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In general, human rights are respected by the authorities in Slovenia. There were no reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, disappearances, or political prisoners. However, there are some problem areas that need to be highlighted: lengthy trials before courts, discrimination against Roma, erased people, disabled, and homosexuals, violence against women, trafficking in human beings, insufficient basic rights of asylum seekers and insufficient integration of refugees, and indirect influences on the media.
Legislation: the legislative framework for the protection of human rights is well established. Human rights are protected by the constitution, organic laws (e.g. Criminal Code, International Protection Act, Social Security Act, Act implementing the Principle of Equal Treatment, etc.) and implementing acts. However, the protection provided for in the laws is impaired by lengthy trials in courts which resulted in more than 100 judgments against the Republic of Slovenia issued by the European Court of Human Rights.
Torture and police mistreatment: The reports on torture and police mistreatments are rare in Slovenia. Occasionally, the police reportedly used excessive force during arrests. On 2 November 2006 the European Court on Human Rights found that Slovenia failed to conduct an effective investigation of the alleged police mistreatment in 1995 (‘Matko' case).
Prison conditions are generally in line with the international standards with an exception of overcrowded facilities. While this has been a problem for many years, the number of prisoners even increased in the recent years.
Freedom of expression and media freedom: recently the reports on indirect influence on media freedom increased. The influence was imposed by political and economic pressure, through partial government ownership of the media and by withdrawing advertisements from the media that clearly opposed the government policies. For more information see section on media freedom.
Religious freedom is generally respected. Jewish community, though, reports on prejudice, ignorance and false stereotypes that are spread in the society. The Muslim community still does not have a mosque, although a written agreement for the parcel purchase has been concluded by the Islamic community and Municipality of Ljubljana on 30 May 2007, which was marked as a first step towards building a mosque.
In general, the laws allowing for the protection of refugees in Slovenia are in place. However, in practice only a few asylums are granted per year which results in Slovenia having one of the lowest recognition rates in the world. The right asylum is impeded by accelerated procedures, expanded possibilities of detention of asylum seekers, the lack of free legal aid in the first instance of asylum procedure, low level of health care and the fact that asylum seekers may enter the labor market only one year since lodging the asylum application. In addition, insufficient measures are in place for the integration of refugees and third country nationals.
As concerns gender equality, the issues are violence against women, trafficking in women and girls, lower pay for equal work and position comparing to men, higher unemployment rate and lower representation in decision making process (also due to the lack of measures in place for coordination of private and professional life).
Discrimination against Roma, erased, disabled, homosexuals and other minorities remains an issue. For more information please see the section on discrimination.
Round Table Discussion
»Influence of EU Policies on the Respect for Human Rights«, Ljubljana, Cankarjev dom, Thursday, 8 May 2008
Roundtable on the role of the European Union on the respect for human rights has happened on the eve of the Europe day and hosted human rights experts from civil society and independent state bodies as well as academics: Vita Habjan, Legal Information Centre for Non-Governmental Organizations; Gorazd Kovačič, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana; Andreja Mrak, Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia; Brankica Petković, Peace Institute - Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies; Jernej Rovšek, Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia; Jerneja Turin, Amnesty International Slovenia. The roundtable was facilitated by Neža Kogovšek from the Peace Institute.
The purpose of the roundtable was to contribute towards better understanding of the role of the European Union at ensuring the respect for human rights. At the roundtable we asked questions such as why human rights situation matters only until a state becomes an EU member state? Why does EU have no bodies which could be addressed in case of human rights violations in member states? Why EU policies in this field are oriented only towards human rights situations in third countries? Why and how did standards concerning rights of asylum seekers and refugees in some member states after the transposition of directives decrease? How is the right to privacy of EU citizens and nationals of third countries affected by introduction of information systems and their connection to criminal records? What is the influence of EU anti-discrimination policies on the situation of discrimination in the member states? How should we understand the absence of EU policies and strategies for Roma in spite of the fact that they are the most discriminated group on the whole territory of the EU? What role do human rights ombudspersons in member states play at all this? Taking into account the valuable experience and knowledge of the guest speakers and their diverse insight into the human rights situation within the EU we have had an interesting and fruitful discussion.
- Annual report on Human Rights for the year 2006 made by the Human Rights Ombudsman in July 2007, which is twelfth annual report prepared by Human Rights Ombudsman in Slovenia.
The twelve years of existence of the Institution is a reliable sign that it has successfully established itself in society. Even more so if the nature of its work is by definition "vexatious": the Constitution and the legislation frame its work as the supervision of authority. There is no authority which could resist the temptation to either expand its power to areas in which it has no competence or avoid work which it must perform. Occasionally, this is done consciously, while frequently, it is merely a consequence of the negligent or indifferent work of an individual official. Whatever the reason, the consequences are felt by citizens who from the perspective of authority are frequently only insignificant players within the immense objectives and tasks set by politicians. And the Human Rights Ombudsman is that player within the organisation of power for whom those "insignificant" players are of central concern. In his eyes, the roles in society are inverted: the central position is assigned to the individual, his/her rights and his/her welfare.
- Border Monitoring in Slovenia Report (prepared by Peace Institute and Legal information Centre for NGOs - PIC)
The lack of unimpeded access of migrants to asylum procedure remains a serious human rights concern. For that reason border monitoring projects have evolved in a number of EU countries, strengthening the right of migrants to have their application taken by the border guards or other officials if they wish to apply for asylum. This is the report, prepared by the Peace Institute and Legal Information Centre for NGOs - PIC on the border monitoring project carried out in Slovenia.
- UNHCR Comments and Recommendations on the Proposed new Law on International Protection of the Republic of Slovenia
While asylum legislation follows the common EU asylum policy, the newly adopted International Protection Act, which transposes all EU asylum directives, raises some serious human rights concerns. The main one is the restricted access to asylum procedure, caused by accelerated procedures and possibilities to conduct procedures without a personal interview. Further, basic human rights of migrants are at stake due to extended possibilities of detention and the lack of free legal aid at the first instances of the asylum procedure. More information can be found in the UNHCR comments and recommendations on the proposed new Law on International Protection of the Republic of Slovenia (which in the meantime was adopted and entered into force).
- ECRI - European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (Council of Europe): Third Report on Slovenia adopted on 30 June 2006, made public on 13 February 2007
2006 ECRI report presents findings on the erased, stressing its discriminatory nature and human rights violations suffered by the victims of erasure. The report recommends to Slovenia to restore the rights of persons erased from the registers of permanent residents on 26 February 1992 and to immediately implement the 2003 Constitutional Court decision. It also urges the Slovenian authorities to openly lead the public debate and to refrain from generalisations and misrepresentations which foster racism and xenophobia. ECRI report also examined the status of respect for human rights of asylum seekers and refugees in Slovenia, particularly the right to non-refoulement, the right to work, the right to free legal aid, health care, and integration. It also finds discrimination against Roma and other national minorities.
- Amnesty International Report 2007
Amnesty International has been reporting on erasure and calling upon the Slovenian government to redress the violations and recognize the discriminatory nature for years. The report also describes discrimination against Roma in Slovenia, stressing discrimination in schools and the discriminatory nature of the eviction case of Roma in Ambrus in Dolenjska region.
- European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE): Memorandum to the Slovenian Presidency (concerning refugee protection)
Common European asylum system raises several concerns concerning asylum seekers and refugees in EU, including the fact the refugees and persons under temporary protection have fewer rights than other third-country nationals who are long-term residents in EU, lack of integration programs, extended use of detention, and lack of statuses of people who cannot be returned. These concerns are raised in a memorandum prepared by ECRE and addressed to the Republic of Slovenia for the period of the EU presidency.
- EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA): Report on Racism and Xenophobia in the Member States of the EU, August 2007
The report covers issues concerning racism and xenophobia in the EU Member States during 2006, in the areas of law, employment, education, housing, and racist violence and crime. For Slovenia the report notes that the legislation in place does not provide for sufficient sanctions against acts of discrimination. Specialized bodies for dealing with discrimination receive low numbers of complaints which shows at low awareness of the population on the existence and functioning of the specialized bodies. The report also confirmed high unemployment rates of Roma and Roma eviction case in Ambrus. One of the biggest problems remains the lack of gathered information concerning race and ethnicity of people, as stipulated by the Personal data protection Act, which on the other hand means that no data are available to monitor racial or ethnic discrimination in different areas of life.
- UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination - CERD (Concluding observations 2001 and 2003)
In its 2001 concluding observations the committee recommended Slovenia to ensure that persons belonging to minorities (Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Roma) are not discriminated against, and to revise its legislation in order to fully implement the provisions of the Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In its 2003 concluding observations the committee reiterated its observation from 2001 and recommended to Slovenia not to discrimination against various national minorities, dividing them to indigenous and new. In addition to that, the committee noted discriminatory treatment against Roma and recommended to Slovenia to continue working on the elimination of discrimination against Roma. In addition, it stresses the importance to resolve the statuses of the people who have not be able to obtain citizenship (i.e. the erased).
[full pdf document 1] [full pdf document 2]
- UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women - CEDAW (Concluding observations 2003)
In its 2003 concluding observations the committee recommends to Slovenia to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in all areas of their life, by strengthening the Government office for Equal Opportunities, and reducing violence against women in the family and in society, combating trafficking in women and girls. In particular, the committee recommended that Slovenia ensures equality of both sexes in the labor market and organize training and re-training programs for unemployed women. The committee also noted that the constitution does not involve the provision on equality of women and men and that the measures taken against the maternal mortality are not sufficient.
- UN Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - CESCR (Concluding observations of 25 January 2006)
Committee noted problems concerning discrimination of Roma children in their access to education and their inability to attend schools in their mother tongue; the problem of inequality of men and women in pay for their work and the lack of involvement of women in decision making process; differences in economic development in different regions of the country; high unemployment rates among marginalized groups (young people, members of minorities and persons with disabilities); sexual harassment in workplace; high number of workers on short-term contracts; problems concerning trafficking of human beings and insufficient health and social care services for elderly people with physical or mental disabilities. In addition, the committee recommended to Slovenia to return the statuses to the erased people and ensure their access to health care, social security, education and employment.
- U.S. State Department: Country Report on human rights practices 2006 - Slovenia
The document includes reports on discrimination against Roma, homosexuals and former Yugoslav residents without a legal status (the erased) and new minorities (Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Albanians etc.) that are not protected by the constitution. The report covers all other relevant human rights issues in Slovenia.
Ms. Mag. Neža Kogovšek, human rights lawyer
Organization: Peace Institute, Metelkova 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana
E-mail: neza.kogovsek(at)mirovni-institut.si
Phone: ++ 386 (0)1 234 77 33 (direct phone office), ++ 386 (0)1 234 77 20 (general phone office)
Ms. Nataša Posel, director
Organization: Amnesty International Slovenia, Beethovnova 7, SI-1000 Ljubljana
E-mail: natasa.posel(at)amnesty.si
Phone: ++ 386 (0)1 426 93 77
Ms. Dr. Zdenka Čebašek Travnik, Human Rights Ombudsman (public relations: Nataša Kuzmič)
Organization: Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, Dunajska 56, SI-1000 Ljubljana
E-mail: natasa.kuzmic(at)varuh-rs.si
Phone: ++ 386 (0)1 475 00 35