Recommendations for the year 2002
The National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, on the basis of the fourth paragraph of Article 272 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No. 35/02), at its 30th session, on 29 October 2003, after considering the Eighth Regular Annual Report of the Human Rights Ombudsman for the year 2002, adopted the following
RECOMMENDATIONS
I. Assessment of the respecting of human rights and legal security in the country
1. The Government should formulate an antidiscrimination policy strategy and within this context study the possibility of setting up a special independent institution to deal with the prevention of discrimination in all spheres, provide education on human rights and, in conjunction with the competent state bodies, monitor the fulfilment of international obligations in this sphere.
II. Constitutional rights
2. The Government should ensure the full statutory regulation of the position of the Roma community in Slovenia.
III. Protection of personal data
3. With regard to the protection of personal data, and in particular because of the development of new technologies, the Government should study the question of increasing the competences and professional autonomy of the Protection of Personal Data Inspectorate.
4. The Government should prepare as soon as possible a new protection of personal data bill that complies with the EU Data Protection Directive (951461EC)
5. The Government should regulate in full, by means of a special statute, the issue of video surveillance and the keeping of records for security purposes, or provide a specific legal basis for the private and public sectors for the implementation of video surveillance and visitor records from the point of view of the protection of personal data.
IV. Restrictions of personal freedom
6. The Government should do everything necessary to amend the regulation that is supposed to ensure that an open visiting regime and longer visits are the rule for remand prisoners, something also recommended by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in the report it forwarded to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in April 2002.
7. The Government should propose to the National Assembly suitable amendments to statutes so that medical care is provided in prisons within the framework of the public health care network under the aegis of the Ministry of Health, with the possibility of supervision and use of the complaints procedures established in the field of health care.
8. With regard to foreign nationals who enter Slovenia illegally or who request asylum in Slovenia, the Government should rectify the inadequacies that are still present in places in connection with their lawful treatment and the regulation of living conditions.
V. Justice
9. The Government or the competent ministry, the judiciary, the public prosecution service, the attorney general’s office and the chamber of attorneys, each within the framework of its own competences, should work more effectively to remove court backlogs in individual spheres and areas, and as soon as possible guarantee adjudication within a reasonable period in all procedures, including the execution of judgments and land register matters, for the citizens of the Republic of Slovenia.
10. Administrative offences judges should guarantee that the right of defendants to be examined before the issuing of a decision on the administrative offence will not be violated.
11. By means of a suitable method of dividing cases among judges, courts should endeavour to ensure that decisions on applications of the same type, submitted by different applicants at the same time, will be made at the same time. This should also apply to decisions in appellate procedures.
12. The Government and the courts should endeavour to ensure lawful but effective and rapid work by enforcement officers carrying out direct acts of execution of judgments and insurance of claims, so as to prevent the forcible execution of court decisions.
13.The chamber of attorneys should examine the effectiveness of the approach adopted by its bodies, particularly disciplinary committees of the first instance, in order to guarantee rapid and effective decision-making in cases of violations of duty in the practice of the law and violation of the rules of conscientious work and practice in an attorney’s office, and supplement it if necessary. It should also study the possibility of changing the composition of disciplinary committees in such a way that due account will be taken of public interest.
VI. Police procedures
14. In connection with the performance of the functions of the police and the use of police powers, the Government should strive to ensure the respecting of human rights and fundamental freedoms and at the same time effective but lawful, professional, considered and impartial intervention when maintaining law and order and guaranteeing personal security and the security of private property.
15. The Government should study the possibilities of enforcing the practice whereby the police are required to give a detained person a copy of the official notice of arrest/detention or other appropriate document containing a statement of the rights pertaining to a person who is deprived of his liberty and in this way ensuring that he has the opportunity to familiarise himself with this rights even after completion of the procedure in which his rights are read to him and he confirms this with his signature.
VII. Administrative matters
16. The Government or competent ministry should ensure more effective supervision of the implementation of the provisions of the General Administrative Procedure Act, particularly in the part according to which administrative bodies should no longer be allowed to burden the users of their services with demands for confirmations and other proofs of facts that are evident from official records kept by the state administration, and if necessary should improve the training of those employed in the state administration.
17. In procedures for determining compensation under the Victims of War Violence Act and procedures for determining compensation under the Correction of Injustices Act, the Government and the competent ministry should guarantee a decision within the statutory deadline or within a reasonable deadline.
18. The Government and the competent ministry should regulate by statute the procedures relating to decisions on rights and obligations in the sphere of education.
19. The Government and the competent ministry should take steps to ensure that the Placement of Children with Special Needs Act can begin to be implemented in full.
VIII. Health insurance and health care
20. Within the framework of health care and health insurance reform, the Government and the competent ministry should statutorily define complaints procedures in health care and in this way ensure the exercising of all patients’ rights.
21. The Government and the competent ministry must ensure the consistent respecting of the constitutional right to health care in accordance with Article 51 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.
IX. Children's rights
22. The Government and the competent ministry should as soon as possible draft a bill regulating the method of preventing and dealing with domestic violence, taking into account both the position of the victim, which demands a rapid and effective response from state bodies, and the need for suitable professional work with the offender
23. The Government and the competent ministry should guarantee, through amendments to the Marriage and Family Relations Act, greater rights for children in procedures where decisions are being made about their rights, above all in the sense of their representation and in the sense of the specialisation of all those making decisions or taking part in these procedures. The Act should also ensure that the deadlines for the issuing of a decision are reasonable and that effective judicial protection will be provided in the case of protraction of the procedure or lack of response from the competent body.
X. Domestic violence
24. The Government, the competent public institutions and governmental and non-governmental organisations involved with the problem of domestic violence, should cooperate creatively, each within the framework of its own competences, in dealing with domestic violence and to this end devote special attention to the suitability and adequacy of preventive programmes.
25. The police should ensure privacy for women and other victims of violence when they are reporting a criminal offence at a police station and ensure that they are given a copy of their statement.
26. The competent ministry and social services centres should formulate as soon as possible a uniform doctrine of work for the provision of psychosocial help to the victims of domestic violence.