855th Meeting, 35th Session, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

I call to order the 855 meeting of the Committee of Rights of persons with disabilities.
The committee will now proceed with the agenda item five, consideration of reports submitted by state party under the Article 35 of the Convention.
This morning, the committee will begin with its consideration of the periodic report of Slovakia.
I have the honor to warmly welcome the distinguished delegation of Slovakia, headed by His Excellence Fedoro Rosasa, Ambassador Perent, representative of Slovakia, to the United Nations Office and the other organization in Geneva.
I also warmly welcome the other member of the extinguished delegation.
The task force for Slovakia is composed of Marcus Sheffer, Natalia Gala, Rosemary Cases.
The Secretariat for the is Katerina Pedres.
Before beginning the dialogue, I would like to briefly explain the work method that will be followed.
For each cluster, the dialogue will proceed through two rounds of back to back question and answers.
In the first round, members of the task force will rise questions and the distinguished delegation will be given the opportunity to respond.
In the second round, the members of the task force will rise questions and distinguished delegation will be given the opportunity to respond and the This is the first round.
I'm sorry.
The second round, the floor will be open to the committee members who are not a member of the task force to get together with one of the member of the task force for additional and follow up questions.
The distinguished delegation will give the opportunity to respond to the questions.
I would like, therefore, To emphasize that participation in the dialogue is not limited to members of a task force.
The second round is especially intended to ensure the participation of other committee experts.
I will manage the time closely with the Secretariat so that we can respect the timing.
This morning, we will first hear the opening statement of the head of the delegation.
He will proceed to cluster one, covering the Article 129 and Article 31 and 33.
The first 60 minutes will be devoted to the first round with the members of the task force.
This will be followed by 30 minutes of the second round with the non task force members and one member of the task force.
After ten minute break, we will begin cluster two, covering the Article 10 to 20.
We will use the final 40 minutes of this morning meeting to begin the 60 minutes first round of the task force question and answer on the second cluster.
The remaining 20 minutes of the first round, we will continue at the beginning of the afternoon meeting.
Once this first round has been completed, the second round will be open to task force members and others, one member of the task force.
I kindly ask all committee members and distinguished the delegation to respect allocated time and to keep questions and responses focused and concise.
I will now give the parole to The honorable, Mr.
Fridero Russia, Ambassador, permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations and other organization in Geneva, please the floor your oath is yours for 20 minutes.
Madam Chair, Mr.
Vice Chair, distinguished members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor for me to be here today to lead the Slovak delegation on the occasion of the presentation of combined second and third periodic reports, which outlined the progress made in implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Slovak Republic before this committee.
The Slovak government attaches great importance to the work of the committee, in particular, its role in the monitoring state parties compliance with the convention, which is vital for ensuring its effective implementation.
This year is especially significant as we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of convention by General Assembly of the UN in 2006, which entered into force two years later in 2008, created as a human rights instrument with an explicit social development dimension.
It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century.
It is also the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations, reflecting its universal ambition in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities.
Allow me now to mention the members of the delegations to whom you will address your questions today.
In view of the wide range of areas covered by the convention, the delegation is composed of experts from Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Information, the Ministry of Transport, the Authority for Spatial Planning and construction of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education Research Development and Use of the Slovak Republic, the National Institute of Education and Use, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and the permanent mission of the Slovak Republic to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva.
I would like also to thank the interpreters in advance.
Madam Chair, Mr.
Vice Chair, distinguished members of the committee, at the outset, allow me to reaffirm Slovakia's strong commitment to the convention and to express our sincere appreciation for the committee's continued guidance.
The recommendations adopted following our first dialogue in 2016 have provided an important framework for the reforms that Slovakia has pursued over the past decade.
Our objective has gone beyond the adoption of new legislation or individual policy measures.
Rather, we have thought to progressively transform the way disability is addressed across public administration by moving away from fragmented and predominantly welfare based approaches toward the policy framework increasingly anchored in the human rights model of disability reflected in the convention.
This transition has required coordinated action across many sectors.
It has involved legislative and institutional reforms, investment in accessible environments and public services, as well as strengthened cooperation with organizations of persons with disabilities.
While we fully recognize that challenges remain, we believe that the direction of reform is clear, strengthening autonomy, promoting equality, removing barriers, and enabling the full participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society.
A key priority in this process has been the gradual transition towards greater recognition of legal capacity and personal autonomy.
In response to the committee's recommendations, Slovakia has continued reforming its legal framework with the aim of strengthening the equal recognition of persons with disabilities before the law and progressively moving towards arrangements that respect their will and preferences to the greatest extent possible.
These reforms are complemented by measures aim at reinforcing procedural safeguards, improving access to justice, and strengthening the capacity of public institutions to respond effectively to the needs of persons with disabilities.
Our objective is clear, persons with disabilities should not be viewed primarily as recipients of protections or assistance, but as equal rights holders.
Accessibility has become one of the clearest example of this broader transformation.
The committee's recommendations in 2016 rightly emphasized that accessibility is not an end in itself, but an essential precondition for the objective enjoyment of all rights enshrined in the convention.
Guided by this understanding, Slovakia has progressively integrated accessibility considerations into an increasing number of public policies and reforms.
Today, accessibility is increasingly recognized as a horizontal principle that informs legislation, public investment, digital transformation, and the design of public services.
Rather than responding to barriers only after they arise, our objective is to ensure that accessibility is considered from the early stage of policy development and implementation.
An important step in this direction has been the ongoing modernization of the regulatory framework governing to build environment.
The new approach strengthens accessibility requirements while embedding the principle of universal design into planning, construction and renovation processes.
This represents a significant shift from a model focused primarily on removing physical barriers towards one that seeks to create environments that are inherently accessible, inclusive, and usable by everyone.
Accessibility has equally become an integral part of Slovakia's transport policy.
Investment in transport infrastructure and public transport services are guided by the objective of enabling persons with disabilities to travel safely, independently, and on equal basis with others.
This includes the progressive removal of physical barriers, improvements to passenger services, and the systematic incorporation of accessibility requirements into transport planning and infrastructure development.
Digital transformation has provided another important opportunity to advance inclusion.
Slovakia has established a comprehensive framework for monitoring and improving the accessibility of public sector websites and mobile applications.
Complemented by methodological guidance and capacity building across public administration.
These efforts are driven by the recognition that digital public services must be accessible by design if they are to support equal participation in an increasingly digital society.
Our understanding of accessibility also extends beyond infrastructure and technology.
Equal participation in cultural life forms an essential part of inclusive society.
Recent reforms have focused on improving access to cultural institutions, information, and audio visual content while strengthening the availability of accessible formats, including braille and promoting broader participation of persons with disabilities in cultural life.
These initiatives reflect our conviction that culture, information, and communication are fundamental components of human dignity and social inclusion.
This same right based approach has also guided Slovakia's reforms aim at strengthening independent living, expanding community based support, and enabling persons with disabilities to exercise greater choice and control over their own lives.
Our efforts have increasingly focused on building a system that enables persons with disabilities to exercise greater choice, remain control over their own lives, and receive support that reflects the individual needs and aspirations.
Achieving this objective requires coordinated and integrated action across social services, healthcare, employment, housing, and social communities.
An important step in this transition has been the reform of the assessment system.
Slovakia is progressively replacing fragmented and diagnosis oriented assessment with a more holistic approach that considers the functional impact of disability, the person's individual circumstances, and the support required to ensure equal participation in society.
This reform reflects a broader shift away from viewing disability primarily through a medical lens towards understanding disability in the context of rights, participation, and the interaction between individuals and the barriers they encounter.
Another milestone has been the introduction of a new support model based on the principle of an individual personal budget.
By enabling persons with disabilities to exercise greater choice over how they support is organized.
This reform seeks to strengthen autonomy, promote self determination, and ensure that services respond more effectively to individual preferences.
These legislative reforms are being complemented by continued investment in community services and integrated care.
Through the Recovery and Resilience Plan and European Union Cohesion Funding, Slovakia is expanding community based social services, strengthening integrated health and social care, and supporting the transition from individual models of care towards services that enable persons with disabilities to remain active members of their communities.
That this transition is equally reflected in the ongoing transformation of the health care system.
Emphasis is being placed on multidisciplinary cooperation, early intervention, coordinated care pathway, and community based health services that respond to individual needs.
Rather than operating as a separate systems, health, social, and educational services are increasingly encouraged to work together to provide more person centered support.
Inclusive education has remained a central priority of our reforms.
In recent years, Slovakia has continued transforming its education system to better reflect the principle of equality, inclusion, and respect for diversity.
Increasing emphasis has been placed on identifying the individual needs of every learner, strengthening multidisciplinary support within schools, And expanding counseling services and equipping teachers with the tools and skills necessary to create genuinely inclusive learning environments.
Economic participation remains another essential component of independent living.
Slovakia has continued to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labor market through supported employment, active labor market measures, social enterprises, and targeted incentives that encourage sustainable employment.
These measures are guided by the understanding that employment is not only a source of economic security, but also of exercising autonomy, strengthening social inclusion, and participating fully in the community.
Recent reforms have also improved access to emergency communications and public warning systems, strengthened safeguards for victims of crime, and expanded measures that enable persons with disabilities to participate more effectively in democratic processes, including elections.
Madam Chair, Mr.
Vice Chair, distinguished members of the committee.
Since our first dialogue with the committee, Slovakia has progressively moved away from addressing disability primarily through sectorial policies.
Instead, we have thought to build a more coherent framework grounded in the principle of equality, accessibility, autonomy, participation, and respect for the inherent dignity of every individual.
This transformation is neither immediate nor complete.
We recognize that challenges remain.
Continuing the transition towards supported decision making, further expanding community based services, strengthening inclusive education, improving the implementation of accessibility, and ensuring the meaningful participation of persons with disability in decision making processes will remain among our priorities in the years ahead.
At the same time, we believe that the reforms undertaken during the reporting period demonstrate a clear and irreversible direction of progress in this area.
Across government, disability policies are increasingly guided by the principles and values embodied in the convention.
The Slovak Republic approaches today's dialogue in the spirit of openness, partnership, and mutual learning.
We value the committee's expertise and regard this constructive dialogue as an important opportunity to reflect on the progress achieved and to identify ways in which implementation of the convention can be further strengthened.
Allow me to conclude by reaffirming Slovakia's unwavering commitment to the full and effective implementation of the convention.
We remain determined to work in close cooperation with organizations of persons with disabilities, independent monitoring mechanisms, civil society, and international partners to build a society in which every person can enjoy all human rights and the fundamental freedoms of an equal basis with others.
I thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much, Your Honor, for this opening statement.
I will now proceed with the first round of questions and answer under cluster one, covering the Article 1 to nine and Articles 31 and 32 33.
The first round is allocated to members of the task force.
We have 60 minutes for this round.
I will give the floor to Mr.
Marcus Schiffer for the first opening remarks of the task force and to begin the question under the cluster one.
Mr.
Marcus, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Chair.
I join the Chair in warmly welcoming the delegation of the Slovak Republic to today's constructive dialogue.
We will engage in 6 hours of exchange covering all parts of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
We will cherish the progress achieved by the Slovak Republic, and we will inquire into the deficiencies, the reasons for them, and the paths forward to remedy them.
Ten years ago, this committee issued its first concluding observations to Slovakia.
We will frequently use the recommendations therein as starting points to assess the progress made into intervening years.
As members of this committee, we exercise our function in full independence, solely focused on the implementation of the obligations the state party incurred by its ratification of the convention.
Based on our dialogues here in Geneva, we have become well aware that not all state parties, and I would exclude, of course, Slovakia, are fully cognizant of the fundamental impact the convention has and will have on their domestic laws and practices.
In many areas, the convention mandates changes of culturally deeply entrenched practices of exclusion and subordination of persons with disabilities.
In particular, women and girls with disabilities and members of minority groups.
Changing such practices requires the reframing of legal concepts, sometimes going back to Roman law.
And this, in turn, regularly necessitates social change in areas we deem to be settled.
Social change eventually finds its basis in individual persons.
Implementing the convention requires us as human beings to fundamentally reconsider how we understand our relationship with persons with disabilities, on an individual and on a societal and state level, and how we value them.
For centuries, persons with disabilities have been viewed as incapable of participating in all areas of life on an equal basis with others and to live their private lives as everybody else.
Many religions even mandate to be charitable towards persons with disabilities.
And such deeply held convictions must change in order for the obligations under the convention to be realized, respecting all persons with disabilities, whatever the impairment may be as fully equal human beings with the same de facto possibilities to exercise all their rights as everybody else requires us all to rethink our notions of charity and benevolence and the sense of inferiority they may entail when it comes to state measures on persons with disabilities.
This is the backdrop upon which we base our 6 hours of dialogue today.
Its fundamental tenet is openness toward rearranging our certainties in relation to persons with disabilities.
I would therefore invite us all to delve into today's dialogue in the spirit of critical examination of our beliefs, laws and practices, vis-à-vis persons with disabilities, and of openness toward finding new arrangement on the basis of fully equal dignity.
I will now continue with the cluster with the questions on the first cluster.
As the chair mentioned, Articles one to nine and 31 to 33.
My colleagues will after that then continue.
I would start with the recent development of the highest level.
In September 2025, the state party adopted a constitutional amendment.
Following the existing constitutional provision affirming the primacy of international human rights treaties, The new Section six of Article 7 of the Constitution reads, and I quote, The Slovak Republic retains its sovereignty, in particular in matters of national identity, consisting in particular fundamental cultural and ethical issues relating to the protection of life and human dignity, private and family life, marriage, parenthood and family, public morality, personal status, culture and language, as well as decision making on related matters in the fields of health, science, education, personal status, and inheritance.
Before its adoption, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe issued an urgent report on it.
This amendment raises questions related to our convention.
Our convention is one treaty of human rights.
The exclusion and why is that? The exclusion of unequal treatment of persons with disabilities from many areas of life, including all of the areas mentioned in the amendment has deep historical roots and has, it is sad to say, become a particularly malicious element of today's culture in many countries, not only in the state party, but around the globe.
Taken at its wording, the amendment aims at insulating these practices from international influence from international human rights treaties.
It creates, therefore, the danger of rendering much of the convention legally irrelevant in the state party.
My question therefore is whether there are any official or binding interpretations of the amendment with respect to its influence on the Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities and its impact on domestic law in the state party.
Can the delegation rule out that these amendments might be applied as obstacles to the full implementation of the convention? That is my first question.
Thank you, Marcus, for your first question.
I will now give the opportunity to the delegation to respond to this question.
Please, Your Excellence.
Thank you very much.
My name is Thomas Schoop, representative of the Ministry of Justice Slovakia.
I'd like very briefly to talk and to respond to this question.
This amendment of the constitution adopted didn't affect the Article 5 in respect to the Constitution, where there is not a need there will not be impact on these persons because these legislations or these international treaties have the precedents of the national legislation.
Convention is effective in Slovakia in 2010, and the Slovak courts are applying the convention in Slovakia, which allows broad protection of freedoms and fundamental liberties.
That is the current amendment did not enter into these procedural guarantees and, the rights under the Article 46 persons with disabilities have the right to address the courts and also different civil legislation pieces of legislation guarantee the same position for persons with disabilities.
As the others have.
Protection against discrimination and the anti discrimination legislation provides sufficient framework against discrimination in all areas of life.
Also, the onus of proof is divided in the procedure, all for this purpose.
Currently, the Ministry of Justice is preparing an amendment of the legislation on the National Human Rights Institution, where we would like to focus the rules to put in symbiosis with the Paris principles.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for this answer, but I think the head of the delegation is prepared to say something.
Not really.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ministry of Justice for this explanation.
Thank you.
I take note of the central argument that domestic law already sufficiently protects persons with disabilities, so any constitutional hindrance toward the impact of the CRPD Convention would basically have no effect.
I would, however, caution the validity of this argument, as we will see further in our dialogue that domestic law still lags behind the convention in important areas.
So my worries have not been entirely addressed, but I take note of this answer, and I would ask the state party to be careful in the application of this amendment to the COPD.
I would add a question with respect to these amendments.
They define the parents of a child famously as a mother and father, specifying that the mother is a woman and the father is a man.
Now, in light of the state party obligations to ensure the protection against multiple and intersectional discrimination, I would ask the delegation to provide information on the measures taken to protect the rights of persons with disabilities who are also LGBTIQ persons.
Thank you.
Thank you for this question.
Is Ministry of Justice ready to answer this question? Your Excellence, any response to the question? I think now they are ready to answer Justice, we have the Very good morning.
Mikhailla Rusnakova, Ministry of Justice, thank you very much for the question.
Matk and father as woman and man is still respecting the rights of all persons and we cannot understand this provision in the Constitution as threatening this equal u respect, protection, and treatment of the people.
We will be very careful that this will not take place and that Slovakia will abide by all international relations, including convention in this respect.
Thank you.
Mr.
Shaffer.
Thank you for the answer.
I think you run into a fundamental problem here.
This amendment seems to be specifically targeted to ensure a certain view of the family and a certain view of who can be a father and mother of a child, thereby excluding others.
I think that's the whole purpose of this amendment and it will remain to be seen how it is going to be applied.
I would move on still under Article 4, a very different topic.
We will move off from these amendments, even though it will be very interesting to stay with them.
Article 43 of the convention requires states parties to closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities through their representative organizations in all matters involving the implementation of the convention.
Two main obligations, not solely, but two main obligations flow from this to establish mechanisms for effective participations of organizations, of persons with disabilities, on the one hand, and in order to allow persons with disabilities to, in fact, participate, provide the necessary support for the participation of organizations.
To the first part of these obligations, establishment of effective mechanisms.
Does the state party have legally entrenched mechanisms that ensure that organizations of persons with disabilities are being fully involved before measures are being taken and not just on an ad hoc basis, but on a regular basis.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Shaffer, for this question.
I believe Ministry of Labor is ready to clarify and to give you a proper answer.
Ministry of Labor, you have the floor.
Very good morning.
Martin Turns, Ministry of Labor Social Affairs and Family Slovakia, Slovak Republic secures participation of these representative bodies on this participative principle so that persons with disabilities could participate in drafting of legislation for that purpose.
There is also an advisory body of the government, the board or council of the government for people with disabilities.
The board meets at minimum three times a year discussing their issues that need to be resolved and also submitting different proposals.
As for Mr.
Gaba from Ministry of Labor, as for the participation of the persons with disabilities, I think over the last decades we have significantly progress in this area.
We try to include persons with disabilities already in creating, drafting different strategic materials.
The voice are heard, they can draft the wordings together with us and after submitting already the document, they still have the opportunity during the review round discuss this proposed legislation to voice and write their opinions and state has to take these opinions in consideration and justify VS or not, it is included.
Thank you for the answer.
I will come to the second part of these obligations under 43 to provide support to organizations of persons with disabilities so they are in fact in a position to participate.
I note that the delegation of Slovakian NGOs present here today Those people were paid by the International Disability Alliance to be able to fly over here to Geneva.
The International Disability Alliance usually does not pay OPDs from European countries because they assume they have the means, and these organizations did not have the means to come here.
What is the state party planning to do to remedy the situation in Slovakia? I will ask again the Ministry of Labor to clarify.
Thank you.
Ildpoolkova, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family.
Slovak Republic has created a subsidy mechanism at minimum at the Ministry of Labor to support umbrella organizations, to support their publications, membership in international organizations.
In case, these organizations, they are representative organizations.
They have to have at least 50,000 members.
Also, their operation costs and rehabilitation are subsidized.
The Ministry of Labor supports the work and activity of representative bodies.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We need to move on because time is scarce here.
I will come to Article 5, the prohibition of discrimination.
When we read our concluding observations from 2016, this committee recommended to amend anti discrimination legislation in order to introduce the concept of reasonable accommodation beyond the employment sector.
To all areas of life and to recognize the denial of reasonable accommodations as a disability based discrimination.
I read the English translation of the Anti Discrimination Act that is currently on the website, and I did not see any such changes.
What is the current situation of the provision of reasonable accommodation? And are there any plans to change to extend it to all areas of life? Thank you.
Thank you Representative Ministry of Justice will answer the question.
You have the floor.
Thank you very much for the floor.
The actual status quo of the anti discrimination of the Anti Discrimination Act.
The delegates are saying the microphones are not working.
Can you hear me? The Anti Discrimination Act is a piece of legislation describing all the general rules for the protection of people and abolishes discrimination based on disabilities.
I'm saying on purpose that it's a general piece of legislation.
Because it has been a result of multilateral negotiations.
That there should be further pieces of application laws which are currently in the process of being prepared, and they will specify and assess the extent to which all these provisions will be formulated and the deadline is the end of the 2026.
Thank you.
We of course are looking forward to those proposals.
I would continue with the question on Article 5, following a judgment of the state party constitutional court statutory age limits restricting access to personal assistance and financial contributions.
For example, towards the purchase of motor vehicles have been removed.
However, the Commission for Persons with Disability states that discriminatory practices persist, and it bases this statement on complaints it received.
Um, in case of young children, for example, decisions continue to be influenced by age based stereotypes, the commissioner says and assumptions that support should be provided exclusively by parents or other family members.
And in cases of older persons with disabilities, the applications are frequently rejected on the basis of the statutory criterion of purposefulness.
Could the delegation inform the committee? On the accuracy of these statements by the commissioner and on the on any measures envisaged to remedy these problems.
Thank you.
Thank you for this question.
I will ask Representative Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to clarify to answer this question.
You have the floor.
Them.
Good morning again.
Thank you for the question and I'm sorry for the delay we had to discuss the meaning of the question, whether we understand it clearly.
I think you're talking about financial compensations.
We have a compensation for care and personal assistance and both allocations have different objectives and are designed for different groups of people.
The allocation for care is aimed at children with disabilities as well, but there is the possibility to ask for a parental allocation until the six years of age of the child.
And the parent of a child with disability can ask for this caregiver benefit.
As I explained, the objectives are different.
For the personal assistant, these benefits or allocation should cover the basic needs such as hygiene, et cetera.
These are the caregivers.
For the personal assistant, the aim is to the maximum integration into society.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, and my apologies if the question was not clear enough.
I hope the next one is clearer.
Still, the last on Article 5.
We are informed that provision of services to persons with disabilities vary greatly depending on geographical location.
And in particular, areas predominantly inhabited by Roma people are ill supported.
And we see from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights that discrimination of Roma people is a recurring issue in the state party.
Um, could the delegation specify the measures taken or planned to remedy this with respect to Roma people and with respect to the geographically even distribution availability of services.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Pfeffer, for this question.
This is, I believe, multi sectoral coverage.
Who is ready to answer this question? Social Affairs.
Social Affairs.
First, Ministry of Social Affairs and then Ministry of Justice Health.
Health.
Madam, floor is yours.
For the Ministry of Labor, I can say that providing social services They are ensured by the public bodies on regional state levels.
When it comes to the state budget, the Slovak Republic provides financial support regardless of the geographical position for persons that are dependent to some extent in different regions.
Administrative regions in Slovakia and municipalities elaborate at their respective levels, different conceptions of development of social services, and the local public um sphere, decide about this.
It's upon them to assess the need depending on their capacities and on the whole budget.
On the state level, we support the development of social services through national programs such as the development of social inclusion.
We have different calls for projects The most recent call is to new capacity building worth 76 million euro, and then with the plan of reconstruction and resilience.
We have included the development of social services free from regional and and geographical position.
When it comes to the situation of the recipient, there is a income protection stipulated in the law and if a person is not able to pay a social service, that person is freed from the obligation to pay for such service.
I'd like to give the floor to Ministry of Health.
Madame Flores.
Good morning.
Thank you for the floor.
My name is Susanna Hat Kb The Ministry of Health realizes different system measures in order to coordinate healthcare, including the care for people with disabilities.
And we aim to create a network of centers for which we had a call worth 37.5 million euro to create centers of coordinated care to improve out patient care, the management of a patient, and a multidisciplinary cooperation.
We also integrated and a cross sectional of cooperation through a multidisciplinary team based on an integrated health care or treatment plan.
It is very important for people with mental health disorders or where a long term coordination on multidisciplinary level is important and needed.
This helps to coordinate health care givens and non health care professionals to cooperate even outside the health care facilities and the health care allows people to use the services of multidisciplinary teams and to rehabilitation services.
This Presupposes a better accessibility to people with disabilities and to people from disadvantaged environments.
This is also supported by a national project focused on marginalized Roma communities where assistance of, Be self care are directly active within the communities.
They raise awareness of health care in general.
Thank you.
Thank you for the in Mr.
Shaffer, if you allow me, Ministry of Justice has some additional clarification to your question.
Thank you.
Ministry of Justice, you have the floor.
Thank you very much.
I would like to add something very shortly from the point of view of discrimination.
Any procedure aiming causing a a discrimination based on disabilities, for example, is against any law and can be claimed before a court.
We do not suppose that these discriminations are the results of conscious decisions aimed at discriminating, but they might be just the inadvertent results of existing stereotypes and existing economic inequalities.
But we need to move on to Article 6 women and girls with disabilities.
Again, I would come back to our concluding observations of 2016 where we recommended that the state party mainstream disability in all legislation and policies on gender equality and that gender is mainstream vice versa in all legislation and policies on disability rights.
My question is, has that happened? My second question is, pertains to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.
The state party has not ratified the Istanbul Convention.
Does it have any plans to do so? Thank you.
Thank you very much for this question, Ministry of Labor, you have a floor, sir.
As for Slovakia, since 2019, the ministry drafted and adopted two important documents, one national strategy of equality of men and women, and equal opportunities for up to the 2021 to 2027.
There are eight areas identify harmonization of the working and family life, equal opportunities on the labor market, political and economic participation, institutional, support and inclusion of vulnerable groups and combat against multisector discrimination.
As for this strategy, it is also focused on women and girls with disabilities.
Another important strategic document is a national plan for prevention and elimination of violence.
2022 to 2027.
The aim of this plan is to form a efficient system to prevent and decrease violence perpetrated against women in general and in families.
It is focused on children as well.
It is divided into four areas, protection of women suffering, prevention and protection and Both these strategic documents are to finish in 2027 and based on the requests from the representative bodies of persons with disabilities, we have decided to go even deeper ones updating these two strategic documents and in the era of persons with disabilities.
This commitment will be then translated into the National Program of living conditions of persons with disabilities, which is reflecting the requirements of the convention and the deadline should be 2027.
Thank you.
Now, I would like to give the floor to representative of Ministry of Justice to answer the second question.
Madam, you have the floor.
My name is Julia Kralkva from the Ministry of Justice.
So in regards to the Istanbul Convention, Slovakia has not ratified it, and at present, there is no decision to proceed with its ratification.
Nevertheless, Slovakia remains committed to strengthening the prevention of and response to violence against women and domestic violence through its national legal and institutional framework.
In this context, the Ministry of Justice is currently coordinating the transposition of the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence through a dedicated inter ministerial expert group.
The Directive establishes binding EU standards in the areas of prevention, protection, and support of victims, access to justice, and the prosecution of relevant forms of violence and in many respects reflects standards also contained in the Istanbul Convention.
The ongoing transposition therefore represents an important opportunity to further strengthen the protection of victims, including women and girls with disabilities and their specific protection and support needs.
Thank you.
Hi.
Thank you, Mr.
Schiffer.
Thank you.
My colleague, Rosemary Kays will take up the issue of gender based violence in the second cluster.
I here will move forward to Article 7 children with disabilities, and we are informed that after 2020, the state party moved quite forcefully to improve early intervention and early care.
Um we are, however, also informed by the commissioner and by civil society that problems such as insufficient and late referral to education and labor services largely due to seemingly widespread lack of information on these services, particularly among pediatricians, is quite widespread.
We were referred to alerted to other problems.
First, is the delegation aware of these problems and is there any response to remedy the situation? Thank you.
I believe the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Social Affairs is ready to clarify or give some information about the processes.
Madam, you have the floor.
Aleksandra Publicva, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and F, and I can speak on behalf of our ministry.
As for the early intervention, which is in the legislation on social services, we are focusing on solving, improving this issue.
The Ministry of Labor has drafted several strategic documents, national strategy on development of capacities and abilities as early interventions.
There are two plans in respect to this.
Also, we have a working group composed of different members, including the ministries of education and health care, but also different parent representations, also the Office of the Planioti for Roma communities.
This working group is very active in drafting different documents and it is a very good platform for exchange of opinions in this respect of early intervention and early care.
They, for example, drafted also a plan focusing on trajectory of children in this early childhood.
And we also use this methodology in different areas.
The methodology was published in 2024 and it is very much used with the children with hearing or visual disabilities.
Materials are the good output of these services as well.
Children 0-7 years are the beneficiaries.
Of these services at the moment, there are 45 of these early interventions and services and in 2025, 2,375 hours of support and activities were provided, which is a significant improve as the number of families assisted were increased by 1242.
The special benefit is that these teams providing early intervention are multidisciplinary, which helps them to provide very good professional assistance in early years of the child.
It's considered very important.
We need to support these families as early as possible.
And this is also why we issued a call to support families via this early assistance, 4.7 million is the fund and already 26 applicants registered for this assistance.
We assume that 40,000 more hours of this early intervention will be provided to these needy families.
We also work on awareness raising, informing parents.
There is, for example, a national project called campaign, including informative videos and This videos will be showed on the national TV as well.
The workshops will be organized to where these members of the teams will talk and also specialists like neonatologists and so on.
I would perhaps pass the floor to my colleague from the Ministry of Healthcare.
The lady is also the member of the task force, and we're working together in this respect.
Thank you very much.
I also thank for the support that we are getting from the Ministry of Labor.
This allows us to help children.
Clearly in the early development, are the parents and pediatrist who are the first persons to support children.
The ministry issued a document in 2019 where it issued the information what the primary pediatrist should check when these children are brought for the checkup.
The screening is done on psychomotor capacities, and then if needed, the child is referred to the checkup of different other specialists.
We are very much focusing on the fact that all these care should be of high quality so that the functional abilities of the child are really perfectly checked up and as the WHO advises us not to look only at the diagnosis but at the functionability, in particular, we need our specialists and experts to be prepared in this area so that the proper functioning of the health and disability of all these medical and other specialists, uh is done so that we can really assist the children as best we can.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You already answered one of my next questions on awareness raising.
I would, however, add an additional question to awareness raising.
And at its core, Article 8 prevents public authorities from engaging in stigmatizing comments and using derogatory languages.
And as the delegation is certainly aware of, there were two unfortunate incidents by the Minister of culture and by the Minister of the Environment who made derogatory comments publicly against persons with disabilities.
One of the comments met rebuke by the Slovak Psychiatric Association.
Coming from the highest echelons of government, Such comments may have a severely detrimental impact on the recognition of persons with disabilities as full human beings in the wider public discourse.
I would wonder if the government of the day have taken any measures to prevent any more of such public statements in the future as they are, as I mentioned, not conducive to the full implementation of the convention.
I thank you for the question.
Who is ready to answer? Social.
I see Ministry of Culture is asking for the floor.
Madam, you have the floor.
A Ministry of Culture.
Very briefly, I'd like to remind ourselves that the Ministry of Culture has a subsidized system where different culture and other type activities are earmarked for people with disabilities and allocation specific allocation is given to these activities to support persons with disabilities.
Thank you very much for this answer.
Just a remark.
These measures might work better if they weren't undermined by derogatory language.
But I think we can leave it at that.
We also saw what the problem is, we move on to accessibility.
When we look at the Slovakian laws on accessibility in many areas, I get the impression that it works best in those areas where European Union law requires accessibility.
And I would start with public transportation.
EU has extensive rules on accessibility of public transportation as far as interoperable public transport is concerned.
The technical specifications on interoperability for persons with reduced mobility, the TSI PRMs are only applicable in areas where you have cross border traffic.
For persons with disabilities to get around in a city, however, that does not entail cross border traffic, Bratislava may be an exception there is essential.
Does the state party have any rules governing the accessibility of non interoperable public transport that does not fall under EU rules? That would be my first question on Article 9.
Thank you, Mr.
Shaffer.
Ministry of Transport, you have a Answer for this question.
You have the floor.
Very good morning, Rad Batslavk Ministry of Transport.
The question partially was directed to transfer, what partially to the infrastructure of the towns municipalities, which we cannot really have an impact on.
However, in legislation, we have specified and stipulated that the stations and stops and access to those should be Facilitate as much as possible and legislation, there are provisions which say that the access to the stop should be barrier free if the stop is up and the owner of the stop has to allow barrier free access to the stop.
The legislation has stipulated the condition that these access to stops and stations, should be accessible and accommodated to persons with disabilities as well.
Thank you.
I'll ask now Ministry of Labor to additional clarifications to this question.
Madam, you have the floor.
Ministry of Health, certain support and elimination of barriers and support of mobility of disabled person is the service of transport that we offer.
There is an allowance for transport where we subsidize a we provide allowance for the cost of the transport, for example, for taxi service or allowance for purchase of a motor vehicle and for operation of the motor vehicle.
So this service which is available may also assist in decreasing the barriers and mobility of persons with disabilities.
Thank you very much.
And just to the last response, as interim measures, such support is certainly very valuable as a whole, to create an environment, transport environment that does not discriminate.
Of course, it should not lead to two separate modes of transport for persons with disabilities and everybody else.
And still accessibility under construction under the Building Act.
Construction, barrier free construction or accessible construction, that is to say, very much depends on the existence of technical standards as architects and engineers need standards so they know how to go along when building new structures.
We were told that the technical standards under the New Building Act under the Building Act have not been adopted yet.
Is this accurate? If yes, is there any plan to develop technical standards and adopt them? Thank you.
Madam, do you have the floor.
Angela Horntska, the Office of Land Planning and Construction.
In the beginning, I'd like to say something and my colleague will take the floor.
Yes, as for the building legislation in Slovakia in last year, significant changes took place as the New Building Act was passed, which changed also legislative processes in respect to um building permits, and it also introduce electronic permits, which could be understood as one of the barrier or barrier free intentions.
This year and also in the past year, some bylaws were drafted, one related to barrier free use of buildings.
At the moment in the Parliament, there is an amendment of the Building Act so that by law is not in effect yet and will come into effect in the very same period as the Building Act will be In effect.
This by rule is prepared and very probably it will come into effect since first January 2027.
As for the details, my colleague will give you more information.
Thank you very much.
Just briefly.
My name is ana Villimova.
I am also on behalf of the Office of Spatial Planning and Construction.
I would join His Excellency, Mr.
Roscha who said that we will or aim to reduce or eliminate all the barriers so that not only in new buildings, but also in existing buildings everywhere where it is possible.
Our office has prepared by law stipulating conditions for barrier free use of buildings.
This by law will contain general conditions that are common for any types of buildings, but it will also stipulate specific conditions for buildings or where the need of barrier free access is necessary and essential, for example, hospitals, schools, playgrounds for children, or sports grounds, cultural institutions, et cetera All these and other buildings We'll have to apply and comply with more specific conditions.
The requirements were not just a technical transcription of something that is needed, but required by one of the reports, but they are aimed at the practical aspect of the life of people with disabilities so that these people could fully use those buildings and were free of barriers.
Thank you.
Your Excellence, Mr.
Marques, we come to the end of the time allocated for this first round.
We will ask you to ask questions on Article 31 to 33 in one block.
Then we'll go for 10 minutes break and we can continue after the break.
Continue, please.
Thank you, Chair.
I will of course do so.
Now I have, of course, many more questions than I can ask.
Starting out with Article 31 on statistics and data collection, the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities tells us that they have difficulty in obtaining data on the situation of persons with disabilities.
The Commissioner views an insufficient prioritization of systematic data collection with respect to the situation of persons with disabilities.
The Ministry of Justice has abolished the Analytical Center in 2024, leading to a situation where there seems to be no data on judicial proceedings concerning the discrimination of persons with disabilities, including restrictions of legal capacity and guardianship.
We will get to that in a later thing.
Um, my question is whether the state party employs the Washington short set of questions in its data collection that is adopted by the Washington Group of Disability Statistics.
On Article 32 on international cooperation, Now, according to a study by the OECD, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in 2026, this is a recent study.
The state party in 2024 committed $400,000 that is 1.1% of its bilateral allocable official development assistance to the development of cooperation projects and programs promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, 1.1%.
And the medium term development cooperation strategy that the Slovak Republic has 2025-2030 makes no mention at all of persons with disabilities.
This suggests a near comprehensive lack of measures in international cooperation of the rights of persons with disabilities.
What is the situation here and is there any plan to remedy the situation? Then on Article 33, National implementation and monitoring, There are two issues.
On the one hand, the commissioner states that the resources allocated to the commissioner do not allow systematic monitoring from that body.
And an additional issue is Article 333.
Participation of organizations of persons with disabilities.
We've come across this problem before.
They tell us their resources do not allow them to regularly participate in monitoring activities, but only to sporadically participate.
Is there anything on the way to remedy the situation? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Schiffer.
We go now for 10 minutes break.
We'll come back at 11:46.
Thank you.
Yes.
We continue our session with the response of the delegation to the three last questions which has been asked by Mr.
Shaffer.
For that, we have 10 minutes Then afterwards, we will give the opportunity to the other members of the task force to ask questions on the first cluster.
Your Excellence, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Chair.
I would like to ask representative of Ministry of Labor to answer first and third question.
Minister, you have the floor.
Thank you very much for the floor.
And on behalf of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, I would say they gather data regularly, even on people with disabilities and they implement measures on the implementation of the national program on the development of living condition of persons with disabilities for 2021 to 2013.
It is they have a select number of indicators, and they are accessible at their website.
The Ministry of Labor has a yearly report with statistical data about people with disabilities and the allocations allocated to them.
Then the Centers of Labor and Social Affairs, I do have statistics on the allocations and the system of social services is being updated regularly.
We follow the type and capacity and the providers of the social services.
Thank you.
Hi.
Thank you.
Madam Flores.
Concerning the third questions, we have said that, but I will repeat it here for the support of the participation and functioning of the representatives of persons with disabilities.
The Ministry of Labor provides a subsidy on the support of membership in international organizations and addition activities or publishing activities of those organizations.
The subsidy for the membership in international organizations is aimed at the membership fees.
And travel expense for the events that are organized by the international organizations and for the aims of the members of those civic organizations, then the insurance fees, and some other expense like um Rent, fees, et cetera.
Then we have an advisory body to the government.
It's a board of representatives of organizations representing the persons with disabilities and they are elected and the minutes of the meetings are regularly published at the website of the Ministry of Labor.
They are included in legislative processes and as the Slovak Republic is a planning to continue supporting these activities and these meetings that should happen at least three times a year.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Now I would like to give the floor to my colleague from the Permanent Mission to answer a second question.
Madam, you have the floor.
Thank you very much.
Beta Pscaa from the Permanent commission.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Shaffer, for the question concerning the development cooperation.
It is very close to my heart because before joining the Mission, I used to work for Development Department, so I will be answering your question even though we don't have, unfortunately, colleagues from this department here with us.
When it comes to development cooperation, there are two main governing bodies, if you will, in the design and implementation of our ODA projects.
We have Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is responsible for creating strategies, as you rightly mentioned, for instance, the midterm strategy and also other sectional strategies, and then we have different implementing agency, which is a budgetary organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is responsible for the implementation on the ground.
The whole design project and the lifecycle of the projects are informed by principle of equal rights and opportunities for all.
In the whole project design, this precondition is embedded.
We are our projects are informed by the people from the ground, so we are in very close cooperation with the NGOs, who are the main implementators of the projects, but also one of the main authors.
Um, our projects are also community based, focused.
It means that we are, for instance, we have very interesting projects, educational projects in Kenya where we are building schools for people who are vulnerable.
We are providing support for people who are suffering conflict or other vulnerable situations in cooperation with our humanitarian branch.
Um, we have capacity building projects, and all of these projects are focused on communities that we take as a whole.
It means that all of the participants need to have equal access to participation in the projects, but also to the benefits of the projects.
Uh, before any project can receive a financial contribution, it goes through very deliberate screening through a project committee.
If we see at that stage that the project is not promising to deliver equally for all participants, then this project would be rejected.
You rightly pointed out that the new midterm strategy maybe doesn't mention I verbatim or exclusively people with disabilities, which can be remedied, of course, but our understanding is that it's pre existing condition for the approval of such project and the delivery.
But I'm sure this is something that could be remedied in the future.
Thank you.
He.
Thank you for all your responses.
We come to As now the other members of the task force to intervene and also a member of the committee.
We have only 20 minutes for that.
Amalia, Thank you, Chair.
I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the distinguished delegation of Slovakia to this dialogue, as well as the civil society organizations here present.
I'd like to ask a question on Article 7.
Children with spina vita and members of their family often face obstacles in early childhood and the same with children with Down syndrome.
Often, families take on the responsibility, the main responsibility to cater to their needs.
When there's no support for modality or accessible school environments and psychosocial support, these children can be excluded from daily activities and can face isolation and even be segregated.
Obviously, families deal with stress and administrative burdens in this scenario.
My question is, what plans does the state have to try to address such situations, the specific situation of children with spinaivivida and Don syndrome, since the system often does not have a coordinated approach for children with complex disabilities.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Kim, please.
Excellency, this thing is member of the of Oslo, I would like to warmly welcome you.
My concerns question about the women angle with disabilities.
The committee has received information that Slovakia still does not have a specific policy, strategy or action plan systematically addressing the multiple intersectional discrimination experienced by women ang with disabilities, especially women and go with disability with intellectual disability, including women and girls with Down syndromes.
We also understand that the national disability strategy and the gender equality strategy are not yet systematically aligned and that there are insufficient measures indicators specifically concerning women angle with disabilities.
Could the delegation indicate when the state dearty will establish a dedicated, adequately funded and measurable framework for women angle with disabilities with clear targets, indicators, and accountability mechanisms Please also explain how women angle with disabilities and their representative organization will be closely concerted and actively involved in its development, implementation, and monitoring.
Thank you so much.
Your Excellence, you have responses to these two questions.
Thank you very much.
Social Ministry of Social Affairs is ready to answer the question.
We would like to respond, but we did not have the interpretation we are so we couldn't hear it.
Any questions? Thanks for the moment, Ministry of Social Affairs is ready to partially answer the questions.
Madam, you have the floor.
No.
Well, from the point of view of the Ministry of labor, I said that there is the early intervention service.
I provided all the data and statistics, and if I understood it correctly, the question.
The question is whether we have a coordinated care, which is not Sufficient allegedly.
At the level of early intervention and other social services, What works very well is the case by case management, where the care is designed to address the issues for the child and the family.
The early intervention system can orientate and focus very well the child and their family to other services that are available within their community For example, if the child is to be enrolled to a preschool facility, the social workers accompany the child and the family to ensure a smooth transfer from one system to another from the system of social services towards the educational system.
It works also the other way around.
If there is a child born with a disability, there are specialists that are in contact with neonatologists and come directly to the hospital to explain the parent What the other services will look like and what will happen once the mother with the child are back at home.
We are aware of the fact that such a service cannot be provided only on the level of social service, but on further levels so that it's more accessible to a broader number of people.
That's why the Ministry of Labor in cooperation with other ministry, we draft a a paper where we focus on case management that will identify individual needs of people with disabilities and who are dependent on the help of another person and coordination of the co And the definition of competencies of different stakeholders so that the forms of support and help are accessible and focused.
Madame Bs.
Uh huh.
With the Slovakia.
My thanks to the delegation.
I have a question relating to equipment.
Or what tools you have to tackle matters relating to violence against women.
There is a national strategy against this, but what measures are in place to address the issue of violence against women with disabilities, particularly women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities? Is it possible to receive any remedies for this? I have a further question on forced sterilization.
In the past in Slovakia, I know that this is a problem that has affected the Roma community.
So what guarantees are there to ensure that women with disabilities are what possibilities do they have of escaping this forced sterilization? How do you ensure that such cases are not repeated in future? Do you have a question, Mr.
Sheffer? Yes, Chair.
Thank you.
I have many questions, but I will not ask all of them.
I would first come with a very technical issue.
The state party report is relatively old and we would be very grateful to the delegation if they could provide us with all the new laws and projects that you've mentioned in your introductory statement and in your responses.
Then I have a brief response to the answer on Article 32.
The holistic approach, I understand the logic.
However, the reason why the CRPD exists is that the holistic approach on equality usually hasn't worked for persons with disabilities, they just get forgotten.
Chances are that this is what's happening in ODA in Slovakia.
Two, looking at the OECD report of 2026, it suggests they usually get forgotten, the 1.1%.
My question on accessibility.
Accessibility also pertains to questions of accessible housing.
And organizations of persons with disabilities inform us that accessible housing is mainly the housing provided by social housing.
And once a person exceeds the income and wealth limits that qualifies that person for social housing, they have to move out and find a rental apartment, and there apparently accessible housing is extremely scarce so that person with disabilities end up with no accessible housing.
So for the moment, these are the questions, and if we have time, I will come up later on.
Thank you.
Your Excellence, you have a response to these questions.
Thank you, Chair.
I'm going to ask Representative of Ministry of Labor to answer certain questions raised by Madame Boresy.
Flores yours.
Thank you very much for the floor when it comes to measures.
The main document is the National plan for the elimination of the violence against women for 2022 and 2027.
There are different areas.
The first are the protection of women and their children.
There is the free access to legal advice.
The next measure is specialized support services like specialized centers or nonstop helpline for women who experience violence.
Then there is the cooperation with NGOs who aim at the safety and protection of people with disabilities and women and children in the area of the of prevention of violence.
We have different campaigns and programs.
We have already mentioned the National Project campaign where in the area of gender equality, we focus on the topic of violence against women and we raise awareness in that matter.
Then there is a multidisciplinary cooperation between the Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, a Ministry of Health, and we improve and precise certain pieces of legislation.
We have an act on victims of violence.
And then we have a very specialized institute.
It's a center for the prevention of violence against women.
It is governed by the Ministry of Labor and we provide methodology trainings and different educational programs.
Then there is the multidisciplinary coordination, that means interaction between police justice and others.
Thank you.
I thank you for further answer.
I will give the floor to Representative of Ministry of Justice.
Madam Flore is yours.
Add on addressing violence against women, especially with disabilities and Silva addresses this through a combination of criminal law protection and the victim support framework.
So under the Act on victims of crime victims of domestic violence are considered particularly vulnerable victims and are entitled to specialized assistance and enhanced protection.
And the system provides for an individual approach to victims protection and support needs and access to specialized victim support services.
At the same time, we recognize that women and girls with disabilities may face additional barriers and may require support specifically adapted to their needs.
This is particularly relevant in the ongoing transposition of the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Where this directive gives us additional concrete tools to strengthen the existing system, including the individual assessment of protection and support needs, coordinated referral to appropriate services, accessible specialized support, and targeted support for victims with disabilities and victims experiencing intersectional discrimination.
In particular, Article 33 requires support services to have sufficient capacity to accommodate victims with disabilities, taking into account specific needs, including personal assistance.
We therefore see the ongoing transposition not simply as a legislative exercise, but as an opportunity to identify existing gaps and further develop practical, accessible, and coordinated protection for women and girls with disabilities.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We still have 5 minutes.
We have the last question from Amalia.
Then we'll give the opportunity to the delegation to respond to this question.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I just want to clarify one issue because I think there was some misunderstanding.
If you can't answer now, please answer in writing.
Can you tell us specifically whether there are any programs for children with spina bifida? According to information that has reached us, they are not receiving the required support.
That was a specific question, not a general one.
Thank you.
Can you send a written response to this question, please? Thank you, Chair.
Yes, definitely, we will send a written reform and we will include also the request of Mr.
Sheffer about the list of rules, regulations, and everything that is in the process in the one package.
Thank you.
Rose, maybe, do you? Do you have questions or comments Thank you, Chair.
I don't have any comments on cluster one.
I'm aware that we're running out of time.
I'm aware that we're completely out of time for cluster one, and I'm ready to start cluster two whenever the chair is ready.
Can you start, please? I'm happy to do so.
Good afternoon.
I'd like to warmly welcome the delegation from Slovakia and I'm very honored for this to be my last dialogue with a state party for the completion of my two terms on the committee.
I will be covering the articles in cluster two.
Now, I will be approaching our discussion on This subject, not article by article basis, but wish to explore broader themes.
This will require a degree of agility from the delegation.
Although I do know the delegation has given a degree of agility in its work so far on cluster one, and we appreciate that approach.
We can take it that I've read the state report, so I'm not looking for a recitation of the content, but a focus on the question at hand.
Cluster two consists of the transposing of civil and political rights in the context of the specific situation for persons with disabilities.
Many of the articles go to the heart of the human rights anchor norms of human dignity, equal value, and worth.
This was the center of the drafting intent of the convention, challenging the deeply entrenched, as notions of inferiority on the basis of impairment, which leads to law, policy, and practices that deny these fundamental norms.
And so I would like to start with psychiatric and residential care and out.
Thanks.
What I'd really like to start with is a combination of respect and dignity of the human in the most fundamental of rights, the right to life.
I'd like to understand whether there are any measures being taken to establish mandatory, independent autopsies in cases of deaths in psychiatric care, including reasons for death, and the associated relationship to the use of restraints and measures to establish independent public reporting and monitoring of deaths in psychiatric care.
That's my first question.
Thank you.
Madam Case.
Is the Ministry of Health ready to answer? Ministry of Health? Madam Flores.
Very good afternoon.
Monica Silva.
Solga Veronica, Ministry of Health.
I'd like to say that is it quite a specific and complex question.
I would rather respond to that question based on the information and analysis of my colleagues.
After getting the information from my colleagues, I would like to submit the answer to this very complex question.
Thank you.
Yes, certainly, please consult with your colleagues and come back to me.
I thought it was a fairly straightforward question about whether there's any mandatory reporting happening and frameworks to monitor deaths in psychiatric care, but I can await your answers.
I In 2016, the concluding observations of this committee recommended that Slovakia discontinue the use of physical, mechanical and chemical restraints, the use of isolation, and seclusion, and to reform laws and policies that allow such practices in psychiatric institutions.
In January 2022, the Committee Against Torture, in its decision in Sunnakova and Slovakia, recommended that Slovakia prevent and prohibit the use of physical restraints in psychiatric and other institutions.
We have received reports.
Restraints, including net vents, continue to be used in psychiatric hospitals, often for long periods of time, with the longest being 11 days in one hospital.
Persons with disabilities are mechanically restrained, including for eating and going to the toilet.
What steps have been taken now it's 2026 to prevent and prohibit the use of all forms of restraint and the use of isolation and seclusion in psychiatric and other institutions? Hi.
Thank you.
I believe Ministry of Health is ready to answer and to give you clarification with regard to your question.
Madam, you have the floor.
Ja, thank you for the question.
Ministry of Health, Slovakia approved the concept of humanization of decare in psychiatry.
It published in 2022 in its journal, and that concept is the basic for preparation of the current legislative and non legislative changes related to this u restraining facilitators.
The first part related to the legislation of the use of these restraining aids.
Until 2022 or before 2022, legislation was passed that has identified which aid may be used in which healthcare facilities and are in harmony with international institutions in that era as a restraining aid when providing aid till the end of 2024, a person could have been placed in a net bed.
However, since first January 2025, these protective beds or in other words, net beds are forbidden to use.
The providers of the care have to report whichever restraining aid is used to the Ministry of Healthcare, also to the office of the prosecutor and also to the person which is identified as the legislation as the representative of the person.
There is also a decree which speaks about the methodology, procedures, the obligations of notifications, and related to these kind of activities.
So this use of restraining aids are monitored.
There is a special form in which every case has to be included.
There is also a methodology guidance which has been issued.
There is the registry of these restraining aids which are forbidden or which are used, and there is also the guidance on notification of the use of restraining aids.
The second stage relates to the legislation also related to use of restraining aids.
However, that Well, this legislation has come into effect since the beginning of the year 2025.
So the law in effect on first January 2025 stipulated what can be used, what cannot be used, what protective treatment means, and especially the focus was on pycretic facilities.
All information and the legislation was published in the journal under the Ministry of Healthcare.
There was a working group which also focused its activity on abolishing on removal of these kind of straining aids like net beds.
In 2024, there were 211 protective, in other words, net bets.
The plan on recovery and resolution, the EU plan allowed us to be more active in this area and start building protective rooms, which would be the alternative to previous use to those net beds.
That rooms are used for patients with psychiatric disorder.
And it's done for their own safety and safety of other personnel.
It's called Simon safety rooms.
The decree and there is another decree of Ministry of Health care which defines precisely what physical restraint means, what seclusion means, what are the persons that can assist to medical personnel in using restraining aids.
So the aim was to introduce softer ways of sorting out difficult situations, also proper talk with the patients to try to de escalate the situation.
Also, obligatory training of medical personnel has been introduced the Give us in 1 minute a response.
Then afterwards, we give the opportunity to miss cases to ask another question.
Please.
Microphone Well, the education and training also focuses on the aggressive behavior via de escalation tactic, different role play.
Also, the register of this restraining aids has been reduced and also the type of notification and registration or putting down the use of this means has been introduced.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Though I would caution Slovakia that you're not just transposing one form of restraint with another form of restraint through seclusion and isolation.
The prohibition of restraint measures and non coercive and the introduction of non coercive measures is the ambition of what we're trying to achieve with the convention is to move towards non coercive supports for people in psychiatric distress.
What I would like to do is move on to we understand that Slovakia supports, and this is entirely related.
The Slovakia supports the revised version of the draft optional protocol of the ADO Convention, known as option two.
I'd like to understand the rationale behind this support, given the committee has consistently made its views known about the draft optional protocol.
To the Oviedo Convention not being compatible with the standards and principles of the convention, I'd like to have an understanding of Slovakia's position around this, considering the conversation that we've just had about compulsory treatments that go to the heart of dignity and human value and worth.
Thank you to present additional clarifications or explanations to request or question recent deposed.
We will Rosemary, do you have other questions? Good afternoon.
Maybe perhaps listen to the question perhaps a little bit reformulated.
Would you be so kind? No.
Why is Slovakia supporting option two of the Oviedo optional protocol for the maintenance of compulsory treatment orders? I mean, it's a pretty straightforward question.
I don't wish to insult the delegation.
But essentially, Slovakia is on the record of saying that it supports the option two, which is amending the optional protocol.
Madam Chair, in this case, I believe we will use the opportunity to answer in the written form too because there are some doubts, hesitation how to answer and what is exactly in our legislation in the process.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for taking that on board.
I'd like to, Return to the issue of miss Sakova.
I'd like to come back to how the committee dealt with this case as well.
In this committee's 2026 decision in Cukova and Slovakia, It highlighted that Slovakia had failed to ensure effective access to justice for miss Senkova and failed to prevent ill treatment and violence in the institution in which she resided.
Miss Senakova also submitted an individual communication to the Committee Against Torture, as I noted earlier, and they made a similar finding in 2021.
Can the delegation explain what procedural accommodations, including gender and age appropriate accommodations, have been introduced to facilitate the effective role of persons with disabilities as participants in judicial and administrative proceedings? If you can, how is Slovakia addressing this high incidence of violence in institutions, in particular for women with disabilities? I will refer back to the National Action Plan that many of my colleagues have raised and just ask if that plan includes the specific incidences of violence in institutions and a mechanism within the strategy to address and eliminate that.
Okay.
I think you I have some doubts if the name is not misspelled, probably.
Yeah.
And in your language.
We are aware of one case, but the name is slightly different.
So I don't know if Ministry of Labor, but Flo is yours.
I.
As to eliminate these cases in October 2022, Slovakia, or the Parliament of Slovakia passed legislation 345 on inspection in social affairs and this inspection falls under wider care and protection of persons in institutional care and also including the children and children and adults.
And in providing informal care for these people at home and also in case of providing grants and allowances in this respect.
These inspections is active, the general public may address this inspection in respect to the quality etique psychical approach of the care provided.
The inspection always checks, investigates, and solves individually all or complaints.
If however, the complaint doesn't include needed information, inspections requires to add this information within seven days.
The Rosemary, do you want to comment? I really like to clarify the question.
Thank you for the information about what you're doing.
I suppose what I'm wanting well, no, I don't suppose I know what I'm wanting is for information about procedural accommodations when complaints are made.
So what specific procedural accommodations are being made both in administrative and judicial processes to prosecute or to compensate prosecute um, offenders and also to compensate victims.
The other aspect is, um, Is it contained? Are there mechanisms contained within the national strategy that recognize violence against women in institutional care? So if you're responding in writing, that's the specifics we really want to get to.
Thank you, Madam.
I think is the Ministry of Justice ready to say something or sorry, what is yours? Thank you for the floor just very briefly.
It is a very complex issue and question.
And what I am ready to present now are measures that are being prepared in the proceedings in the amendment of the Civil Code.
We can also respond to the question about the approach to victims and the compensation or help to those victims.
This can be taken from different aspects, but I'm afraid that I cannot reduce the scope without missing something out.
That's why I would like to provide the answer in writing.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for taking that on board and we look forward to your answers.
Are there similar steps in terms of, I acknowledge the work that's being done with the Roma women who have been forcibly sterilized and I suppose what I want to know is, are you doing the same thing for women and girls with disability? The critical point that I want to check is including sterilization procedures that have been consented to by guardians or other third parties.
Thank you.
Is Ministry of Health ready to answer this question and give some clarifications, what is where we are now.
Madam F is yours.
Bs.
Thank you for the floor.
The aim to reduce or eliminate the shortcomings in this question is that we have the Institute of the Informed Consent, which is stipulated in the law and the medical professional is a obliged to receive give the opportunity to such consent.
It should be done without any pressure and giving the person enough time to take an informed decision.
The sterilization is defined as in the health care law, and it is defined as a intervention including the elimination of sexual glands of the person.
There should be an informed consent.
That is preceded by the information of the person and the patient and or on the basis of a court decision.
The informed consent should be provided in line with the requirements stipulated in the law and in line with the requirements of the planned parentship sterilization cannot be done before 30 days have elapsed after or from the informed consent.
The informed consent should be done in the official language or in the language of minorities of the Soviet Republic.
The Ministry of Health made in 2023, created a group of experts whose aim was to to map the situation and the report of this control group was handed to the National Council of the Slovak Republic, to the Parliament and its committee for the minorities.
The Ministry of Health has no further information about sterilizations done without the informed consent since 2024.
Thank you very much for that information.
That doesn't get to the point of whether recognition of third party consent may not be and court orders may not be the will and preference of the person with a disability.
This is what I'm trying to get to.
It's the fact that many women and girls with disability have decisions made by other people about the sterilization and it's, um, And its lifelong impacts that has on them.
What I'd really like to understand is whether that element is being recognized as a form of ill treatment and violence against women.
What I'd like to know also is, are there any steps to prohibit the unnecessary medical interventions performed on intersex children? Are there any groups or organizations that are advocating for such a prohibition and for guidelines on intersex healthcare? Can you continue your questions because we have only 10 minutes? Do you want to go We have a number of reports about the extremely slow deinstitutionalization process occurring in Slovakia.
We've also heard that the risks of re institutionalization, including proposals to overrun limits on maximum capacity of residential care homes.
We know that demand for institutional care is high, but I have heard this is due to insufficient personal care support, inaccessible housing in the community, and the overreliance on families to provide support.
Can a delegation clarify what are the challenges and where resistance is coming from expediting de institutionalization? Do you have strategies to address the labor shortage in personal care support, the lack of qualified social workers, to address the lack of accessible housing in the community, and to develop community based support services? How are you working with municipalities and regions to coordinate action to address concerns to facilitate deinstitutionalization? In your strategy of deinstitutionalization, do you have measures to foster community understanding and support for community living and an understanding of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Can you clarify the public resources If public resources and the European funds such as the structural funds are being used for the construction and expansion of institutional settings, or are you actively redirecting funds to community based support services and accessible housing? I don't know.
Lastly, can you provide information on the draft U Civil Code and its provisions on supported decision making? Does it contain provisions for eliminating substitute decision making, whether the supported decision making provisions are qualified in any way, or are they universal? What restrictions are there on people with disabilities to access financial services such as banking? Thank you.
Thank you, Rosemary, for your questions.
If you don't mind, I will give the opportunity to the delegation to respond to questions.
This afternoon we have more 20 minutes to have a response for your questions.
Your Excellence.
Thank you very much for this very long list of questions.
I see Ministry of Labor is ready to take the floor.
Madame F is yours.
Thank you for the floor.
When it comes to the process of the institutionalization, we have made several steps.
In 2015, we prepared the strategy of the institutionalization of the health care.
In 2021, we adopted another strategy.
Of the institutionalization of the system of social services and care, that was the continuation of the first strategy.
Now we are in the phase of preparing strategic plans of deinstitutionalization from 2021 and a new action plan of deinstitutionalization.
The strategy will be proposed to the government by the end of this year.
And the national action plan will be prepared by the end of this year as well.
Some measures that have been formulated in the new strategy, for example, the preparation and realization implementation of the project and projects and strategies on a community level and functional instruments for analysis and monitoring of funding and quality.
Aspects.
We are aware of some development to be done in this area.
We plan to create a system around this.
Concerning the process itself, it's a slow process.
We do admit and there is no time framework for it.
We have only defined some midterm goals, but the process, We view it as continuous and it requires not only a transformation of existing facilities, but an improving of the fieldwork and monitoring, which is very important.
It plays an important role.
In terms of investments from the plan of renewal or There was an allocation designed for community services, for the building and renovation or worth 200 million euro.
We covered 179 projects in 65 different facilities of social services, and there are some Outpatient measures.
There are different capacities in different centers, there are the capacity of 12 places, next inpatient facilities, specializing especially on long term care with a capacity of 30 persons.
The whole is worth So 3,000 new places that are created on community level.
From the program Slovakia, there was a new call worth 76 million euro that was focused on community services.
All the investments are focused on social services do happen on community level and we do not plan to support a high capacity institution providing the care.
Excuse me.
I'll consult with my colleague.
Now the issue of capacities.
And the discussion about capacities of social services in Slovakia? There is an expert discussion between the providers of social services and the recipient, meaning umbrella organizations.
If you can be concise on your response, please.
I'll try to be brief.
Slovakia, really.
Has not adopted any concrete measures, but there is an expert discussion about the efficiency of facilities and the discussion includes all relevant stakeholders, including municipalities and regional administration bodies and organizations of different legal forms.
And including also the recipients of social services.
So the expert discussion is happening right now and we don't know now how the capacity limits will be addressed by Slovakia.
But I can say that Slovakia has no interest to eliminate the limits, but to adapt them after the discussion.
Effort you have made to respond to the questions.
We have now to go for lunch.
We'll come back at 3:00.
Thank you.