SLOVENIA | Ombudsman hands over the Annual reports of the Ombudsman and NPM to the Speaker of the National Assembly

On 6 June 2024, Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina handed over the 29th regular Annual Report of the Human Rights Ombudsman and the 16th report of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2023 to the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, MA, after he had forwarded it to the National Assembly one day prior in accordance with Article 5 of the Human Rights Ombudsman Act. After the meeting, the Ombudsman and the Speaker of the DZ made a public statement.

On 5 June 2024, he handed over the reports to President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Nataša Pirc Musar, and on 7 June, he handed them over to the Prime Minister, Dr. Robert Golob.

In his conversation with the President of the National Assembly, the Ombudsman emphasised that he is satisfied that a few more recommendations have been implemented than in the previous year, but those responsible are still lagging behind in implementing the recommendations, which are of a systemic nature. The Ombudsman is not satisfied with the slow implementation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court, so he recommended that the National Assembly adopt a mechanism whereby the government will report to it every year on the implementation of the judgments of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Court of Human Rights. In the conversation, the Ombudsman praised the actions of the National Assembly, which in July 2023, after several years of warnings, adopted a parliamentary amendment to the Act on Compensation to Victims of Crime, which enables the right to state compensation even for persons who are not citizens of the Republic of Slovenia or other EU countries, which is especially important for victims of human trafficking.

The Ombudsman identified 262 new violations of human rights in 2023 and made two more recommendations to those responsible than the previous year. Ombudsman Peter Svetina is an optimist and believes that the authorities will implement them.

Source: The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia