Although Slovenia lacks a children's rights division of its own, a service dealing also with the protection of children's rights has been active within the Ombudsman's Office. As head of the Ombudsman's Expert Service said, the Ombudsman's Office is to get a proper department in charge solely of children's rights.
Three persons are currently working on children's rights, each of them being in charge of one aspect of children's rights - ranging from sexual abuse to education and the children-parents relationship. The latter is also part of programmes adopted by the social work centres, Tone Dolcic told the STA.

Dolcic pointed out that Slovenian Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek would like this new department to assume a role slightly different from the other departments so that it would not only deal with separate cases. Its programme would need to be more project-oriented, a policy that is not yet in use at the Ombudsman's Office.

Most problems reported at the department appear to be related to children who are victims of conflicts between their divorcing parents. Unfortunately, it is not only the involved parents who fail to realise their children's priorities, but also certain centres for social work, which will not or cannot take measures to protect children, Dolcic observed, adding that the Office issues specific warnings in such cases.

In effect, the relations between the Office and the centres for social work are not yet ideal in terms of reporting. Most calls at the Ombudsman's department come from NGOs, or from children's neighbours and relatives; rarely by the children themselves. This is why the Office plans to improve its promotional programme, as children have no possibility to be properly informed about their own rights.

The establishment of a special institute of a children's rights ombudsman in Slovenia has been considered for quite some time, particularly by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and some organisations dealing with children's issues, such as the Slovenian UNICEF committee. In relation to this idea, the Ombudsman's Office believes the most effective way would be to employ another three persons to work on children's issues - a plan approved earlier this year by the parliament.

SOURCE: Slovenian Press Agency, 30. 8. 2002