Treatment of Minorities
One of the main problems of public stability in Slovakia is the phobia regarding Roma and refugees from the Middle East.
Despite the widespread anti-Roma sentiments (for example after the dismissal of an infamous TV presenter K. Kormutova, an active petition campaign was launched online to bring her back on television), the main threat to Slovakia's social stability is the refugee crisis and associated hostile attitudes.
According to a survey conducted in June 2015, 70.1% of respondents answered negatively to the question of receiving refugees from North Africa and the Middle East. 63.4% of the respondents considered refugees as a threat to the security of the country. It is particularly strange given that Slovakia currently does not host a significant number of migrants – around 400 – 500 people per year. Many of them, having obtained the necessary status, try to move to Western Europe, where there are established ethnic communities.
At the same time, Slovakia remains one of the few EU countries that openly and rigidly protested the EU quotas for the reception of refugees. “As long as I am prime minister, the system of quotas in the Slovak territory will not be enacted. The people responsible for this disgrace are those who forced the decision in Brussels. They deliberately created deep disagreements on such a sensitive issue as migration,” – as Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico said in September 2015.
According to a poll by the sociological agency Pew Research, the results of which were published in October 2019, 77% of Slovaks have a negative attitude towards Muslims and only 30% have a bad attitude towards Jews. 76% have a negative attitude towards Roma and 46% towards LGBT people. Characteristically, the level of rejection of a particular group is higher in older age groups.
The Center for Research on Ethnicity and Culture published a study in May 2021, which confirmed the trend towards worsening public attitudes towards migrants in the country. The majority of respondents believe that foreigners contribute to an increase in crime (65 percent) and a deterioration in security (62 percent). According to the study, the majority also have a negative attitude towards the "refugee from Syria" (68%) and the "Muslim family" (64%). All this is the result of the spread of hatred towards minorities.
In 2020, the Slovak Academy of Sciences published a representative survey on the attitude of the majority towards Roma citizens. When examining stereotypes about Roma, the survey showed that the majority of respondents (80 percent) tend to agree with the statement that Roma in the country receive undeserved benefits from the social system, and almost two-thirds of respondents tend to identify themselves with openly negative stereotypes about Roma. Roma. Only half of the respondents were inclined to agree with statements emphasizing the value of Romani culture. The survey also showed that respondents identified most with the so-called hostile political discourse, with politicians speaking negatively about Romani citizens, especially regarding work habits and crime rates in Romani communities. Widespread discrimination against Roma continued in employment, education, health care, housing, credit practices, restaurants, hairdressers, religious services and public transport.
