On 11 October 2023, the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia discussed the 28th Annual Report of the Human Rights Ombudsman and the Report on implementation of tasks and authorisations of the National Preventive Mechanism in 2022.

Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina emphasised at the meeting that in the post-Covid period, urgently needed systemic changes are all the more evident, which have not been handled by those responsible in the country for years. “This additionally worsens the position and distress of people. Dealing with crisis situations, such as the energy crisis, the increasingly higher prices of necessities, the pandemic, and the recent catastrophic floods, must not be the excuse for delaying the necessary reforms. I have been warning about numerous systemic challenges since the beginning of my term, yet many of our recommendations have unfortunately remained unrealised for years, which is completely unacceptable,” emphasised Ombudsman Svetina.

Based on its activities in the past year and primarily concrete complaints by complainants, the institution of the Ombudsman makes 83 new recommendations. They pertain to the work of different state bodies, municipalities, and bearers of public authority. They also warn about approximately 100 unimplemented past recommendations which remain current. “I have been finding for years that the weak spot of all governments is the coordination between individual government sectors, which is revealed in the slow progress regarding the realisation of our recommendations. Hence, I expect that the government harmonise a single position and a work plan for the realisation of our recommendations pertaining to several sectors. One such example is our recommendation from 2018 that legislative solutions be adopted which would appropriately arrange the inspection of school bags and the test for the presence of drugs or alcohol. The Ministry of Education has been rejecting our recommendation for years. However, in the spring, the Ministry of Justice, despite the negative opinion of the Ministry of Education, agreed with our recommendation that amendment to the legislation is needed. Unfortunately, any other shifts have still not happened in this field,” stated Peter Svetina.

He added that in June this year, the realisation of the Constitutional Court’s decision and our recommendation pertaining to the field of financial autonomy of the four independent state institutions was finally realised. “After more than two thirds of my term in the role of the fifth Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia, I am all the more convinced of how important independent institutions are, since they represent the bridge between authority bodies and non-governmental organisations. In this year’s report on the state of the rule of law, the European Commission especially highlighted that strong, independent, and efficient national institutions for human rights are one of the indicators of the functioning of the rule of law,” added the Human Rights Ombudsman.

Last year, the Centre for Human Rights, which functions within the institution of the Ombudsman, prepared an analysis on the provision of human rights training for public servants in public administration. The Ombudsman found that there is very little such training available. “As the only national institution in Slovenia for human rights with status A according to the Paris Principles, we thus liaised with the Administration Academy and have established cooperation regarding human rights training for leading public servants. Raising awareness of public servants about the duty of disclosure and respect of the principle of good administration is urgent. For last year, we found that the greatest number of complaints related to the principle of good administration. Many complaints pertained to the unresponsiveness and frequently also to the arrogance of public bodies. It is essential to understand that all public bodies have a duty of disclosure and must reply to individuals within a reasonable time,” clarified the Ombudsman.

He also presented to the Members of National Council the Report of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for 2022, which in that year visited 98 places of deprivation of liberty. “While visiting six Crisis Centres for children and adolescents, we warned that, after the adoption of the Family Code, the duration of children’s placement in centres is being prolonged. We warn that the operation of centres is not defined in detail; therefore, we recommend that the competent ministry define the operation of these centres more comprehensively according to all competences of the centres and according to the facts,” stated the Ombudsman at the presentation of the NPM.