Lawmakers will delay until September a vote to change Slovakia's constitution to give national laws precedence over European Union and other international treaties on "national identity" issues.
The move was announced by the head of the Smer-SD party, Ján Richter. It comes with the government having so far narrowly failed to secure the three-fifths majority in parliament required to amend the constitution.
The amendment proposes that only two sexes be recognised, male and female, and that school curricula respect the constitution, including its cultural and ethical stances. It further touches other areas, including child adoption rules.
The amendment, proposed earlier this month, has been criticised by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty. He urged Slovak parliamentarians to reject constitutional amendments that would undermine general human rights protections or target specific groups, and to instead uphold the country’s international human rights commitments.
Sources: TASR, Reuters, coe.int
