Slovak parliament backs Chair who admitted to domestic violence

Not enough lawmakers were present at the vote on the motion Wednesday to dismiss parliament chair Boris Kollár, who has admitted to physically assaulting the mother of his two children until she was unconscious and said he would do so again.

Kollár admitted to hitting his wife during a vacation in 2011, something he said was justified due to her rough handling of their child. While some lawmakers felt this was enough to cost him his position, not enough turned up to the sitting to oust him from his chair.

In the final attempt, only 55 of the 76 needed to open a sitting were present – a turn of events likely made possible because Kollár set the date of his possible ousting on Wednesday – a bank holiday that falls in the middle of the first week of the school holidays.

“Today’s special meeting on the appeal of Kollár could and should have represented all the women who have been assaulted, but also all those who are silenced, and we could and should have been their voice,” Jaroslav Naď, the former defence minister from the Democrat party who also initiated the failed motion, said.

However, according to domestic violence experts, the inability to condemn Kollár’s actions will deter women from coming forward with their own experiences. Sme Rodina, Kollar’s party, even appeared unphased by the turn of events ahead of the September snap election, a first poll reads.

Regarding domestic violence, Slovakia is one of the last remaining EU countries that refuses to ratify the Istanbul Convention, an international document setting domestic violence standards. MPs disagree with its use of the term gender but are also unhappy with the notion that violence against women is an issue of societal inequality.

With the Czech Republic moving towards ratification, Slovakia might soon become one of the last five countries that are not part of the Convention. Despite calls for change, Slovakia has also refused to change its definition of rape to include all sexual acts without consent.

(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)