Slovak Hlas-SD unveils five measures to shield children from violence

The Slovak governing party Hlas-SD presented five measures on Oct 6, 2026, to protect children from violence, including online threats, in a response to a tragedy last week in the village of Staškovo.²³⁴

The five measures

The first measure would make it a criminal offence to knowingly send videos or images depicting real abuse of people or animals in private messages or group chats.²⁵⁶

The package also widens protection against hate speech to explicitly include gender and disability, alongside existing protected categories.²⁶⁵¹

A third measure would increase parents' criminal liability where they are aware of a serious threat posed by their child but knowingly fail to act. According to Hospodárske noviny, this would raise parental liability specifically for inaction in the face of known risk of an attack.⁶⁷²

The fourth measure would restrict children and young people from independently buying certain dangerous knives, including a requirement for age verification on online purchases.⁶¹⁷²

The fifth measure calls for faster police, prosecutor and court proceedings in cases where there is an ongoing risk of serious violence, and for strengthened capacity to handle digital evidence.⁶¹

Funding, training and support services

Schools have received more than 210 million euros in support measures over the past two years, and the education ministry plans to allocate an additional ten million euros to school support teams next year.²⁴⁵

Hospodárske noviny and Info.sk report that police trained 16,838 pedagogical and specialist school employees by the end of September; Topky.sk's account of the same briefing does not confirm this figure.²⁴

A national mental health support hotline, launched on May 1 and reachable on 0800 193 193, operates daily from 10:00 to 22:00. The government's mental health council is due to discuss a child and youth mental health development concept.²⁴⁵⁶

Context and criticism

According to Info.sk, the measures are a direct response to the tragedy in Staškovo last week, which the outlet describes as a school attack. Officials and Hlas-SD figures said children face risks in online spaces, including exposure to violent content, hate speech and incitement to violence, and that parents often do not know what their children view online or which groups they join.⁴⁶¹

KDH deputy chairman Viliam Karas said stricter laws alone cannot substitute for basic value education, and said parents should be urged to foster respect for authority and teachers at home.⁴⁵

Hlas-SD figures, including interior minister and party chairman Matúš Šutaj Eštok, education minister Tomáš Drucker and health minister Kamil Šaško, framed the proposals as part of systemic work the government says has been under way for more than a year, alongside a pending law on an integrated system to detect risky behaviour early and connect schools, police, social protection, psychologists and healthcare.¹⁶⁴