The work
There were 1660 new complaints addressed to the Slovene Ombudsman Mr. Ivan Bizjak in the first semester of 1999, a 4.5 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.
There had been no substantial improvement of legal security in Slovenia, in particular owing to lengthy legal proceedings. The decrease in the number of new complaints could be a result of the fact that certain problems concerning larger groups of people have been solved, e.g. matters from the field of the law on war victims and the law on indemnification, as well as the fact that the problem of military homes is now being solved more successfully. Lengthy procedures remain one of the most pressing problems, especially in the courts of law. A number of important laws have not been adopted yet in certain sensible areas, including the laws on occupational relations, on free legal help and on mental health.
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Table: Number of complaints received in the first semester of 1999 (comparison with the same period in 1998)
| Area of Ombudsman´s work | |||||
| 1. Ustavne pravice | 1.2% | 1.5% | 125.0 | ||
| 2. Omejitve osebne svobode | 5.3% | 5.2% | 94.6 | ||
| 3. Socialna varnost | 11.8% | 13.3% | 107.8 | ||
| 4. Delovnopravne zadeve | 6.9% | 6.3% | 86.7 | ||
| 5. Upravne zadeve | 23.1% | 19.7% | 81.3 | ||
| 6. Sodni in policijski postopki | 26.1% | 29.5% | 107.7 | ||
| 7. Okolje in prostor | 1.8% | 2.4% | 129.0 | ||
| 8. Gospodarske javne službe | 1.3% | 2.4% | 181.8 | ||
| 9. Stanovanjske zadeve | 5.1% | 3.4% | 64.0 | ||
| 10. Ostalo | 17.5% | 16.3% | 88.8 | ||
| SKUPAJ | 100.0% | 100.0% | 95.5 | ||
Table shows the number of complaints received in the first semester of 1999 by individual area. For the sake of comparison, the table also shows data for the same period in 1998.
From January 1 to June 30, 1999 the ombudsman received a total of 1.660 complaints ( 1.739 in the same period of 1998), which is a 4,5 per cent decrease on 1998.
As in previous year, the largest share of all complaints received in the first semester of 1999 referred to the following areas:
- court and police procedures: 29.5 per cent; and
- administrative affairs: 19.7 per cent of all complaints received.
Comparison of different areas of ombudsman´s work shows decrease most substantially in the following areas relative to 1998:
- Housing matters: from 89 to 57 complaints, which is a decrease of as much as 36.0 per cent; and
- Administrative affairs: from 402 to 327 complaints, which is a 18.7 per cent decrease.
The number of complaints received in the first semester of 1999 increased most substantially in the area of public services, environment and constitutional rights.
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Seminar on ombudsman and the Law of the European Union
The European Ombudsman Mr. Jacob Söderman and The Human Rights Ombudsman of Slovenia Mr. Ivan Bizjak has co-organised a Seminar on Ombudsman and the Law of the European Union which took place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, from June 6 to 8, 1999. The aim of the seminar was to promote the knowledge of the European Community law within the ombudsman institutions and similar bodies in the respective states which have applied to join the European Union.
The topics of the seminar has been the experiences of the European Ombudsman from the point of view of the Community law and the legal framework of the European union, some specific aspects of an ombudsman´s work in candidates countries (e.g. problems of transition, the role of an Ombudsman in the harmonisation of legislation), presentation of the work and case law of the Court of Justice and its impact on the domestic law of the member countries, and the question of the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties and their impact on the rights of European citizens and how these rights should be protected.
The seminar was attended by representatives of nine countries aspiring to join the EU, namely Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Rumania and Slovenia, and the European Union.
All these EU candidates have been thoroughly adjusting to the EU, which is in the process of changes itself. It will therefore take a lot of effort to promptly adjust to EU provisions and follow the process of EU changes simultaneously, Slovene Ombudsman told at the press conference at the end of the seminar. The rule of law, the respect of human rights, consolidation of democracy and democratic institutions are huge challenges for the states; the participants in the seminar were of the opinion that the ombudsman can do a great deal to put those tasks into practice by drawing attention to irregularities and by eliminating weaknesses in the system, Bizjak added.
More about the contributions presented at the seminar you can find also on the home page of the Slovene Ombudsman (http://www.varuh-rs.si) – reports and publications.
International contacts
Official visit to Romania
On the invitation of the Ombudsman of Romania Mr. Paul Mitroi the Slovene Ombudsman Mr. Ivan Bizjak, accompanied by the Director of the expert service Mr. Karl Erjavec, was on the official visit to Romania from September 26 to 30, 1999. During the visit Mr. Bizjak had several discussions with his host Mr. Mitroi and his staff members. Slovene Ombudsman met also the President of the Romanian Constitutional Court Mr. Lucian Mihai, the President of the Chamber of deputies Mr. Ion Diaconescu, Minister of Justice Mr. Valeriu Stoica, Vice-president of the Senat Mr. Mircea Ionescu-Quintus and Chief-Justice of the Romanian Supreme Court of Justice Mr. Sorin Moisescu.
