(Slovak Spectator) The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) community in Slovakia will see its dream of having a committee at the Government Council for Human Rights, Minorities, and Gender Equality come true. Members of the council voted to establish the committee for the LGBT community at their first meeting, presided over by the new head of the current government consulting body, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák. None of the members voted against the proposal while nobody abstained from voting, either.
Upon his appointment as head of the Council on June 20, Lajčák said he considers the proposal of NGOs to establish such a committee relevant. “I have received the proposal to establish this committee and I will look at it openly and favourably,” Lajčák – as quoted by the SITA newswire – said in June when the proposal arrived, at the last moment before revamping the council’s status. Four council members proposed to set up the committee at Monday’s July 30 session. “We know that the Slovak Republic has no laws to protect the LGBT community, nor do we have any committees to deal with their concerns,” said council member Adriana Mesochoritisová.
Nine organisations originally called for the establishment of the committee. Next year Slovakia will have to prepare a monitoring report on the implementation of recommendations for the Ministerial Committee of the Council of Europe – which urged member states to examine existing legislation and other measures, regularly update them and gather and analyse relevant data for monitoring and confronting any direct or indirect discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
(Source: SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
