Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek said he shared the opinion of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) regarding the proposed amendments to the Slovenian asylum act in that the changes to asylum legislation are not necessary, he told a press conference on Tuesday.
The UNHCR representative in Budapest Lloyd Dakin said yesterday that the present asylum act was adequate and therefore did not require any major changes. According to Hanzek, the government-proposed amendments unintelligibly derogated several rights.

Hanzek acknowledged that the state should prevent abuse of asylum procedure, but this could not be achieved by decreasing the rights of asylum seekers instead of improving the acquisition process.

The main area of concern is the proposed procedure where police would be authorised to decide whether a person may ask for asylum or not. Not only are police officers not qualified for the task, they also face an unnecessary burden of responsibility, Hanzek said.

The Ombudsman's Office also announced today a debate on the freedom of artistic expression and its limitations, to be held on the Human Rights Day on 10 December. The debate is to focus on Slovenian film.