The Government approved the nationwide Human Rights Promotion and Protection Strategy at its session held on Wednesday. It took two years to prepare the Strategy, which sets tasks such as carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the state of affairs in human rights protection, creating a nationwide committee for education concerning human rights, improving the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence and intolerance and introducing equal rights and protection for those living in partnerships outside marriage. Prime Minster Robert Fico said that they approved a well-balanced Strategy and that everybody had a chance to express an opinion on the document. Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, who supervised the drafting of the Strategy, claimed that the document doesn't force anything upon anyone and its goal isn't to decide matters. The adoption of the Strategy doesn't change the current state of affairs. "It's a contribution to a discussion, it's a programme document," he said. According to Lajčák, one of the main conclusions derived from the Strategy is that Slovakia needs to focus more on education vis-a-vis human rights. He added that although Slovakia has signed all important human rights conventions, implementation in real life is minimal.
Non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of the family have asked the Government to reject this Strategy. "We consider this document to be unbalanced. We'd like to incorporate many rights into it, such as those to life and family protection, as well as conscientious objection," said Maria Raučinová from Life Forum. The organisations further claim that adopting this strategy would mean disrespecting the will of the people who participated in the recent referendum on the protection family. The organisations in question have launched a petition against the Strategy, which has supposedly been signed by more than 12,000 people.
