evidence of an actual attempt to enter the territories and that the author
should have filed a new petition. According to counsel, these contentions lack
merit. Insofar as the Constitutional Court had already dismissed several
separate applications concerning the same resolutions, the suggestion that
the author should be required to submit yet another petition, to the very
same forum which had squarely rejected her claim, lacks logical or legal
foundation.
5.17 As for the failure to present evidence, counsel reiterates its arguments
concerning the "victim status" of the author and suggests that in assessing
such status the Committee should be guided by the jurisprudence of the
European Court, which entitles individuals to contend that a law violates
their rights by itself, in the absence of an individual measure of
implementation, if they run the risk of being directly affected by it. It is not
necessary for the author to demonstrate that she was actually placed in an
unfavourable position. The author has been personally affected by the
resolutions in the following ways:
Inhuman and degrading treatment. The author has personally suffered
degrading treatment, direct emotional harm, loss of human dignity and
humiliation owing to the existence of the two resolutions, a fact not altered
by their subsequent cancellation. It is therefore not unreasonable that the
applicant, as any other Romany person in Slovakia, feels that she has been
personally offended and publicly shamed in a way different from the moral
outrage which may be felt by even the most sympathetic of non-Roma.
Subjection to undue restrictions on her personal freedoms. The author was
affected by the threat of a potential use of violence; prevented from entering
or settling in the vicinity of Nagov and Rokytovce, thereby violating her
rights to freedom of movement and freedom to choose a residence; and
prevented from having personal contact with persons in the vicinity of Nagov
and Rokytovce, thereby violating her right to private life.
The author has also been directly affected by the existence of the resolutions
because she is affected by the atmosphere of racial discrimination around
her.
5.18 The State party asserts that the municipalities that issued the
resolutions are not "public authorities" or "public institutions" and that a
municipality is "an independent self-governing territorial unit of the Slovak
Republic". Counsel disagrees with that view, at least with respect to
governmental responsibility for ensuring compliance with the Convention.
Several provisions of the Constitution and the Municipality System Act No.
369/1990 suggest that there is a direct relationship between the State and
the municipality, a relationship which makes it clear that the municipalities
are "public authorities" or "public institutions". The Committee itself has