry of the Interior. This department, in cooperation with the Centre of Science of Bratislava School of Law, the Institute for Public Opinion Research at the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic started to study the incidence of latent crime in Slovakia. This step makes the Slovak Republic one of the countries where the development of research is measured in particular by orientation on latent crime. Final research results will be published as a book that will be used in training of crime prevention staff at all levels and also the public will be informed of the findings.
410. Under the “Reaction of Criminal Justice to Trafficking in Human Beings in the Slovak Republic” joint project of the Ministry for the Interior and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, an independent research institute, the Slovak Governance Institute has carried out activities to ensure availability of basic data on illegal trafficking in human beings in the Slovak Republic, collection of existing data on captured cases of trafficking including data on investigation, prosecution, suspects and convicts. In this context, another activity is surveying the situation in the flows of illegal trafficking in human beings from and through the Slovak Republic including the profiles of victims, perpetrators and their manner of operation.
411. In 2003–2007, the “Trafficking in Human Beings” project was carried out in the framework of Dutch-Slovak cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Slovak Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The project aimed at improving mainly the professionalism of the staff taking part in clarifying the crimes of trafficking in human beings and other Police Corps officers who come into contact with the victims of this crime and at offering them a possibility of learning from practical experience of their Dutch colleagues.
412. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) implements the “Return and Reintegration of Trafficked Persons” project under the EQUAL Community Initiative. The objective of the project is to provide practical assistance in the return and reintegration of trafficked persons coming from Slovakia who are in a target country and who want to return voluntarily to Slovakia or who are already in Slovakia and who either personally or via a third person or organization, express interest in reintegration assistance. The implementation of the programme was launched in August 2006. From August 2006 until the end of 2007, twenty persons, who were granted various types of assistance in cooperation with experts from NGOs, were registered in it. In addition, the “Programme for the Return and Reintegration of Trafficked Persons” provides consultations, counselling and crisis assistance to potential clients or external reporting organizations and persons.
413. The “Trafficking in Human Beings Prevention for Secondary School Teachers and Students” project was implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) through the Accenture Foundation and the Pontis foundation in January and February 2007. The objective of the project was to raise awareness among young people — 14–19 years old students — on the threat of trafficking in human beings and the possibilities of its prevention through discussion groups at secondary boarding schools. The project also tested a new form of prevention within a group of young people through the so called peer activists trained in disseminating prevention information by working with peer groups in the dormitories, at schools, etc. The target group are 14–19 years old secondary school students. Peer activities attracted 449 participants, 17 peer activists and three supervisors engaged in the discussion groups activity.
414. In the prevention of trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation and support to victims, prevention activities of the Police Corps were also targeted to secondary school youth. Under the “Crisis Intervention and Social Inclusion of Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings in Cooperation with the Police Corps Officers, State Administration and Self-Governments” project, Police Corps officers visited secondary schools and showed and lectured on the Lilja 4ever film.
415. The counselling information centres formed at regional directorates of the Police Corps, which provide counselling services, and assistance to citizens, have also information materials and leaflets on assistance to victims of trafficking in human beings in different languages. During lectures at schools, leaflets issued by the department for security strategy and counselling activities of the Office of the Minister for the Interior of the Slovak Republic in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Dotyk – Beckov, Slovak crisis centre, were distributed.
Table 32
Statistical data on criminal offences related to trafficking in human beings
|
Trafficking in human beings |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
Till 30 April 2008 |
|
|
Total number of cases |
28 |
27 |
14 |
19 |
13 |
4 |
|
|
Clarified cases |
16 |
18 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
Additionally clarified cases |
0 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
|
|
Total number of offenders |
46 |
21 |
6 |
11 |
9 |
1 |
|
|
Of them: |
Men |
37 |
14 |
6 |
8 |
8 |
1 |
|
Women |
9 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
Total number of victims |
43 |
33 |
18 |
31 |
15 |
4 |
|
|
Of them: |
Men |
1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Women |
42 |
29 |
16 |
29 |
15 |
4 |
|
|
Of them under: |
15 and/or 14 years |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Younger than 18 years |
5 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
|
Table 33
Statistical data on the crime of pandering
|
Pandering |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
Till 30 April 2008 |
|
|
Total number of cases |
13 |
22 |
22 |
10 |
18 |
6 |
|
|
Clarified cases |
9 |
16 |
13 |
2 |
12 |
3 |
|
|
Additionally clarified cases |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
Total number of offenders |
11 |
24 |
11 |
3 |
18 |
5 |
|
|
Of them: |
Men |
9 |
19 |
7 |
3 |
14 |
4 |
|
Women |
2 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
Total number of victims |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
|
[1] Resolution of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. č.1092 /2004 of 16 November 2004.
[2] Resolution of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. č.635 of 24 August 2005.
[3] Improvement of work of supporting profession through intervention teams, improvement of safety of women at risk by PC technologies, ensuring emergency shelter in the so-called women’ homes, available and quality counselling and support services, overall improvement of the quality of social services performance while respecting European standards in proposed measures.
[4] Act No. 195/1998 Coll. on social assistance as amended.
[5] E.g., Act No. 140/1961 Coll. as amended.
[6] Act No. 300/2005 Coll. as amended, effective from 1 January 2006.
[1] Act No. 348/2007 Coll. amending Act No. 311/2001 Coll., the Labour Code as amended and amending and supplementing other relevant acts.
[1] According to the information system on average wages administered by Trexima, spol. s r.o.
[2] Classification of occupations used in the Slovak Republic corresponds to ISCO-88 – the International Standard Classification of Occupations. Major group 1 covers legislators, senior officials and managers, and major group 2 covers professionals.
[3] Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation.
[1] By means of Resolution of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. 1092/2004 of 16 November 2004.
