On 21 and 22 February 2022 in Brussels, the Assistant Head of the Centre for Human Rights Dr Simona Drenik Bavdek and Rozi Žalig, Ombudsman’s Consultant, represented the Human Rights Ombudsman institution at the closing conference entitled Improvement to the implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Charter) – strong and efficient national human rights institutions. The conference was held within the regional project for support to national human rights institutions when monitoring fundamental rights and aspects of fundamental rights of the rule of law. In the project, which was financed by Norway Grants, partners were national institutions from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI). “The project found that countries could be using the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union more frequently, since the Charter is too poorly known both among decision-makers and among citizens of individual EU member states. The project strives to strengthen the use of the Charter by state bodies, since it provides individuals with additional protection of human rights,” emphasises Dr Drenik Bavdek.

At a round table discussion, she presented the role of the national institutions regarding the monitoring of the state of the rule of law. “The European Commission highlights strong, professional, independent, and efficient national institutions as one of the criteria for the operation of the rule of law. In the preparation of its annual reports on the state of the rule of law in the EU, the European Commission regularly consults with the institution of the Human Rights Ombudsman. For several years, we have been warning the European Commission about the issue of the failure to respect the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the disregard of our recommendations, as well as about the issues connected with the independence and efficiency of the judicial system and the freedom of press. We bring attention to the fact that increasingly often laws are passed in expedited proceedings, lacking any serious public and expert debate, which is problematic with respect to transparency and the respect for the rule of law. Namely, the understanding of the rule of law includes both the respect of fundamental rights and the operation of independent mechanisms of checks and balances as well as the consideration of their decisions and recommendations,” added Dr Drenik Bavdek.

For the countries to more frequently use the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the FRA translated into Slovenian the Trainer’s Manual – Charter Case Studies. Based on this Manual, the institution of the Human Rights Ombudsman plans to organise several training sessions on the use of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights for different groups of public servants.

At the conference, a Closing Conference Statement on the Role of National Human Rights Institutions was agreed. It calls on the member states to appropriately finance the national human rights institutions and ensure their independence. This includes the realisation and consideration of recommendations of the national human rights institutions in the adoption of legislation and regulations pertaining to individuals’ fundamental rights. Last but not least, the respect of the EU Charter is also an important new condition for the absorption of EU funds which, considering the existing legal framework, currently needs to be considered in assessing and monitoring projects financed from European funds.