Human Rights Ombudsman dr. Zdenka Cebasek - Travnik, dr. Lev Kreft of the Peace Institute and Primoz Sporar of the Legal-information Centre for NGOs signed an agreement on joint monitoring of institutions in which people's freedom of movement is limited.

Human Rights Ombudsman and two NGOs signed on Tuesday an agreement on cooperation in monitoring institutions in which people's freedom of movement is limited. According to Cebasek Travnik, this is a sensitive area in which Slovenia is breaking new ground.

She added that the agreement signed with the Peace Institute and Legal-information Centre for NGOs - LIC enabled a joint monitoring of conditions in institutions such as prisons, asylum seekers' centres, closed wards of psychiatric hospitals and retirement homes. She also said that the visits to these institutions would be mostly unannounced. Such collaboration between ombudsman and NGOs on the field of monitoring is so far unique, dr. Cebasek Travnik also stressed.

Lev Kreft of the Peace Institute said that the agreement showed that the role of NGOs in such monitoring was strengthening, while Primoz Sporar of the LIC said this was an extremely good practice and an example to all state institutions as to how to include NGOs in such processes.