The eastern European country is due to take in the migrants under an EU scheme to resettle 40,000 people who have fled to its borders over the past few months.
Advertisement
Slovakia is not alone in showing a preference for Christians.
Slovakia has decided to accept only Christians because they “have a great potential to seamlessly integrate into” the country, Slovakia’s Interior Ministry spokeswoman, Michaela Paulenova, told AFP on Thursday.
If Muslim asylum-seekers chose Slovakia, they would not be discriminated against, he said.
Interior ministry spokesman Ivan Netik excused the religiously discriminatory policy by saying that Muslims “would not be accepted because they would not feel at home”, the BBC reported.
“That’s the reason we want to mostly choose people, who really want to start a new life in Slovakia”, he said.
On Wednesday, the Slovakian government announced that it would take in 200 Syrian refugees as part of an EU migrant relocation program, stressing, however, that they must be Christians.
Although the resettlement plan was initially mandatory, it became voluntary after some nations – including Slovakia – refused to accept set quotas.
“For most migrants we are only a transit country. But it will be very false and insincere solidarity if we take now more than 1,000 people to Slovakia who don’t want to live in Slovakia”, Netik said.
But a European Commission spokesman said that any form of discrimination was barred.
The rising tide of immigration to Europe has also stirred the question of community and religious cohesion, especially in countries like Germany, which has said it expects to receive as many as 800,000 asylum applications this year.
“We encourage governments to take an inclusive approach while considering refugees for resettlement and should not base their selection on discrimination”, he added.
Advertisement
Most have arrived on the shores of Greece and Italy before travelling onto other areas.
