Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the initial report of Slovakia *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1 and 4)

1.Please provide information on the development of a strategy to promote the rights and social inclusion of persons with disabilities among Roma.

2.How does the State party fully implement its obligations under article 4 (3) of the Convention and ensure the effective participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the development and implementation of disability-relevant legislation and policies?

B.Specific rights

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

3.Please provide details regarding Act No. 365/2004 Coll. on equal treatment and how it provides full protection from discrimination in the areas of employment on the grounds of disability, and the steps that are being taken to extend its application to prohibit disability-based discrimination across all sectors beyond employment.

4.What measures are being taken to address multiple, intersectional discrimination against women and girls with disabilities and members of ethnic minorities with disabilities, and the incorporation under law of the recognition of these forms of discrimination with corresponding legal remedies and sanctions, which reflect the aggravated nature of violations arising from multiple and intersectional discrimination?

5.Please provide information on the denial of reasonable accommodation equating to discrimination in all areas of life for persons with disabilities, and on the steps being taken to include this in anti-discrimination law across all sectors and to provide training and guidance both to the public and the private sectors on the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

6.Please provide information on how gender inequality of women and girls with disabilities is recognized at the legislative and policy levels and within programme development, both within the gender equality and women’s rights agenda and within the general disability rights agenda.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

7.Please provide data on the number of families with boys and girls with disabilities, including biological, foster and professional families,and the number of boys and girls with disabilities living in institutions.Please also provide information on the measures taken to prevent the institutionalization of boys and girls with disabilities and the promotion of their right to express themselves.

Accessibility (art. 9)

8.Please provide information on how the New Construction Act will provide guarantees that accessibility requirements will be fulfilled in practice.

9.Please provide information on the plans to increase the number of registered providers of quality sign language interpreting services in the country from 11.

10.Please inform the Committee about the accessibility of public transport for persons with disabilities, including in rural areas.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

11.Please clarify whether section 10 of the Civil Code after the adoption of new procedural rules governing guardianship proceedings in June 2015 still enables a court to restrict or deprive an individual of legal capacity.

12.Please explain whether the deprivation of legal capacity or the restriction of legal capacity has any automatic consequences and the steps being taken to introduce supported decision-making that respects the autonomy, will and preferences of the individual.

Access to justice (art. 13)

13.Please provide information on the availability of procedural accommodations that are made in the legal process to ensure the effective participation of all persons with disabilities in the justice system and the steps being taken to ensure that persons with disabilities can participate directly and on an equal basis with others regardless of their financial situation or their legal capacity status.

14.Please explain the procedural accommodations that are made in cases of offenders with intellectual disabilities to prevent self-incrimination and to ensure their equal participation in criminal proceedings and to guarantee due process.

15.Please also provide information on the training of personnel in the justice system on the Convention, including the police, judges, court staff, detention staff, employees of public authorities and local municipalities.

Liberty and security of the person (art. 14)

16.What steps are being taken to amend section 6(9) of the Act No. 576/2004 Coll. on healthcare and section 73 of the Act No. 300/2005 Coll. the Criminal Code, to comply with the Convention so that disability never constitutes groundsfor the deprivation of personal liberty?

17.Please explain the particular steps being taken to ensure that persons with disabilities who are deprived of libertyowing to criminal proceedings, especially in pretrial detention facilities and prisons, are treated in compliance with the objectives of the Convention, including by provision of reasonable accommodation.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15)

18.Please provide information on use of physical restraints, chemical restraints and isolation, which are incompatible with the Convention,the circumstances under which they are used and in which locations.

Freedom from violence and abuse (art. 16)

19.Please provide information on the measures taken to protect persons with disabilities, both within and outside the home, from all forms of violence and abuse, including gender- and child-based aspects.

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

20.Please clarify if the legal system distinguishes between consent to hospitalization and consent to treatment under involuntary commitment procedures. Also, if a court decides on the lawfulness of involuntary hospitalization, do persons with disabilities still have the right to give free and informed consent on their treatment?

21.Please provide information on the prevalence of sterilization of women with disabilities and whether section 6(6)(b) in conjunction with section 40(2) of the Act No. 576/2004 on health care authorizes guardians to make decisions for sterilization and contraception for women and girls whose legal capacity has been restricted. What measures are taken to investigate and provide redress for cases of forced sterilization?

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

22.Please provide an update on progress, including concrete and targeted steps, taken to ensure that the de-institutionalization process is sustainable and ensures that persons with disabilities will live independently in their communities within a reasonable timeframe, and the transitions of boys and girls from institutions into families.

Freedom of expression and opinion, access to information (art. 21)

23.Please state the number of registered sign language interpreters and the percentage of public television broadcasts with sign language interpretation, and the availability of appropriately trained sign language interpreters in courts of justice and public services.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

24.Please state if any persons with disabilities are denied the right to marry and under what circumstances.Please explain section 12 of the Family Act No. 36/2005. Please also state the measures that are in place to support boys and girlswith disabilities remaining in the family home rather than placed in an institution, and the measures to support parents with disabilities.

Education (art. 24)

25.Please provide information on the steps taken to safeguard an enforceable right of every child and student with disabilities to inclusive education and inclusive lifelong learning, to ensure that reasonable accommodation, accessible infrastructure, transportation and other means of support are provided, and to allocate the appropriate budget and resources for these purposes.

26.Please provide details of the policies aimed at transforming and desegregating the education system, including a timetable.

Health (art. 25)

27.Please provide information on the measures taken to protect against discrimination and ensure that persons with disabilities can fully access health-care services and exercise the right to their individual free and informed consent, especially persons with intellectual disabilities.

28.What measures are taken to ensure that women and girls with disabilities can fully access sexual and reproductive health services? What measures are taken to ensure that health-care and social services are available and accessible for early intervention and related support for families?

Work and employment (art. 27)

29.Please provide information on the number of persons with disabilities employed in sheltered workshops and the open labour market, including information on the subsidies offered to employers who employ such persons, and any enforcement measures.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

30.Please provide information on the social protection measures for persons with disabilities to prevent them from living below the poverty line.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

31.Please provide information on the measures taken toenable all citizens with disabilities to fully exercise their right to vote and stand for election.

C.Special obligations

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

32.Does the State party have plans to coordinate at the institutional level research targeted at issues related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families, and to ensure the systematic collection of data disaggregated also by disability across all sectors, including education, employment, social protection, health, access to justice, political participation and violence.

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

33.Please specify the planned conditions for ensuring the systematic involvement of representative organizations of persons with disabilities in the independent monitoring of the Convention and for the development of their expert capacity for this activity.