The Office of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (Úrad Komisára pre zdravotne postihnutých in Slovak) is a Slovakian state institution overseeing the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Office was established by law in parallel with the Office of the Commissioner for Children, with a view to assure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the broadest sense, in accord with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.
How can it help you
Complaints regarding rights of persons with disabilities
As a person with a disability you can turn to the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities either directly or through a third person, if you feel that your rights have been violated or hampered, or if you feel to be discriminated against by an official authority or by a private entity.
The Commissioner can provide you with assistance in line with her mandate or she can advise you what procedures you should follow if your case is outside her competences. The Commissioner, after investigating your case, can issue her opinion. If she finds your complaint valid, she will turn with her recommendations to the subject who violated your right or legitimate interest, disregarding whether it is a public authority or a private entity. The violator is expected to rectify the wrongdoing and inform the Commissioner about the adopted measures.
The Commissioner is not authorised to act in criminal proceedings. If she receives a complaint which she assesses to be a criminal case, she forwards the case to the prosecutor’s office. The Commissioner has no competence in relation to constitutional bodies like courts, the public prosecutor’s office, the National Council of the Slovak Republic, or the Government.
You or a person on your behalf can file a complaint either by mail (address below) or orally in a meeting with the Commissioner or an employee of the Office. You can also ask for help via a special online form or via e-mail sekretariat@komisar.sk.
You can also call the special helpline on +421 911 269 021, which is available every day around-the-clock. In the communication with the Commissioner, everyone is free to use his or her mother tongue. The sign languages, Braille language and any alternative form of communication can be used in contacting the Office. Costs associated with interpretation are covered by the Office.
Activities
- Examining complaints regarding violations of the rights of persons with disabilities
- Monitoring of the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities
- Meeting persons with disabilities in places of detention or custody in private or in the presence of his/her lawyer
- Carrying out analyses and research in the field of the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities, their overall living conditions and full integration and inclusion in the society
- Submitting of notifications on behalf of the child or children under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities on the notification procedure (after all available national remedies have been exhausted)
- Promoting the interests of persons with disabilities in society
- Acting in accord with persons with disabilities and cooperating with organisations representing the interests of those persons
- Submitting reports on her activities to the National Council of the Slovak Republic annually
- International cooperation, networking, exchange of best practices