In a joint open letter, 56 civil society organizations expressed concern over the constitutional amendments adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic on 26 September 2025. The letter calls on the European Commission to initiate infringement proceedings against Slovakia and to take further action at EU level.
The amendments, which will enter into force on 1 November 2025, declare that Slovakia retains sovereignty over so-called “national identity” matters, with the stated aim of ensuring that Slovak domestic legislation may take primacy over all international law, including EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights in these areas. The constitutional amendments aim to remove the human rights to private and family life, education, and healthcare from children, women, and LGBTI people.
The amendments affirm that: “[t]he Slovak Republic shall recognize only the biologically determined sex of a man and a woman,” and that “[t]he parents of a child are the mother and the father; the mother of the child is a woman and the father of the child is a man.”
They also stipulate that only married heterosexual couples may adopt a child and that parental approval will now be required for learners to access comprehensive sexuality education in schools.
The organizations warn that these constitutional amendments contravene foundational principles of international law and violate the right to non-discrimination, the right to equality before the law, and equal protection of the law without discrimination. The amendments deny the human rights of LGBTI persons, violate reproductive rights, and would lead to restrictions on access to essential reproductive healthcare and age-appropriate, comprehensive sexuality education.
The letter urges the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against Slovakia and to urgently consider freezing EU funds as well as taking other political measures to address the intended violations of the rule of law and human rights in Slovakia.
Read the open letter here.
For more information please contact Karolína Babická, Senior Legal Adviser at karolina.babicka@icj.org
