On 20 July 2023, the Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina and his Deputy Miha Horvat welcomed representatives of the Albanian national community for a visit. They discussed the community’s cultural rights, the issue of education, the inclusion of migrant children in schools, and the media reports on the Albanian national community with the intercultural mediator and secretary of the Union of Cultural Societies of Albanians in Slovenia Vera Haliti, a representative of Albanians in the Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for issues of national communities of the peoples of the former SFRY in the Republic of Slovenia Dr Alma Bejtullahu, and vice-president of the Union of Cultural Societies of Albanians in Slovenia Besnik Ademi.
They also discussed the migration policy, the issue of residence permits, and the new amendment of the Foreigners Act, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion brings the danger of disproportionate interference with the right to family life with the forced separation of families and which is unjustifiably discriminatory against migrant women. The Ombudsman and his Deputy were informed also of the importance of strengthening measures for the best possible inclusion of the Albanian national community into society, especially women, since the attitude of the majority population and the state towards the migrant Albanian community is still often founded on unjustified negative discrimination.
Ombudsman Svetina informed the participants of the efforts of his institution in caring for constitutionally recognised communities and for the realisation of collective rights of national communities that are not mentioned in the constitution. “The repeated annual recommendations in the Ombudsman’s Annual Reports were the starting points for the National Assembly to adopt the Declaration on the position of the national communities of the peoples of the former SFRY in the Republic of Slovenia twelve years ago,” the Ombudsman also emphasised.
The Human Rights Ombudsman also informed the representatives of the leaflets of the Human Rights Ombudsman in the Albanian language which are available on the Ombudsman’s webpage. “This enables individuals to hear in their own language about the competences of the institution, how the Ombudsman can help them, and when they can turn to him. I can assure you that in the future we will continue, in accordance with our competences, to carefully treat questions of the legal status of all national communities in the Republic of Slovenia,” added Ombudsman Svetina.
