FORUM and EIN join forces to implement freedom of expression judgments in Slovakia

We are thrilled to announce our cooperation with the European Implementation Network (EIN) in their new project focused on safeguarding freedom of expression in the Council of Europe member States. As a participant to this project, we are dedicated to promoting this fundamental right and the effective implementation of the relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights,…

Lawyers and volunteers jointly against online hate

Forum for Human Rights (FORUM) in cooperation with the group of volunteers active on socia media as ROMAntics and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have lodged six criminal complaints against individuals who have posted anti-Roma hate speech on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in Slovakia. The complaints are all against individuals who…

We fight against environmental injustice

Forum for Human Rights (FORUM) in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) have brought a collective complaint against the municipality of Martin, Slovakia on behalf of Romani families living dangerously near to a landfill on the outskirts of the city. The Roma were relocated to the segregated community named ‘Bambusky’ by the municipality…

We filed further criminal complaints for online hate

Forum for Human Rights (FORUM) in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and young Romani volunteers at Romea.cz, have filed five new criminal complaints against individuals who have repeatedly posted racist statements calling for violence against Roma on social media in the Czech Republic. Most of these emerging cases of online hate speech against Roma…

We published two National Briefing Papers on barriers for defendants with disabilities in criminal proceedings

Note: Although in this project we use the term ‘defendant with a disability’ generally, we also mean suspects, accused, defendants and sentenced persons with a disability. As part of the Enable project, FORUM has published National Briefing Papers identifying barriers faced by defendants with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in the criminal justice system in the…

FORUM won the first CRC case against the Czech Republic

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its first-ever decision against the Czech Republic, defended two adolescents who had been placed in an institution based on an interim measure for neglecting their schooling and their parents’ failure to provide them with psychological or psychiatric support On 5 June 2023, the UN Committee…

ROLL: The first workshop on judicial independence

Forum for Human Rights together with its partners the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ, Brussels), Human Rights in Practice (Hague) and Free Courts (Poland), Aditus (Malta) held a two-days intensive workshop on Institutional independence of the judiciary and autonomy of the prosecution service, on 13-14 June 2023 in Brussels.  Judicial independence serves as a gateway to…

Meeting of volunteers fighting online hate speech

On 24 March 2023 a meeting and training of volunteers fighting online hate speech known as ROMAntici took place in Košice, Slovakia. The meeting was attended by law students and other young people from all over Slovakia, who are not indifferent to the hatred spread against Roma on the Internet. Volunteers have been monitoring the…

Alternative report to CAT about rights of people with disabilities in Slovakia

On Monday 20 March 2023, together with seven civil society partners, we have submitted a joint alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture on the situation of people with disabilities in Slovakia. We informed the Committee about the problems with the criminal legislation in the area of ill-treatment, ineffective deinstitutionalization, problematic legislation in the…