Concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

In May 2023, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has considered the 7th periodic report of the Slovak Republic on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

In its consideration of the compliance of Slovak legislation and practice with international human rights standards, the Committee also took into account information provided by the Centre through our alternative report (available as docx) and during discussions with members of the Committee, as well as information provided by civil society organisations – Fenestra, Women‘s Circles and the Center for Civil and Human Rights (available as docx), and of the Freedom of Choice (Možnosť voľby), InTYMYta and Center for Reproductive Rights (available as docx), which also play a crucial role in protecting and promoting human rights in Slovakia.

The Committee addressed several new and repeated recommendations to the Slovak Republic, among others:

1) to strenghten its efforts to allocate sufficient technical, human and financial resources to the Centre and ensure full compliance with the Paris Principles

2) to expedite the enactment of comprehensive legislation on the prevention and elimination of violence against women

3) to adopt targeted measures to ensure Ukrainian refugees have access to employment, accommodation, childcare facilities and food security

4) to provide education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, which is age-appropriate and based on scientific evidence and international human rights standards

5) to ensure legal abortion, including abortion on request, and modern contraceptives are covered by the public health system and remove the restrictions to access safe abortion services

6) to strengthen efforts to eliminate and sanction the segregation of Roma women in hospital maternity wards and facilitate access to justice of victims of involuntary sterilizations

7) to ensure that transgender women can keep obtaining the legal recognition of their gender and change their names in civil registries without undergoing involuntary sterilization

The recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women are available on the OHCHR website (as docx). The Centre will closely monitor their implementation at the national level.