On Wednesday, the Government approved the first detailed document on national minorities. It gives a picture of the status of national minorities in the social, economic and political context and looks at how the rights of national minorities are respected in terms of compliance with national and international laws.
The report also includes a comparison of the status of national minorities in 2012 with the previous years. Since 1991 more than 100,000 Hungarians came to Slovakia, however last year the number of this national minority in Slovakia had declined, brings the report. Apart from other things, the report claims that national minorities in Slovakia differ from the majority population by the fact that they are more religious, as well as by the fact that they have lower professional qualifications and thus also work in jobs which require a lower degree of education. Moreover, the report reads that unemployment in the regions heavily populated by national minorities rises faster.
The reaction of the opposition to the report is rather negative, claiming its utopia like wording resembles the communist era. László Nagy, the former Governmental Proxy for this topic claims the report does not touch on the incidents when high positioned politicians would talk derogatively about members of various national minorities. Moreover, the opposition is saying the discourse on human rights in Slovakia is going in a wrong direction that raises concerns, stated on Wednesday Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights and National Minorities, Rudolf Chmel from the opposition party MOST-HID party.
