Periodic Report Slovakia

The Slovak Republic ratified the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression (hereinafter referred to as the “Convention”) on 18 December 2006. The Convention entered into force on 18 March 2007 and as of this date it also entered into force for the Slovak Republic. Upon the completion of the ratification process of the Convention, the Slovak Republic entered the implementation phase.  

In compliance with the United Nations Charter, the principles of international law and the generally acknowledged instruments in the field of human rights, the Slovak Republic confirms its sovereign right to formulate and apply cultural policies and to adopt measures for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions and the strengthening of international cooperation in order to fulfill the aims of this Convention.

The Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as the “Ministry”) is the administrator for implementing the Convention in the Slovak Republic.

Pursuant to Act No. 403/2010 Coll. which amends and complements Act No. 575/2001 Coll. on the Organization of Activities of the Government and the Central State Administration Organs (the Competence Act) the Ministry is the central state administrative organ for the state language, the preservation of monuments fund, cultural heritage and librarianship, art, copyrights and the rights related to the copyrights, cultural educational activities and folk art crafts, presentation of the Slovak culture abroad, relations with churches and religious communities, media and audio-vision.

While elaborating the 1st periodic report on the measures to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions that the Slovak Republic submits in 2012, the Ministry cooperated with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Government for Human Rights and National Minorities, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

Due to its limited extent (20 pages) the periodic report contains only the most significant cultural – political measures introduced for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions in the phases of the creation, production, distribution, dissemination and participation in culture that were adopted at the national and international levels in the legislative, institutional and financial areas.

The measures elaborated at the national level (Section 2.1) include the promotion of art, media and audio-vision, the creative industry, traditional folk art, the promotion of the cultures of national minorities and disadvantaged groups of the population, cultural rights and access to culture, cooperation with churches and religious communities and measures in the area of promoting intercultural dialogue. Measures elaborated in the area of international cooperation (Section 2.2) are related to the mobility of artists and professionals, bilateral cooperation with the developing countries and Official Development Assistance. The content of this report also includes measures aimed at the integration of culture in sustainable development policies (Section 2.3). In the area of the protection of the cultural expressions under threat, the periodic report contains measures for the protection of the monuments fund (Section 2.4). This report also includes cooperation with the civil society at the national and international levels (Section 3.1, 3.2). The challenges related to the introduction of the Convention and the solutions identified for their implementation also constitute part of this report(Section 4). Annexes to the Report contain the available statistical data (Section 5). The Slovak Republic submits the 1st periodic report on measures for the protection and promotion of the diversity in cultural expressions in two UNESCO working languages – English and French.