COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION STARTS REVIEW OF REPORT OF SLOVENIA

CERD
62nd session
13 March 2003
Afternoon



The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination began consideration this afternoon of the fifth periodic report of Slovenia, welcoming Government efforts to fight such bias through Constitutional and legislative measures but questioning a Government delegation, among other things, on the situation of thousands of persons long present in the country without any formal status as citizens, foreign residents, or refugees.
Introducing his country's report, Aljaz Gosnar, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the Government had continued to enhance its anti-discriminatory legislation and to create conditions for the elimination of discrimination and to spur the full and equal integration of minorities.
Mr. Gosnar said an Act amending the citizenship law now provided a broader legal basis for citizenship matters and simplified the procedure for persons from the republics of the former Yugoslavia, temporary refugees, stateless persons and foreigners fulfilling conditions as defined by this Act to be granted citizenship by Slovenia.
In the course of their debate on the report, Committee Experts, including Kurt Herndl, who served as country rapporteur for the report of Slovenia, raised a number of questions in connection with the rights of the Roma, temporary refugees, minority groups and standards for obtaining citizenship. Many Experts said the country’s recognition of Hungarian and Italian minorities as "indigenous" and having special status might discriminate against other minorities, including Roma, Serbians, Bosnians and Croats.
Taking part in the debate were Experts Luis Valencia Rodriguez, Regis de Gouttes, Morten Kjaerum, Yuri A. Reshetov, Patrick Thornberry, Jose A. Lindgren Alves, Tang Chengyuan, Mario Jorge Yutzis, Nourredine Amir and Raghavan Vasudevan Pillai.
Included in the Slovenian delegation were Vera Klopcic, Senior Research Collaborator at the Institute for Ethnic Studies; Arne Mavcic, Head of the Department for Analyis and International Cooperation of the Constitutional Court; Suzana Curin, State University-Secretary of the Ministry of Culture; Milena Smit, State Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Andraz Zidar, Second Secretary of Permanent Mission of Slovenia in Geneva.
As one of the 167 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Slovenia must submit periodic reports on efforts to eliminate such bias.
Before adjourning its afternoon meeting, the Committee, under its agenda item on organization matters, discussed its relations with non-governmental organizations.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. it will continue its review of the report of Slovenia.

Report of Slovenia
The fifth periodic report of Slovenia (CERD/C/398/Add.1) describes various measures undertaken by the Government to implement the provisions of the International Convention. It says that in the Slovenian legal system, the prohibition of discrimination is a Constitutional category. Any incitement to national, racial, religious or any other kind of discrimination and any inflaming of national, racial religious or other hatreds are unconstitutional. The legal system of the country provides for criminal punishment for violations of provisions on equality, for the promotion of intolerance and for the spreading of ideas of racial supremacy.
The report notes that a particularly important right of the members of different national and ethnic communities is the right freely to express affiliation with their nations or national communities. Members of the indigenous Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities and the Romani community exercise their general human rights and individual rights connected with their nationalities. As for all other citizens, these rights are guaranteed to all members of different ethnic, linguistic and religious communities in Slovenia. New possibilities for the gradual improvement of the Roma situation in Slovenia have emerged, the reports contend. Media reports on the Roma are definitely more positive in terms of understanding of specific cultural characteristics of the Roma than they were several years ago, the reports state.

Introduction of Report
ALJAZ GOSNAR, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that in August 2001, Slovenia had made a declaration recognizing the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications under article 14 of the Convention. The Slovenian public had made aware of the possibility of using that individual complaints procedure in seeking redress for alleged State violations of the rights set forth in the Convention.
Mr. Gosnar said that on the basis of the Committee's concluding observations and recommendations on the Slovenia's previous report, Government authorities had made a lot of progress in the field of education and in the training of civil servants and public officials concerning racial discrimination issues. Standards on the elimination of racial discrimination had been made part of the curricula of several graduate and post-graduate schools and programmes for civil servants.
Slovenia had continued to enhance its anti-discriminatory legislation and to create conditions for the elimination of discrimination and for the equal integration of minorities and vulnerable groups into society, Mr. Gosnar said. An Act amending the citizenship law now provided a broader legal basis for citizenship matters and simplified the procedure for persons from the republics of the former Yugoslavia, temporary refugees, stateless persons and foreigners fulfilling the conditions as defined by the Act to be granted citizenship in Slovenia.
Mr. Gosnar further said that in 2002, the Government had adopted a Resolution on Migration Policy of Slovenia, which included measures taken by the State and society actively to prevent discrimination, xenophobia and racism against immigrants. Integration policy objectives in Slovenia were based on the fundamental principles and values of equality, freedom and cooperation. Within that scope, equality was defined as ensuring equal social, economic, and civil rights to immigrants, temporary refugees, stateless persons and foreigners.
Slovenia supported initiatives for political participation by Roma at the local, national and international levels, Mr. Gosner said. Regulations to aid political participation at the local level constituted an original and genuine step to improve such participation. In 2002, an "Act amending the Local Government Act" had been inspired by two Constitutional Court decisions. Roma people were now participating in municipal councils.

Discussion
KURT HERNDL, the Committee Expert who acted as country rapporteur for the report of Slovenia, said Slovenia had responded favourably to the recommendations made to it after the Committee had considered the country’s previous report three years ago. The fifth periodic report made reference to the work accomplished by the Government to implement the Committee's recommendations. The report mainly dealt with responses to the recommendations made by the Committee to the initial report of that country.
Mr. Herndl said that among the recommendations were the implementation of the various treaties concerning minorities. Slovenia counted 55,000 Croats, 48,000 Serbs, 27,000 Muslims and 12,300 "Yugoslavs" among its inhabitants. These minorities might not enjoy the same degree of protection as the Italian and Hungarian minorities, who were considered indigenous minorities enjoying special status. The Roma were also among those who did not enjoy adequate protection. Their number varied from 7,000 to 10,000, according to the Government. Further information was needed on the situation of the Roma.
The Committee previously had expressed concern that Slovenian legislation did not seem to respond to all the requirements of article 4 of the Convention, Mr. Herndl said. However, the current report indicated that the Committee's concerns had been taken care by of the State party through legislative measures undertaken to prohibit any organization disseminating racial hatred.
Concerning the issue of citizenship, Mr. Herndl said things were not fully satisfactory as long as the question of citizenship acquisition by some 130,000 people was not resolved. The report indicated that 171,000 people had benefited from the naturalization process, but much still had to be done in that area.
The delegation's attention was drawn by the rapporteur to the issue of the Roma, who still had a problem concerning citizenship. Mr. Herndl said the Roma should fully enjoy the right to citizenship and other social services. The State should enable them to participate fully in the affairs of the nation as full-fledged citizens.
Other Committee Experts also offered comments and raised questions. An Expert said the Government had extended certain rights to the Roma people and asked if other minorities also enjoyed additional rights. It was also possible that the whole situation of minorities would be improved, he noted.
Another Expert said the Governmenty should include in its future reports information on cases of criminal prosecutions related to racial discrimination. The report indicated a reduction in intolerance since 1992 towards minority groups, the Expert said. He wondered if the particular situation of the Italian and Hungarian minorities was not at the expense of other minorities, who by comparison might be discriminated against. The Italian and Hungarian minorities enjoyed special status, thanks to the agreements reached between Slovenia and the Italian and Hungarian Governments.
An Expert asked about the positive change reported in the attitude of the press towards the Roma and other minorities. He wanted to know the cause for this change of mind by the mass media. He also asked if the Governm,ent had taken initiatives to implement the Declarations and Programme of Action of the Durban World Conference against Racism. Had the Government designed a national plan of action against racial discrimination?
An Expert said the Slovenian report was different and better than many reports that came before the Committee: it provided cases of a Constitutional nature dealing with racial discrimination. He wanted to know about the additional criteria included in the Act enabling Roma people to participate in municipal and local councils. In addition, he noted that many people, such as Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, who had left Slovenia because of political problems and had left their properties and apartments behind and had not received any compensation. Moreover, because of their change of residence, they were unable to receive their pensions, he said.
An Expert observed that citizens of the former Yugoslavia were still in Slovenia without enjoying any formal status. Any decision to expel them from the country would be an injustice; and if so, to which country could they be expelled? Another Expert said that these people did not want to leave the country because they had been there for many years, but discrimination meanwhile was being practiced against them. The status of "temporary refugees" was another problem -- their status should be resolved through application of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees, and they rather should be given residence permits to help them resettle.
Another Expert asked about the types of criminal procedure applied to persons suspected of being terrorists.



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