On 4 April 2023, Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina welcomed representatives of the Serbian national community in Slovenia for a visit. He discussed the situation of the Serbian national community in Slovenia and its efforts for constitutional recognition with Branislav Rajić, president of the National Council of Serbs of Slovenia, and Miloš Konjević, vice-president. They talked about the cultural rights of the community, issues in the field of education and media coverage, and the role of the state in this. The two guests informed the Ombudsman of the community's efforts so far and presented solutions that, in their opinion, could satisfy the recommendations of the Council of Europe's Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The Committee proposed to the Slovenian authorities to strengthen the legal protection of the new national communities and to consider giving them access to constitutionally protected minority rights and extending the full application of the Framework Convention to persons belonging to these communities.
Among other things, the Ombudsman briefed the guests on the institution's efforts to take care of constitutionally recognised communities and to realise the collective rights of national communities, which are not mentioned in the Constitution. “Repeated annual warnings and recommendations in the Ombudsman's voluminous Annual Reports[1] were the starting point for the fact that in February 2011 the National Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Status of National Communities of the Nations of the Former SFRJ in the Republic of Slovenia,” added the Ombudsman.
He also informed the participants that the Ministry of Culture warned in 2019 that for several years it has been proposing to start a discussion on the situation and measures for the realisation of the collective rights of minorities, which are not specifically defined in the Constitution, but are so numerous that their position in the Republic of Slovenia should be defined. He also proposed the adoption of a strategy to regulate their collective rights. During the consideration of the Act on the realisation of collective cultural rights of members of the national communities of the former SFRJ in the Republic of Slovenia, it was also determined in the National Assembly that this issue is inextricably linked to the debate on amending the Constitution. The decision on the constitutional and legal regulation of the status of the national communities of the former SFRJ in the Republic of Slovenia (and others) thus remains in the hands of the National Assembly, which can also adopt constitutional and legal changes, the Ombudsman emphasised.
The Ombudsman promised his two visitors that in the future, in accordance with his competences, he will deal with issues of the legal status of all national communities in the Republic of Slovenia. He also informed them that leaflets are available on the Ombudsman's website in the Serbian language, as well as in the languages of other national communities in Slovenia, where individual community representatives can read in their own language when to contact the Ombudsman and how he can help.
[1] e.g. Annual Report for 2007 (p. 21), 2008 (p. 56), 2009 (p. 46), 2010 (p. 66), 2011 (p. 66), 2012 (p. 54), and 2018 (p. 140).
