According to the latest report by Amnesty International, Slovakia keeps on discriminating against the Roma community. Only a little progress has been made towards putting into practice Roma pupils' right to education. Despite slight improvements in the legislative framework, Roma children continue to be over-represented in "special" schools and classes for children with "minor mental disabilities" and are placed in ethnically-segregated mainstream schools and classes. Furthermore, AI also expressed concerns over both the continued lack of effective investigation and the lengthy proceedings in several cases concerning the excessive use of force by police against Roma. In response to this report, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák stated that the problem does not concern discrimination so much as the challenge of integrating the Roma community into society. "It's important not to make a political issue out of it and to do our best in order to really improve their living conditions so that the Roma people can become part of the economic life of this country," he added.
Better financial literacy for Roma, education, employment, health and housing are some of the targets in the 2016-18 Strategy of the Slovak Republic's action plans for integrating Roma by 2020. Approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, more than €300 million will be earmarked for the measures, with €170 million out of the total allocated for education. Government Proxy for Roma Communities Ábel Ravazs (Most-Híd) especially welcomes the action plan for financial literacy. "We see this as a priority because any project we draft to improve the financial situation of this group will come to nothing as long as all the money keeps ending up in the hands of usurers," explained Ravazs.
