Slovakia
Maria Kolikova
Coordinator
Nadacia Obcan a Demokracia (Citizen and Democracy Foundation) : Minority Rights Group - Slovakia (MRG-S)
Dobrovicova 13
811 09 Bratislava
Slovakia
Tel/Fax: 421-7-5292-0426
E-mail: mrgs@changenet.sk
Website: www.changenet.sk/mrgs
Additional Team Members:
-Janka Hazirova, Open Society Foundation - Slovakia
-Sarlotta Pufflerova, Open Society Foundation - Slovakia
-Jan Hrubala, Partners for Democratic Change
Team members in MRG-S:
- coordinator: Maria Kolikova (kolikova@changenet.sk)
- coordinator/supervisor: Sarlota Pufflerova
- local coordinators: Daniela Telepkova, Janka Debreceniova
- assistants: Sylvia Ondrisova, Marek Hrouda
- lawyers: Zuzana Dlugosova, Tomas Kamenec
Cooperating partners - experts:
- psychologists: Ivan Rapos, Igor Obuch, Milan Zacharovsky
- lawyers: Jan Hrubala, Ladislav Briestensky, Martin Dobak, Andrej Kralik, Viliam Karas, Marian Hrban, Roman Oleksik
STREET LAW PROGRAM COMPONENTS:
- SECONDARY SCHOOL PROGRAM AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Slovakia has produced four "Street Law" booklets. Two additional booklets are being produced. A teacher manual to support all six booklets is also being completed. This manual will be published with support from Open Society Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
- TEACHER TRAINING
Trainers have trained teachers and community members throughout the country for the past four years. The majority of schools in Slovakia use some or all of the materials.
- Open Society Foundation (OSF):
The OSF/Street Law Program is coordinated by Janka Hazirova. The main goal of this program is to create and coordinate a mixed lector team of law students or law school graduates, policemen and high school teachers, who will train different target groups such as teachers of secondary schools or policemen. The participants are encouraged to teach Street Law using all Street Law materials produced within the program. The program began in 1999.
EQ Club
In 2000, the Street Law Program was also used in EQ Club, as coordinated by Ladislav Briestensky. The main goal of this program was to train a specific target group: law students to teach Street Law using its manuals developed by OSF. Each workshop was designed with new manuals such as Citizen and His Possibilities, Civil law, Criminal law and than Family law and Labor law. This program started in 1999.
- Nadacia Obcan a Demokracia (Citizen and Democracy Foundation):
Minority Rights Group - Slovakia (MRG-S)
Street Law program in MRG-S is coordinated by Maria Kolikova and Sarlota Pufflerova. There are five main goals of this program, which began in 1997:
1. To produce and disseminate resource books and methodological manuals (Citizen and Democracy, 1997, Methodological Manual for Teachers, 1999, Citizen and Public Administration, 2000) for all who teach human rights and other related issues.
2. To develop cooperation between high schools and law students by teaching Street Law lessons for high school students. It partly covers training for law students, it supports coordination of law students who teach Street Law lessons and it enables their partnership with high school teachers.
3. To train teachers in interactive teaching and the law of everyday life as human rights, rule of law as well as consumer law, family law, criminal and civil procedure.
4. To train police officers teachers in human rights issues, minority and domestic violence sensitiveness and methodology how to teach interactively.
5. To demonstrate and introduce the Street Law program to new communities - correction facilities for juveniles and prisons.
MRG-S Resource books and methodological manuals include Citizen and Democracy, 1997, Methodological Manual for Teachers, 1999, Citizen and Public Administration, 2000
First book of the series was published in 1997. It contains 22 chapters beginning with a chapter dealing with concepts like, "why do we need a legal order", and proceeds with chapters concerning the principles of democracy and rule of law. The book finishes with chapters concerning basic human rights such as freedom of expression, right to assembly and many others. It is written in comprehensive language and is used not only by teachers, students, journalists, but also by local government representatives.
All publications have been created in the framework of the Constitutionalism in Central and Eastern Europe Project, and in close cooperation of psychologists and lawyers. Foreign examples were not used as the authors had been inspired from situations of every day life in Slovakia.
The first book of the series was published in 1997. It contains 22 chapters beginning with a chapter dealing with concepts like, "why do we need a legal order", and proceeds with chapters concerning the principles of democracy and rule of law. The book finishes with chapters concerning basic human rights such as freedom of expression, right to assembly and many others. It is written in comprehensive language and is used not only by teachers, students, journalists, but also by local government representatives.
All publications have been created in the framework of the Constitutionalism in Central and Eastern Europe Project, and in close cooperation of psychologists and lawyers. Foreign examples were not used as the authors had been inspired from situations of every day life in Slovakia.
- LAW SCHOOL CLINICS
The Slovakian team is in the process of developing three law school clinics as official law school programs. Volunteer law student clinics have operated for three years.
Street Law Clinic at Trnava University Law School
On November 24 and 25, 2000, MRG-S held a Street Law Clinic conference with the aim of demonstrating Street Law programs to the law schools. The participants were representatives from law schools, law students, high school teachers and representatives from the prison education department. Foreign guests - Monika Platek, David Mason and Viktor Pronkin who all have much experience with the institutionalization of Street Law Programs in their country were also invited to the conference. After the conference one of the 4 law schools agreed to integrate Street Law into their curricula with teachers of MRG-S. The Street Law Clinic has recently been designed for 4th grade law students as a yearlong course.
- FUNDING RESOURCES:
· Pew Charitable Trusts
· Street Law, Inc.
· Ford Foundation
· Open Society Foundation
· COLPI
· Department for International Development of British Government |
