On Wednesday the Cabinet passed an action plan to prevent and eliminate racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance for 2016-18. The document's aim is to prevent the emergence of prejudice, stereotypes and acts of hatred on grounds of nationality, ethnicity, religion or other reasons, and prevent the spread of such attitudes and activities. This plan follows from the tasks outlined in a nationwide strategy for the protection and support of human rights in Slovakia passed in February 2015. "Despite the existence of all legislative documents and non-legislative measures, their application in practice is still far from the ideal," reads the ministry's statement.
The Interior Ministry claims that opinions of a significant part of the Slovak public are influenced by stereotypes, prejudice and generalisations and they are often based on inaccurate information. This is evidenced by a Eurobarometer poll from October 2015 which showed that less than half of Slovaks would be comfortable with having a black or Asian person as a co-worker and only a few more percent of Slovaks (57 percent) would regard having a Jewish co-worker as all right. These are the lowest rates of tolerance from among the whole EU. Asian person as a co-worker and only a few more percent of Slovaks would regard having a Jewish co-worker as all right. These are the lowest rates of tolerance from among the whole EU. When it came to Muslims the number is even smaller - only 37 percent would be comfortable with having such a person as a co-worker. A similarly low rate of tolerance was present when asked whether Slovaks would be comfortable if their child found a girlfriend or boyfriend of a different religion. Overall there is a prevalence of dismissive attitudes towards ethnic and religious minorities in Slovakia
In response to the action plan for 2016-18, Most-Hid vice-chair Lucia Žitňanská said that it flies in the face of Prime Minister Robert Fico's statements regarding the migration crisis. "Statements about monitoring every member of the Muslim community or the prevention of the emergence of a compact Muslim community are exactly the ways to invoke prejudice and fear that incite religious hatred," said Žitňanská. According to her, the approval of the document is completely meaningless, as "nobody can believe in the Government's willingness to fulfil this action plan - not even the Prime Minister himself."
