The Slovak Republic is party to several international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The principle of equal treatment applies to all areas defined in the EU Directives and overall does not go beyond the scope of the Directives.

In particular, the principle of equal treatment has to be observed in the field of access to employment, occupation and other earning activity or function, including recruitment requirements, selection criteria and methods, vocational training, advanced vocational training and participation in active labour market policy programmes, including vocational guidance services, membership and activity in employees’ organisations, employers’ organisations and in organisations whose members carry on a particular profession, including benefits provided by such organisations, and in the fields of social aid (social services), social insurance, old-age pension insurance, accessory pension insurance, state social support and social advantages, health care, education, goods and services, including housing, provided to the public by legal entities and natural persons – entrepreneurs. In all these fields, discrimination is prohibited on all the grounds listed in the Anti-discrimination Act. The implementation of the Anti-discrimination Act concerns both the private and the public sector.

The body designated for the promotion of equal treatment is the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights. According to the Anti-discrimination Act, the Centre is an independent, non-judicial body, subsidised mainly by the Government. The role and tasks of the Centre are quite complex.