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SalamSK - Combating Islamophobia and supporting hate crime victims in Slovakia

As of January 2021 we have been implementing SalamSK project focused on combating Islamophobia in Slovakia, awareness raising, empowering and supporting hate crime victims. This project, implemented in cooperation with Islamic Foundation in Slovakia, will be running until December 2022.
Overall project objective is to tackle racism and xenophobia against Muslims and other refugees/migrants in Slovakia. Specific objectives are: 1) to identify gaps in hate crime victims’ protection and create recommendations for the improvement of their protection; 2) to analyse the presentation of Islam/ Muslims in Slovak media, identify negative stereotypes/ prejudices and contrast them to real facts; 3) to provide legal support to hate crime victims, and empower community members; 4) to raise-awareness of public authorities and to train policemen; 5) to sensitise society. 

The Human Rights League is a project coordinator. Islamic Foundation in Slovakia is a project partner organisation. 

HRL´s project activities:

1) Legal analysis of the status and protection of hate crime victims in Slovakia. Its outcome will be a Position Paper, which will be formulated based on the findings of the legal analysis and will also reflect the findings of the field research conducted by the Islamic Foundation. Position Paper will be published in summer 2021.

2) Provision of legal aid to hate crime victims and relevant legal information to potential victims of these crimes - muslims, refugees, asylum seekers and other targeted groups of migrants living in Slovakia. This activity will be running continuously both years of project implementation. We expect approx. 80 recipients of legal aid. 

3) Preparation of the information videos with relevant legal information for the target group in different language mutations. Videos will be created in first half of 2021.

Information video for victims of hate crimes in English language:




4) Creation of the network of lawyers, attorneys and NGOs providing or interested in the provision of legal aid to victims of hate crimes. There will be 3 network meetings during the project. 

5) Information "empowerment" meetings for members of communities of Muslims, refugees and migrants living in Slovakia. There will be 3 such meetings for approx. 40 multipliers. 

6) Trainings with the participation of foreign experts for the students of Police Academy in Bratislava and for members of selected units of Police force, dedicated to the topics of hate crime, hate speech, Islamophobia, preventing and combating extremism. Lectures will be organised in autumn months of 2021 and 2022, for approx. 200 participants.  

7) Forum on Integration 2022, will be dedicated to the topics of tolerance in cities, prevention of radicalisation and combating prejudices against Muslims, refugees and migrants at local level. We foresee several experts from Slovakia and abroad and approx. 60 participants from state institutions, local authorities/ cities, NGOs and experts. 



8) Series of 12 podcasts promoting tolerance, acceptance of diversity, social cohesion, protection of human rights, and combating Islamophobia and hate crime. Podcasts will be broadcasted in 2022. We hope to reach ca. 50 000 listeners. 


Project activities of Islamic Foundation in Slovakia:

1) Field research - collecting information from members of Muslim community in Slovakia and from refugees and migrants on their experiences with hate crimes and attacks; ca. 100 respondents. 

2) Collecting information on presentation of Islam and Moslims in Slovak media during the year 2021 and its subsequent analysis and presentation in the form of a Research Paper. Outcome will be published in mid-2022.  

3) Brochure "Islam and Muslims in Slovakia: stereotypes vs real facts" reflecting the findings of the field research as well as media research; published in mid-2022. 

4) Special "empowerment" sessions for Muslim, refugee and migrant women - 12 sessions for ca. 150 women. Around 8 female multipliers will be identified during these sessions that will then support other female members of their communities. 

5) "Toolkit by and for Muslim women" - "empowerment" tool elaborated by Muslim women for Muslim, refugee and migrant women. It will be presented on a public event especially for women. It will be also available online in second half of 2022.  

6) Series of public debates "Rabbi, Priest and Imam in Encounter" taking place in different Slovak cities - 12 public debates for ca 500 participants. 


We will be posting information on the topic and relevant project events and outcomes on websites of HRL and IFS, as well as on social media. We also plan one debate in radio or TV. 

Due to Covid-19 pandemic and related measures it is possible that we will be forced to move some events into the online world. 

Project duration: 01/01/2021 - 31/12/2022

Contact person for the project in HRL: Katarína Fajnorová (fajnorova@hrl.sk
Contact person for the project in IFS: Maroš Žofčín (info@islamonline.sk) 

This project is funded by the European Union´s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014 - 2020).

Documents to download

Integration forum 2022
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