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Slovenia - Second periodic reports of States parties due in 1998: Addendum [2003] UNCRCSPR 14; CRC/C/70/Add.19 (18 June 2003)
UNITED NATIONS
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CRC
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Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Distr. GENERAL
CRC/C/70/Add.19 18 June 2003
Original: ENGLISH
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF
REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE
CONVENTION
Second periodic reports of States parties due in 1998
SLOVENIA*
[18
September 2001]
* For the initial report submitted by the Government of Slovenia, see
CRC/C/8/Add.25, for its consideration by the Committee, see
documents
CRC/C/SR.337-338 and CRC/C/15/Add.65.
GE.03-42445 (E) 070903
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
I. INTRODUCTION 1 -5 5
II. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION 6 - 60 6
A. State measures for implementation of
the Convention 26 -
44 10
B. Involvement of NGOs and volunteers in the
implementation of the
Convention 45 - 49 14
C. Existing or planned mechanisms at the national
or local level for
coordinating policies relating to
children and for monitoring
implementation of
the Convention 50 - 54 16
D. Promotion of the Convention and access to the
initial report of
the Republic of Slovenia on the
measures adopted for the implementation of
the
Convention 55 - 60 17
III. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD 61 - 63 18
IV. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 64 - 90 18
A. Non-discrimination (art. 2) 64 - 72 18
B. Best interests of the child (art. 3) 73 - 74 20
C. Right to life, survival and development (art. 6) 75 - 82 20
D. Right to express one’s views (art. 12) 83 - 90 23
V. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS 91 - 107 24
A. Right to a name, nationality and
parental care (art. 7) 91 -
95 24
B. Right to freedom of expression and access
to information (arts. 13
and 17) 96 - 101 25
C. Right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion (art. 14)
102 - 103 26
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
D. Freedom of association and freedom
of peaceful assembly (art. 15)
104 - 105 26
E. Protection of privacy (art. 16) 106 27
F. Protection from torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading
treatment or
punishment (art. 37, para (a)) 107 27
VI. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND
ALTERNATIVE CARE 108 - 162 27
A. Parental guidance (art. 5) 108 - 119 27
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18) 120 - 129 30
C. Separation from parents (art. 9) 130 - 132 32
D. Family reunification (art. 10) 133 - 134 33
E. Recovery of maintenance
for the child (art. 27, para. 4) 135 -
142 33
F. Children deprived of their family
environment (art. 20) 143 -
148 36
G. Adoption (art. 21) 149 - 150 37
H. Protection of abused, maltreated and
neglected children (arts. 19
and 39) 151 - 161 38
I. Periodic review of placement (art. 25) 162 41
VII. BASIC HEALTH AND WELFARE 163 - 213 41
A. Children with special needs (art. 23) 163 - 171 41
B. Health and health services (art. 24) 172 - 196 44
C. Social security and housing
(arts. 26 and 27) 197 - 213 50
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
VIII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES 214 - 242 58
A. Education and aims of education (arts. 28 and 29) 214 - 239 58
B. Leisure, recreation and cultural
activities (art. 31) 240 -
242 64
IX. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES 243 - 331 64
A. Refugee children (art. 22) 243 - 255 64
B. Children in armed conflict (art. 38) 256 - 261 68
C. Children in criminal proceedings (art. 40) 262 - 269 69
D. Children deprived of their liberty (art. 37) 270 - 281 70
E. Physical and mental recovery of abused
neglected or punished
children (art. 39) 282 - 285 73
F. Child labour (art. 32) 286 - 293 74
G. Drug abuse (art. 33) 294 - 311 75
H. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (art. 34) 312 - 320 80
I. Child abduction (art. 35) 321 - 324 81
J. Children belonging to an ethnic minority (art. 30) 325 - 331 82
I. INTRODUCTION
- Pursuant
to article 44, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to
which Slovenia is a successor (Basic Constitutional
Charter on the Independence
and Sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia, Ur. l. RS, 1/91-I),
and the Act on Notification of Succession Regarding United Nations Conventions
and Conventions Adopted Within the International
Atomic Energy Agency, Ur.
l. RS, 35/92), the Republic of Slovenia, as a member of the United
Nations Organization and party to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child,
hereby submits its second periodic report on measures for the implementation of
the rights recognized by the Convention.
- The
present report on the measures adopted to give effect to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child includes the amendments adopted
by the Government of
Slovenia between November 1996 and 2001 concerning children’s rights. The
report also includes measures
by non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
concerning children’s rights and proposals put forward by the Government,
the professional
public and NGOs on this issue.
- The
report was drawn up in line with the guidelines laid down by the Committee on
the Rights of the Child. The bodies which took
part in its preparation included
the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education,
Science and Sport,
the Ministry of Health, the Institute of Public Health, the
Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the
Environment and Spatial Planning, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of
Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office for
Occupational Safety and
Health, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, the Nationalities
Office of the Republic of Slovenia,
the Office for Religious Communities, the
Government Public Relations and Media Office, the Office for Migration and
Refugees, the
Equal Opportunities Office and the Office for the Disabled.
- This
report by the Government of Slovenia is public. In addition to the ministries,
offices and institutes involved in its preparation, copies of the report
have been sent to the Human Rights Ombudsman, various NGOs
and other
professionals with an interest in the field.
- The
overall assessment is that the area is well regulated, as many statutory acts
and programmes have been adopted with the intention
of implementing the civil,
political and social rights of the child. Over the five-year period covered in
the report, most of the
recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of
the Child have been carried out. Summarizing the main conclusions of the
Governmental Report on the Enactment of the World Summit for Children, i.e. the
World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and
Development of Children and
the conclusions of the UNICEF office in Florence “Child Well-being in the
EU and Enlargement to
the East”, it can be concluded that Slovenia is the
leading country in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of GDP per capita,
that
income disparity is comparable to the EU average, and that infant mortality is
among the lowest in Europe. The share of GDP
spent on education in Slovenia in
1999 was 5.8 per cent, which is above the average for Central and
Eastern European countries (5
per cent). The number of children
attending secondary education is increasing and equals the average for some EU
countries: 30
per cent of children over 16 are not in secondary education in
Portugal; this figure is 20 per cent in Greece and 15 per cent in
Great Britain.
According to UNICEF, only in Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium do all children
attend secondary school.
II. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
- In
the five years since the initial report on the implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, Slovenia, with the
intention of implementing the
recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, prepared and
adopted new legislation,
as well as certain planning documents on the
enforcement of the rights of the child.
- With
the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Independence and Sovereignty of the
Republic of Slovenia (Ur. l. RS 1/91-I) and the Act on
Notification of Succession Regarding United Nations Conventions and
Conventions Adopted Within the International
Atomic Energy Agency
(Ur. l. RS, 35/92), Slovenia succeeded to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, together with a reservation with regard to article 9,
paragraph
1, of the Convention. Paragraph 1 provides that “States parties
shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his
or her parents against
their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review
determine, in accordance with applicable
laws and procedures, that such
separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. Such determination
may be necessary
in a particular case, such as one involving abuse or neglect of
the child by the parents, or one where the parents are living separately
and a
decision must be made as to the child’s place of residence.” The
Marriage and Family Relations Act (Ur. l. SRS, 14/89 - clarified text)
specifies that the State may and must interfere with parenting rights through
measures carried out by social
work centres in the administrative procedure and
through certain measures carried out by courts of law, which explains why
Slovenia
assumed the Convention with the above reservation. The reservation was
withdrawn in 1999 (Uradni list Republike Slovenije, Mednarodne
pogodbe, 5/99).
- Each
individual was guaranteed judicial protection at the time of ratification of the
Convention, as well as by article 25 of the
Slovenian Constitution (Ur. l.
RS, 33/91-I), which states that “everyone shall be guaranteed the
right to appeal or to any other legal remedy against the decisions
of courts and
other State authorities, local community authorities and bearers of public
authority by which his rights, duties or
legal interests are determined”.
Under the General Administrative Procedure Act, a complaint against a decision
by a social
work centre may be filed with a second-instance administrative body
(competent ministry), and against its decision an administrative
dispute may be
instigated at the Administrative Court.
- Article
1, paragraph 1, of the new Administrative Dispute Act (in force
since 1 January 1998) specifies that administrative dispute
ensures judicial protection of the rights and legal interests of
individuals, legal entities and other persons (if holders of rights
and
obligations) against the decisions and actions of administrative or (as provided
for by law) other State bodies, local community
bodies and holders of public
authorizations, in a manner and according to the procedure laid down by the
Administrative Dispute Act.
In an administrative dispute a court of law rules
on the legality of individual final acts that State bodies, local community
bodies
or holders of public authorizations have the authority to issue (art. 1,
para. 2 of the Administrative Dispute Act).
- Since
the General Administrative Procedure Act and the Administrative Dispute Act
provide for judicial control of decisions issued
by social work centres and
ensure judicial protection, i.e. juridical review, as defined by article 9,
paragraph 1, of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, Slovenia therefore
fulfils the general provisions laid down in that paragraph.
- Under
Slovenian law a decision of a social work centre to separate a child from his or
her parents is subject to a judicial review
under articles 120 and 121 of the
Marriage and Family Relations Act in an administrative dispute instigated at the
Supreme Court
of the Republic of Slovenia by the parents of the child. This
shows that the solution applied by Slovenian law, according to which
a decision
of social care services to separate a child from his or her parents is examined
by a court of law in an administrative
dispute, is in formal legal terms not
contrary to the provisions of article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention and
therefore the reservation
stated in the notification act is unnecessary.
- The
guarantee of a representative for the child in all proceedings concerning the
child is regulated by procedural legislation; the
appointment of a special
representative of the child is regulated by the Marriage and Family Relations
Act, which provides for a
special representative to protect the child’s
best interests. The new Civil Procedure Act (hereinafter “CPA”)
provides for an additional regulation and improves the position of the child in
civil procedures. In Chapter 27, CPA regulates separately
the procedure in
marriage disputes and disputes arising from the relationship between parents and
children. CPA provisions place
more emphasis on the protection of the
child’s best interests by allowing them to participate in the proceedings.
CPA also
provides for free legal aid for socially at-risk parties in court
proceedings, primarily by waiving payment of the costs of proceedings;
it also
provides for the ex officio appointment
of a representative to a party
exempt from the payment of the costs of proceedings. Since
the new CPA
regulates the procedures in marriage disputes and disputes arising from
relationships between parents and children in
a separate chapter, it regulates
in that same
chapter some of the issues previously regulated by the Marriage
and Family Relations Act in articles 66, 67, 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76,
77, 78,
paragraph 4, 100 and 101, which were annulled by CPA.
- The
child’s procedural capacity needs to be better regulated, not only with
regard to civil procedures but also in other procedures,
particularly
non-litigious, administrative procedures and disputes. In an administrative
dispute the child cannot participate as
the “affected party” and has
no right to conduct procedural actions either by himself or through a
representative. The
child should therefore be allowed to participate in an
administrative dispute or provided with a special representative or a defence
lawyer.
- In
the field of education and training a new law for children with special needs
(Guidance for Children with Special Educational Needs
Act) was adopted in 2000.
The Act regulates educational guidance for children, adolescents and young
adults with special educational
needs, and prescribes the methods and forms of
provision of education and training. With the Act a long-term process of
integration
of children with special needs in regular forms of education has
begun. Activities for the preparation of non-statutory acts (the
most important
of which is the Rules on the Criteria for Defining the Type and Degree of
Impairment) are under way.
- In
1996, the Programme for the Protection of the Roma was adopted. In addition to
other measures it defined the measures for the
social integration of Roma
children into regular primary schools. Only exceptionally is a whole primary
school classroom composed
of Roma children; in the 1998/99 academic year there
were only seven such classrooms in all Slovenian primary schools. However,
in
the 1998/99 academic year only 58 Roma schoolchildren out of a total
of 1,067 continued their education.
- Schoolchildren
with temporary refugee status are entitled to primary education in the same way
as any Slovene schoolchildren; they
are also granted equal access to secondary,
higher or university education. Ten years of living in Slovenia has allowed
these children
to adapt to their new environment, attain professional
qualifications, or study at college or university. The main objectives of
the
measures in this area are to normalize their life in their new environment and
prepare them for life in their home country once
they return. In 1999, Slovenia
adopted the Aliens Act, the Act Regulating the Legal Status of Citizens of the
Former Yugoslavia
Living in the Republic of Slovenia, and the Asylum Act. The
extent of health-care services available to these children has yet to
be
regulated.
- The
Guarantee and Maintenance Fund Act grants children who do not receive the
maintenance to which they are entitled under a court
ruling or administrative
decision the right to replacement maintenance. The right to recovery of
maintenance is granted to children
under 18 living in a family in which the
income per family member is less than 55 per cent of the national average wage
in the previous
year. In addition, a request for a writ must have been filed at
least three months previously. In practice however, the administrative
or court
proceedings of enforcing the right to maintenance can be quite lengthy.
- In
March 2001 the Child Benefit Act was adopted. This has extended the validity of
selective child benefit, which is means-tested
and depends on the number of
children in the family, until the adoption of the new Parental Leave and Family
Benefits Act. At present,
over 80 per cent of children potentially
entitled to the benefit are receiving it. The Parental Leave and Family
Benefits Act, which
is currently in parliamentary procedure, will, in addition
to selective child benefit and other family benefits, introduce special
financial assistance to loneparent families with several children. The Act also
envisages other rights for parents such as the subsidizing
of parents’
employment, paternity leave, and various flexible options in the use of
childcare leave.
- The
new Pension and Disability Insurance Act introduces the option of voluntary
participation in mandatory pension insurance under
certain circumstances, e.g.
when caring for a child under the age of 7.
- The
changes and additions to the Marriage and Family Relations Act put forward by
the Government of Slovenia in 2001 have removed
the unconstitutional solution
relating to the decision on the upbringing and education of children. There is
still the need for
a more flexible regulation of the right of children to
personal contact, since children need to be allowed to maintain contact with
other people such as grandparents, adult sisters and brothers or former
foster-parents if they are attached to them and if this is
in the best interest
of the child, and the right of the child to be jointly cared for by both
parents. Foster care will be regulated
by the Foster Care Act, which is being
drawn up. There is also the need for a more precise regulation of
adoption.
- By
analysing the implementation of the Resolution on the Foundations for Family
Policy in the Republic of Slovenia, the changes and
additions to family policy
measures were determined. These were incorporated in the new Parental Leave and
Family Benefits Act,
and the Action Programme Against Poverty and Social
Exclusion (adopted in 2000) defined the basic
- State
measures for the protection of poor or socially excluded people, and therefore
also for the protection of children’s interests,
especially of young
unemployed people, school dropouts and others.
- Slovenia
has ratified the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in
Respect of Intercountry Adoption and the European
Convention on the Exercise of
Children’s Rights (Ur. l. RS, MP, 26/99).
- On
the basis of the Police Act, the Rules on Police Authorizations were adopted in
2000. The Rules lay down in detail the limits
which the police must respect in
official dealings with individuals. The Rules instruct the police to act with
particular restraint
when dealing with children (persons under the age of 14)
and minors (aged between 14 and 18), and provides for a complaints procedure.
Under the provision of article 8 police authorizations are to be enforced in
such a way that “the life and safety of people
not involved in the
procedure are not endangered, without disturbing them unnecessarily or burdening
them with unnecessary obligations”,
while under the provision of article
12 each and every use of a police authorization must be recorded in a
“report on the action
completed” or at least in the form of an
official note. Regular professional training for all police officers on these
issues
needs to be provided. While the 1998 Criminal Procedure Act introduced
several changes to the way a detention order is granted and
executed, which
helped to improve conditions for detainees, including juveniles, the length of
detention has not changed. In spite
of the fact that there are no time
restrictions and that individual stages can be lengthy in practice, procedures
against minors
do not last long (in 1999, 11 juveniles were detained of
whom only 3 were detained for more than two or three months).
- Several
suggestions have been made to appoint a special ombudsman for children’s
rights and to form a government or other suitable
body at the level of executive
authority to guarantee comprehensive care for children and their interests in
Slovenia. The proposals
to appoint a special ombudsman for children’s
rights have been debated by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the
Friends
of Youth of Slovenia Association, the Human Rights Ombudsman and the
Equal Opportunities Commission of the Slovenian National Assembly.
The Equal
Opportunities Commission recommended that the possibility of appointing a
special ombudsman for children’s rights
be looked into from the angle of
children’s best interests. The Legal Information Centre for NGOs was also
involved at this
stage.
- The
Child Protection Act (currently being drawn up) will provide systemic regulation
for the area of children’s rights in Slovenia
and will lay down the basic
mechanisms for the coordination of action in cases of abuse or neglect of
children, which is one of the
areas in which, in practice, the burden of
responsibility is too often shifted around instead of having professionals
working together
for the best interests of the child. Children must be provided
with access to children’s rights by means of dissemination
of information
on children’s rights through brochures, TV adverts, telephone hotlines,
open days and the Internet, in forms
that are easy to understand for children.
Parents must also be provided with access to various forms of information and
counselling.
A. State measures for the implementation of the
Convention
- In
Slovenia the regulation and implementation of the rights of the child are based
on the principles of justice, freedom and equal
access to social services for
all.
- Measures
relating to children’s rights are implemented by the State and local
communities and also by NGOs. They are based
on financial assistance and
services directly intended for children or other family members, and ensuring
the social and economic
welfare of children (family benefits, tax relief,
health-care services, subsidized housing, etc.), equal educational opportunities
and social inclusion.
- With
the exception of child benefits, the system of family benefits, whose aim is to
secure the financial and social security of children
and other family members
and which is based on universal measures for the protection of children and
other family members (maternity
and childcare leave, parental allowances,
newborn baby allowance) and measures that guarantee protection for the most
vulnerable
groups (such as children with special needs), has not changed
considerably in the period covered by the report. In 1999 a new form
of child
benefit which depends on the family income and the number of dependent children
was introduced. The new child benefit was
significantly increased in 1999 - in
comparison with the previous amount, the average amount of child benefit in the
first few months
was 55.7 per cent higher. Following changes to the criteria on
child benefits (which took place in 1996 and 1999) and in line with
the 2001 Child Benefit Amounts Act, just over 80 per cent of those
potentially eligible claim child benefit. In 1999, the age-limit for
entitlement to a special childcare
allowance was raised (valid since 1 May
1996); now it can be claimed by one of the parents of a seriously ill child or a
child with
a physical or mental disability until the child is 18 years old and,
since 1999, also for a child who regularly attends school, but
only until the
child is 26.
- In
1998, the national budget allocated 1.58 per cent of GDP to family benefits
(child benefit, special childcare allowance, newborn
baby allowance, parental
allowance and
maternity benefit). Of this, SIT 26,705 million (0.83 per
cent of GDP) was for child benefits, an increase of 0.248 per cent compared
with 1996 (0.509 per cent of GDP); SIT 567.6 million (0.018 per cent
of GDP) for the childcare allowance, an increase of 0.001 per
cent compared with
1997; SIT 428.99 million (0.013 per cent of GDP) for the newborn
baby allowance (layette), an increase of 0.001
per cent over 1993; SIT
573.75 million (0.018 per cent
of GDP) for the parental allowance,
a fall of 0.005 per cent compared with 1993; and SIT 22,569.82 million
(0.701 per cent of GDP)
for maternity benefits, a fall of 0.13 per cent compared
with 1993. The national budget set aside 1.67 per cent of GDP in 1999
and
1.85 per cent of GDP in 2000 (first seven months) for an
additional increase in funding
for family benefits and, as a result, an
increase in child benefits.
- Resources
for the implementation of family support programmes were used to
cofinance 11 programmes of support for families and children
in 1997. In
1998 the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs funded 55 programmes
of support for families selected
by public tender with a joint value of SIT
30 million. In 2000, 64 programmes of support
for families selected by
public tender were co-financed. The total value of the funding
- was SIT 20,825,000.
These programmes were mostly provided by NGOs as subcontractors (the aim was to
achieve greater diversity of providers
as well as programmes, and to bring them
closer to the needs of the families).
- The
system of tax reliefs for families with children, established by the Personal
Income Tax Act, has not changed in the period covered
by the present report.
Tax relief was envisaged in the form of a reduced basis for the calculation of
income tax and is increased
for each child supported by the taxpayer. The
system is more favourable to families with several children and provides for
greater
tax relief for taxpayers with higher income (because of the progressive
income tax scale, the effects of the relief on the basis
for the calculation
depends on the individual rate applying to the taxpayer in question). Income
tax is also paid from income earned
by students or pupils through temporary or
occasional work. Under the current income tax system, social security payments
and other
child or family benefits are exempt from income tax (unemployment
benefit, unemployment assistance as the sole source of income,
financial
assistance under the Social Security Act, incomes related to foster care and
payments for care in a family other than the
child's own, disability allowances
claimed under the regulations on social care for the mentally or physically
handicapped, payments
to schoolchildren and students for mandatory practical
work during schooling, scholarships for schoolchildren and students). In
November 1996, the Constitutional Court ruled that the provision of the Personal
Income Tax Act providing for tax reliefs for dependent
family members but not
for the amount of that relief were not in compliance with the Constitution. In
connection with this Constitutional Court ruling, the Government has already
prepared amendments to the Personal Income Tax
Act; these have been submitted to
the National Assembly.
- The
education and training system, which includes pre-school education, free primary
education and equal opportunities of access to
secondary, higher or university
education, has not changed significantly during this period.
- When
school curricula and catalogues of knowledge were revised in 1996, instructions
for the preparation of curricula and catalogues
of knowledge were issued; in
them, the issue of children’s rights was given special attention. The
issue is included in the
curricula and catalogues of knowledge in the following
subjects: social sciences/civic culture in basic and medium-level vocational
schools, civics and ethics in primary schools, history and geography in primary
schools, and sociology in grammar schools. The Ministry
of Education, Science
and Sport is preparing a revision of all subjects taught in schools that will
redefine the objectives of primary
education, including the following: the
provision of general education to all people; the promotion of a balanced
cognitive, emotional,
spiritual and social development of all individuals; the
raising of awareness of an individual’s integrity; the teaching of
tolerance and respect for difference, cooperation with others, respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms and, through this,
the promotion of
people’s ability to live in a democratic society; the achievement of
comparable standards of know-how and
the acquisition of knowledge required for
continued education; the development of talents and teaching people to
appreciate works
of art and artistic expression; and the development and
promotion of healthy lifestyles and a responsible attitude towards the natural
environment. These objectives, of course, serve as the basis and a guideline in
the formulation of new syllabuses to be taught in
schools. The new
- primary
education programme (which has been introduced gradually since 1999/2000 and
will be applied in all Slovenian schools from
the 2002/2003 academic year)
includes among its compulsory subjects the subject of “civics and
ethics”. This subject
will teach primary schoolchildren the basics of
civic culture. Schools will teach optional as well as compulsory subjects.
- In
1996, Slovenia set aside 5.5 per cent of GDP for education (which includes
pre-school education, all levels of education and training,
as well as support
services, other activities and research); this figure was 5.8 per cent in
1999.
- The
healthcare system grants equal access to health services for all children. The
National Healthcare Programme of the Republic
of Slovenia Until 2004 -
Healthcare for Everyone, adopted in May 2000 by the Slovenian National Assembly,
includes the following
additional health-care activities for
children:
- − Health
education in all schools, modelled on the international example of
“healthpromoting schools”;
- − Provision
of round-the-clock paediatric care at all levels;
- − Comprehensive
preventive and curative treatment;
- − Further
development of children’s clinics;
- − Additional
care for children with mental or physical disabilities.
- Expenditure
on compulsory health care in Slovenia was 7.3 per cent of GDP
in 1993, 6.7
per cent of GDP in 1998 and 6.5 per cent of GDP in 1999. The share of voluntary
contributions for health insurance (compulsory
and voluntary parts together)
grew during this period, from around 6 per cent in 1993, when voluntary
insurance was first introduced,
to around 12.5 per cent in 1999. In 1999
the funds accrued by voluntary insurance amounted to around 0.9 per cent of GDP.
In 1997
compulsory health insurance (including contributions for sick-leave
payments) and voluntary health insurance funds together amounted
to 7.5 per cent
of GDP.
- Housing
policy was regulated by the 1991 Housing Act and implemented by the National
Housing Programme, adopted in 2000. Article 77 of the Housing Act defines the
housing measures lying within the competence of the State, which include
determining the amount of money to be set aside
for the housing of young people,
families with several children or young families that qualify for non-profit
housing and the defrayal
of costs for the distribution of these resources to
municipalities. In article 91 the Act also defines the priority groups of
citizens
eligible for funding from the Housing Fund, where priority is given to
young families, families with several children, families with
few working family
members, young people, the disabled, families with a disabled family member, and
people with many years of work
who do not have an apartment or who are tenants.
Specially selected families (families with several children, families with few
working family members, young families, and families with a disabled family
member, depending on the type and degree of disability)
are given priority when
applying for social housing.
Table 1
State funding for housing
|
Capital injection in the Housing Fund (in SIT
million)
|
Funding set aside for housing in municipal budgets (in
SIT million)
|
Total (in SIT million)
|
National budget (in SIT million)
|
Share of non-returnable funds in the national budget
(per cent)
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4 (2+3)
|
5
|
6
|
1995
|
2 287
|
0
|
2 288
|
529 207
|
0.44
|
1996
|
1 500
|
1 692
|
3 192
|
599 200
|
0.54
|
1997
|
1 000
|
2 075
|
3 075
|
737 000
|
0.42
|
1998
|
1 500
|
2 241
|
3 741
|
870 496
|
0.49
|
1999
|
1 500
|
-
|
-
|
960 664
|
-
|
2000
|
1 500
|
-
|
-
|
1 059 708
|
-
|
Source: Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.
- In
March 1999 the Government of Slovenia adopted the National Housing Saving Scheme
with the intention of systematically encouraging
long-term saving by subsiding
interest rates for savings. In 2001 the National Assembly, by passing the
National Saving Scheme Act,
provided in law for the subsiding of interest rates
for long-term savings, which guarantees the permanence and systematic regulation
of the national housing saving scheme.
- Before
1995, 1.2 per cent of GDP was spent on housing and spatial development;
since that year this sector has been given more attention
and, as a result,
the share increased to 1.6 per cent of GDP in 1999.
- Social
welfare, which includes the prevention and resolution of social problems of
individuals, families and population groups, is
regulated by the Social
Assistance and Social Services Act of 1992 (amended in 2001). The amendments to
the Social Assistance and
Social Services Act envisage uniform financial
assistance to the equivalent of the minimum wage (the basic minimum wage is SIT
37,943).
In 2000 the Government and the National Assembly adopted two new
planning documents on social security: the National Social Assistance
and
Social Services Programme Until 2005 and the Action Programme Against Poverty
and Social Exclusion. These lay down the priorities
of social welfare,
including the need to diversify subcontractors in social services, and other
measures aimed at fighting poverty
and social exclusion.
- The
funding for social assistance payments amounted to 0.4 per cent of GDP in 1997
and 0.3 per cent of GDP in 1998. As part of the
system of the shared
funding of programmes for preventive and developmental activities, which include
the provision of advice and
information to children and young people as well as
other programmes intended for children and young people carried out by public
institutes, voluntary organizations and private individuals, the Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social Affairs, on the basis of public
tenders, invested over
SIT 170 million.
- An
important role in the employment of young people (the 1999 survey-based
unemployment rate for young people in Slovenia was 18.2
per cent) is played, in
addition to scholarships which allow young people from low-income families to
study, by active employment
policy measures which help young unemployed people
to study and prepare to join the labour market. In 1999 the Employment and
Insurance
Against Unemployment Act introduced a system of compulsory social
insurance against unemployment. Two planning documents were also
adopted, which
directly concern the employment of young people: the Employment Action
Programme for Slovenia for 2000 and 2001 and
the Programme for Developing a
Business Mentality and Creativity Among Young People. The former programme
includes measures aimed
at young unemployed people who have not completed school
and who wish to continue training and education.
- Public
spending on active employment policy programmes in 1998 amounted
to 1.31 per cent of GDP. Of this, 0.89 per cent went to
unemployment
benefits and unemployment assistance and 0.18 per cent to
programmes for subsidizing employment and measures aimed at young people.
According to the programme, 1 per cent of GDP was to be set aside for the
implementation of employment action programmes in 2000,
and 1.2 per cent the
following year. An additional 0.5 per cent of GDP was to be secured for active
employment policy measures from
public funding in this year and more than 0.8
per cent of GDP in the next year. For scholarships, 0.4 per cent of GDP
was set aside.
- At
the local level, local communities are directly responsible for the setting-up,
functioning and funding of social services for
children; other services are
carried out indirectly through public institutes, private individuals and NGOs
operating in local communities.
Local communities grant equal access to
services in primary education, pre-school education, health care and social
services. Preventive
health care and primary health care, which are provided by
medical centres, pharmacies and private medical workers, are entirely
covered by
the local community. The local community ensures funding for programmes not
provided for in the national budget. The
national budget and local community
budgets provide funding for investments in public medical institutions. The
local community
is responsible for pre-school education, which is provided by
public and private daycare facilities. In social welfare, local communities
maintain public service networks for the following public social services:
personal help and family help. Helping families with
their household tasks
includes professional assistance in the management and organization of family
relations and care for children,
and enabling families to perform their everyday
functions. Home help to families includes social care for those who qualify in
cases
of disability, old age or for other reasons, when home care can help these
people to remain outside institutional care. The local
community is also
responsible for social housing, built with funds from local community budgets.
B. Involvement of NGOs and volunteers in the implementation of
the Convention
- In
Slovenia there are many NGOs contributing to the implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in many areas. In
particular they provide
children from disadvantaged backgrounds or children with special needs with
opportunities to improve their
quality of life and to join various activities,
i.e. they work towards reducing inequality of opportunity and preventing
exclusion;
carry out various preventive programmes or programmes of psychosocial
- assistance
to children and young people (for example, prevention of drug abuse); bring
parents together in self-help groups; unite
volunteers who in various ways help
to improve the psychosocial quality of life of children; strengthen
children’s control
and mental health; or provide different forms of
assistance to children with special needs. In practice these activities are
combined
within individual societies.
- The
focus of activities by NGOs and volunteers in the implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child is primarily on
the following: helping
children (special learning assistance to children and financial assistance to
children living in deprivation);
family assistance (empowering families to
better educate and support their children); drawing attention to various
problems; raising
awareness; advocacy (drawing attention to unfavourable
circumstances that cause suffering and can damage the psychosocial development
of children); incentives for campaigns to benefit children; applying pressure on
decision makers to respect children’s rights;
prevention of inequality of
opportunity and exclusion; cooperation with social services and State
institutions in dealing with children’s
issues (complementary activity);
spreading information about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the
whole range of
children’s rights; publications on the protection of
children’s rights and welfare; and fundraising for the special needs
of
socially disadvantaged children (health care, medical aids, holidays, leisure
activities).
- Volunteers
contribute to the welfare of children through organized voluntary work by
providing psychosocial assistance within non-governmental
organizations and
societies, for example, the society helping people with brain injuries (VITA),
societies helping young drug users,
etc.; within organizations whose work is not
described as psychosocial assistance but nevertheless has an important
psychosocial
impact on the children participating (e.g. scouts organizations,
sports clubs, etc.); and within public institutes and professional
services
(schools, social work centres, counselling centres, medical centres, etc.),
where they complement or enrich the work of
expert institutions. Volunteers act
as a safety factor by helping children to overcome bad experiences or combat
loneliness. They
help children to develop abilities and skills (learning
skills, social skills, better psychosocial functioning and improved
self-image).
- The
target groups for volunteers are: children who are deprived socially or in any
other way; children at risk of developing mental
disorders and children with
psychosocial difficulties; children who live in unfavourable family
circumstances (maltreated children);
children with special needs; children with
psychosocial difficulties; children with learning disabilities; sick and
disabled children;
and refugee children or children with asylumseeker
status.
- In
Slovenia many children, especially those between the ages of 14 and 18, take
part in voluntary social work. The secondary school
system, and to some extent
also the primary school system, provide opportunities for regular voluntary work
throughout the school
year. With the organized psychosocial involvement of
children in dealing with these issues, Slovenia encourages and enables children
to participate in dealing with problems that affect people with special needs or
groups of people that are deprived in some way.
Voluntary work represents an
important method of socialization, encouraging respect for human and
children’s rights and allowing
children to develop into socially
responsible and active citizens.
- Existing
or planned mechanisms at the national or local level for
coordinating
policies relating to children and for monitoring
implementation of
the Convention
- The
coordination of all statutory, programme and other measures is conducted by the
Government of Slovenia which, in line with the
Constitution, law and other
general acts passed by the National Assembly, defines, directs and harmonizes
the implementation of national policies.
As the supreme national body it also
passes regulations and adopts various legal, political, economic, financial,
organizational
and other measures necessary for the development of the country
and for the regulation of situations in all areas within the State’s
competence. An Interdepartmental Commission for Human Rights functioning within
the Government is composed of representatives of
faculties, administrative
bodies and NGOs. It monitors respect for human rights in Slovenia.
- In
addition to the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs (the Council for
the Family functions within this Ministry), the
Ministry of Health, the Ministry
of Education, Science and Sport, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of
Justice, the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, the Office for the Disabled, the
Office for the Youth of Slovenia, the Office for Women’s Policies and
the
Nationalities Office, all of which perform tasks that directly concern the
implementation of children’s rights, the Ministry
for the Information
Society, which was founded in 2000 with the Act Amending the Government of the
Republic of Slovenia Act, also
carries out activities that directly concern
children and young people. This Ministry conducts affairs relating to
information technology
and systems, the development of information technology,
the promotion of the information society and electronic operations, post
and
telecommunications, telecommunications links, and systems and innovations - all
of which directly concern children and young
people.
- Various
institutes play an important role in researching children’s issues in
correlation with children’s rights. These
include: the Institute of
Criminology at the Faculty of Law; the Institute of Social Sciences at the
Faculty of Social Sciences;
and the Institute of Economic Research at the
Faculty of Economics. In recent years, the Institute of Criminology has
completed
several studies of children’s rights and the maltreatment of
children. The study, entitled “Children’s rights,
peer violence and
the disciplining of children in schools and daycare facilities”, served as
the foundation for the Ministry
of Education, Science and Sport when drawing up
the Rules on the Rights and Duties of Schoolchildren and the Rules on School
Order.
The Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs has financed several
projects extending over several years by other institutes,
including the
Institute for Social Sciences at the Faculty of Social Sciences and the
Institute for Economic Research at the Faculty
of Economics. They have
conducted the following studies: “Natal behaviour in Slovenia”,
“Quality of family life”,
“Inter-generational transfers in
Slovenia”, “Position of the family in Slovenia”, and
“Guidelines for
work with children at risk”. Projects aimed at
promoting health and healthy development were carried out under the auspices
of
the Ministry of Health, the Faculty of Medicine, medical institutions and the
Institute of Public Health, as well as the nongovernmental
sector, e.g. health
protection and the provision of high-quality protection, the prevention and
treatment of psychological trauma,
integrated protection for especially
vulnerable groups, health promotion within the health-promoting schools project,
etc.
- The
Institute for Social Protection, which functions within the Ministry of Labour,
Family and Social Affairs, was founded in 1996
and is in charge of establishing
and updating of various databases used by social services, and of monitoring
developmental and experimental
programmes.
- An
analysis of the situation of children in Slovenia is being prepared. It will
serve as the basis for the definition of new measures
for the protection of
children’s rights. In future, the databases will be kept not only by the
Statistical Office of Slovenia,
but also by the Institute for Social Protection,
which will provide conditions for the systematic monitoring of family and social
welfare measures for the implementation of children’s rights in
Slovenia.
D. Promotion of the Convention and access to the initial report
of
the Republic of Slovenia on the measures adopted for the
implementation of the Convention
- In
1997 the Government published the initial report on measures adopted for the
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, which contained the
initial report, recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, translations of
the Universal Declaration on the Rights of the Child, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Standard Minimum
Rules on Criminal Justice for Juveniles (the Beijing Rules), and extracts of the
constitutional provisions on human rights and fundamental
freedoms. The report
was printed in 2,000 copies and was made public.
- The
Information Centre of the Council of Europe, jointly with the Friends of Youth
of Slovenia Association, has produced a translation
of the Council of
Europe’s Children’s Rights in Europe. Also involved in the
preparation of this publication were the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social
Affairs, the Ministry of Health,
the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport
(which also jointly funded the publication), the Faculty of Social Sciences in
Ljubljana,
and other governmental and non-governmental organizations. This
publication contains translations of European conventions on the
rights of the
child, including the resolutions and recommendations of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe and the
Ministerial Committee of the Council
of Europe, of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in
Respect of Intercountry
Adoption, and of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. The publication was produced on the occasion of the tenth anniversary
of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and was accompanied by a debate
entitled “Giving effect to children’s rights
in Slovenia, Europe and
worldwide”.
- When
the Guarantee and Maintenance Fund Act was adopted in 1999, the Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social Affairs prepared a brochure
on the rights of children
to State assistance when not receiving maintenance ordered by a court or
administratively prescribed and
on the rights set forth in that act. In 1999,
jointly with the Supreme Court, the Ministry organized a conference for social
work
professionals and judges in which the attention was drawn to procedures
involving children.
- The
annual reports by the Human Rights Ombudsman contain information on the state of
protection for children’s rights. The
1999 annual report addressed the
issue of protecting children’s best interests in procedures and
relationships involving both
parents and children from
- the
aspect of children’s participation, the issue of lengthy procedures before
social work centres, especially when it comes
to decisions on contacts between
parents and children, the issue of neglecting the possibility of appointing a
collision representative,
the dual role of social work centres when deciding on
the best interests of the child, and the problem of child victims of domestic
violence.
- The
Friends of Youth of Slovenia Association has organized several discussions on
the issue of children’s rights. In 2000 three
such discussions were held:
one on social differences between children, another on the rights of children
with special needs, and
a third on violence among peers. A national network,
TOM, which is a telephone helpline for children and young people, operates
within the Friends of Youth of Slovenia Association.
- An
important role in providing information and raising awareness about
children’s rights is assumed by the Slovenian Committee
of UNICEF, which
supplies information on children’s rights and which, through its programme
“Education for Development”
in primary and secondary schools,
informs children of their rights.
III. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD
- In
the chapter on human rights and fundamental freedoms (arts. 14 to 65), the
Slovenian Constitution also provides for children’s rights. It is evident
from these constitutional provisions that the rights of children are modelled
on
the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Under
Slovenian law a person reaches the age of majority at 18. The provisions
contained in the legislation on marriage and family
relations, health care,
education and training, employment, military service and penal legislation
specify in detail the rights of
children, depending on their age and maturity.
These provisions were explained in the initial report (paras. 45 to 57).
- The
Act Amending the Penal Code (Ur. l. RS, 28/99), in the chapter on
criminal acts against sexual inviolability, raised the age of minors from 14 to
15, while elsewhere it
remains 14.
IV. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
A. Non-discrimination (art. 2)
- The
principal provisions concerning human rights and fundamental freedoms, the
enforcement of these rights, the protection of personal
freedom, personal
integrity, human dignity and other human rights and freedoms are contained in
the Slovenian Constitution and are based on the principles of freedom and equal
rights for all.
- The
chapter on human rights and fundamental freedoms defines the principle of the
equality of all individuals, citizens or other groups
of people, regardless of
their nationality, race, sex, language, religion, political or other beliefs,
financial standing, birth,
education, social status or any other personal
circumstance. All people are equal before the
law.
- Under
article 63 of the Constitution it is unconstitutional to encourage national,
racial, religious or other inequality or to incite national, racial, religious
or other
hatred and intolerance. Racial or any other intolerance or the denial
of any of the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms
is punishable by law
(art. 141 of the Penal Code). The Office for Youth has carried out various
projects to put tolerance into action
in schools and other areas under the
slogan of “Everyone different, everyone equal”, and published the
Drugačnik newsletter. In future, the curriculum will pay more
attention to teaching tolerance, respect for difference, cooperation with
others,
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms (i.e. skills necessary
for life in a democratic society), encouraging tolerance
and cooperation with
others and respect for human and children’s rights.
- The
principle of gender equality is applied by granting equal civil, political and
social rights to women. Slovenian legislation
grants equal opportunities with
regard to employment and education and equal access to health care. This is
reflected in the high
proportion of educated women, the increasingly high number
of working women, a well-organized parental leave system and healthcare
system
for women, and a comparatively well-developed network of public daycare
facilities. Since many employers set additional requirements
for working women
(demanding, for example, that women promise not to have children while working
for them) and only take women on
temporary employment contracts, the Office for
Women’s Policies, in collaboration with regional employment offices as
part
of the “Open the Door to Women” campaign, held educational
workshops for women jobseekers, in which they were informed
of the steps to be
taken in the event of the violation of their rights. To this end, the Office
published several informative brochures
and, with the help of a free telephone
hotline and in cooperation with labour inspectors, ensured continuous monitoring
and rapid
response in cases of unequal treatment of women on the labour
market.
- The
principle of equality of children’s rights is applied by granting equal
civil, political and social rights to children with
physical and mental
disabilities, Roma children, children who are members of the Italian or
Hungarian minorities, and children from
other ethnic and linguistic
backgrounds.
- In
Slovenia the principle of non-discrimination against children with physical and
mental disabilities is implemented in line with
the Standard Rules on the
Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (General Assembly
resolution 48/96, annex).
Statutory and planning documents (Training and
Education of Disabled People Act, Guidance for Children with Special Educational
Needs Act, Developmental Strategy of Care for Disabled People, and other
legislative and planning documents) grant children access
to health care,
training, expert support services, a physical environment, information,
education, employment, culture, sports and
other activities, as well as to
financial assistance.
- Roma
children are also granted special protection. In 1995, the Government adopted
the Programme of Measures for the Protection of
the Roma in Slovenia, which laid
down specific measures for improving the position of the Roma in Slovenia. In
line with this programme,
Roma children are granted places in educational
programmes in daycare facilities at least two years before starting school, and
schools
attended by Roma children are provided with extra
- funding
for programmes promoting their socialization. Training and education programmes
aimed at providing employment (such as the
Employment for the Roma programme)
and other social protection programmes offer additional opportunities for their
integration at
work and in their social environments.
- Equal
education and training opportunities for members of the Italian and Hungarian
communities are implemented by granting them the
right to education and training
in their own languages and the right to participate in the formulation and
development of education
and training programmes. The Special Rights of the
Italian and Hungarian Communities in Education Act regulates in detail the
objectives of education and training for members of the Italian and Hungarian
communities, the specifics
of organizing day-care facilities and schools in
their areas, and the method of adapting general programmes, and also sets forth
special conditions for professionals working in daycare facilities and schools,
for bilingual work, and on the funding of new daycare
facilities and schools.
- In
1999 the National Assembly passed a resolution on the migration policy of the
Republic of Slovenia, according to which Slovenia,
in keeping with the
principles of relative freedom of movement, solidarity and humanitarian
compassion, endeavours to implement a
wellmanaged immigration policy that will
contribute to the economic and social development of the country. It demands
respect for
international treaties on the free movement of people and other
bilateral and multilateral agreements, and respect for the Geneva
Convention on
asylum for political refugees for humanitarian reasons under the Temporary
Asylum Act as an integral though small (in
terms of numbers) part of
immigration.
B. Best interests of the child (art. 3)
- The
principle that parents have the right and duty to support, raise and educate
their children is laid down in article 54, paragraph
1, of the Slovenian
Constitution. This right and duty may only be removed from the parents of a
child or restricted in order to protect the best interests of the
child
specified by law.
- Many
of the provisions of the Marriage and Family Relations Act refer to the best
interests of the child as the principal guideline
when it comes to actions and
measures concerning children. This guideline, which was explained in detail in
the initial report (paras.
67 to 70), applies to parents as well as institutions
and State bodies.
C. Right to life, survival and development (art. 6)
- The
right of a child to life, survival and development includes his right to social
security, health and educational services, employment
and housing (explained in
the sections on health care, social security, leisure and cultural activities).
A child’s development
includes an expansion of the possibilities and
choices. In order to achieve this, three basic conditions must be met: that
the
child leads a healthy life, is educated and informed, and has access to the
basic resources and services required for adequate living
standards.
- The
human development index (HDI) for Slovenia and Slovenia’s position in
comparable international systems is gradually improving.
In 1998, Slovenia
ranked twentyeighth (HDI is composed of three indices: economy, health care and
education). Slovenia’s
HDI, and consequently its position, continued to
improve until 1997. The leap in the number of people enrolling in all levels of
education led to Slovenia moving up the table in 1997. This increase in
enrolments was probably the only positive outcome of the
higher unemployment
rate among young people who, unable to find a job, decided to continue their
studies. Life expectancy has also
improved even though of all three HDI
components health is where Slovenia achieved least compared with other
countries. Despite
continued improvements (in 1998, Slovenia attained
thirtythird position among all countries in the field of health), health in
Slovenia
remains relatively inadequate. Slovenia enjoyed a better position
under the genderadjusted index, where it came in twenty-fifth
place. The
high share of working women in comparison with other countries,
women’s wages (which compare favourably with those
of men) and
a higherthanaverage proportion of women in education contributed to this
(Office for Macroeconomic Analysis and Development,
Report on Human
Development, Slovenia 20002001).
- Human
development is affected by the levels of poverty and inequality in the country.
According to the Statistical Office, the poverty
rate (objective rate), which
was calculated for Slovenia for the first time in 1993 (that year 13.6 per cent
of households qualified
as poor), is falling. Based on the survey data on
household spending for 1993, the Statistical Office carried out the first
measurements
of poverty in Slovenia by using the Eurostat methodology (an
analysis of poverty among Slovenian households). The analysis of poverty
among
Slovenian households for the period 1997-1998 shows that 11.2 per cent of
households were below the poverty line, which was
a fall of 2.4 percentage
points on 1993. That inequality is falling has been confirmed by the Gini
quotient, which was 0.29 for
1993 and is currently 0.26 according to the latest
calculations. The analysis used a poverty threshold set as 50 per cent of the
crosssection of average equivalent spending. According to statistical data the
most vulnerable groups are elderly people living
alone and older couples without
children; the risk of poverty for other people living alone and for families
with three or more children
under the age of 16 was higher than average though
not as high, the poverty rate for these households being 13.8 per cent.
Classification
according to the age of the reference person confirmed the
conclusion that older people were more at risk of being poor. The poverty
rate
for the group formed by reference persons over 65 is 22.4 per cent. The
percentage of children under 16 who live in poor households
is 9 per cent.
- To
sum up, households at greater risk of poverty are those run by elderly people
living alone or by elderly couples, households with
no working family members,
households depending on pensions and social welfare, tenants in non-profit and
social housing, and households
in which the reference person is poorly educated.
Poverty is more common in smaller households and in families with five or more
members.
- Some
information on the effects of social security payments on poverty and
income inequality in Slovenia was provided in a 1998 study
by Dr. Nada
Stropnik and Dr. Tine Stanovnik, entitled “The effects of social
security payments on poverty and income disparity
in Slovenia: a comparison
between the pre-transition and transition periods”. The study shows that
in the period 19831993
large changes occurred in the structure of the financial
sources of Slovenian households as a consequence of large-scale shifts in
the
economic and social structures of households. The most important change of that
period was the
- unmistakable fall
in the importance of earnings from regular employment (from 71.7 per cent
in 1983 to 57.4 per cent in 1993), which
is a reflection of the fall
in the number of people in employment with regard to the total number of
household members. There was
also a notable increase in pensions and social
security payments. This study also identifies the unemployed as the population
group
most exposed to the risk of poverty. It also established that the
percentage of poor people among children under 18 and people over
60 was
slightly above average.
- One
of the indicators of poverty is the number of people on social welfare, which
offers them financial and social security. In Slovenia
three types of such
rights exist: two are intended for the elderly (financial assistance and
allowances for pensioners with very
low pensions) and one for people of working
age who are unable to support themselves and their family (financial
assistance). The
size of these payments and the fact that the number of people
eligible to financial assistance grew until 1997 shows that poverty
in Slovenia
was on the increase until 1997. In 1997 the average monthly number of
eligible people was 34,242. After 1997 the trend
settled and even
began to be reversed: there were 31,966 eligible people in December 1999
and 32,531 in June 2000. This fall in
the number of recipients was
probably due in part to active employment policy measures, which gave priority
to recipients of financial
assistance when placing people in public works or
programmes of training for unemployed people, and placed greater obligations on
the recipients of financial assistance seeking or taking on a job.
- The
structure of people who qualified for financial assistance in 1999 was as
follows: 67 per cent of them were single, 15 per cent were lone-parent
families, 14 per cent
were full families, and 3 per cent were couples
without children. Most of the lone-parent families receiving child benefit had
one
child only, while most of the full families receiving child benefit had two
children. Based on figures on the number of children
in families receiving
child benefit and the number of people eligible to financial assistance as the
only source of income, it can
be concluded that 58,555 people (3 per cent of the
population) were living on social welfare paid by the State on the basis of the
Social Security Act in December 1999.
- In
order to coordinate national and other measures for dealing with poverty and
social exclusion in various areas of social policy,
including employment,
education, social care, health care, housing economy, etc., the Government
of Slovenia adopted the Action Programme Against Poverty and Social
Exclusion in 2000. The most notable measures included measures of social
welfare (development of national networks of homes and shelters for
mothers;
teams providing counselling to children, young people and people in distress via
telephone helplines; and psychosocial help
centres for victims of violence),
education (expansion of the school network and an increase in the number of
places, vocational
guidance to establish career preferences, the introduction of
new forms of secondary education such as the dual system, vocational
courses and
the certificate system), health care (within the National Healthcare Programme
Until 2004 - complete preventive and curative
treatment, the further development
of children’s clinics, special care for children with mental and physical
disabilities,
the development of a 24-hour paediatric care on all levels),
housing (the setting-up of a system of subsidized non-profit rents),
employment
(special programmes of personal development and prevocational training,
education and training for young people, the promotion
of new forms of
association by young people at the local level with the aim of developing new
skills and knowhow, and the establishment
of funds for the development of human
resources).
D. Right to express one’s views (art. 12)
- On
18 July 1996 Slovenia signed the European Convention on the Exercise of
Children’s Rights of the Council of Europe; under
the Ratification Act the
Convention entered in force for Slovenia on 23 October 1999. With
ratification a new step was taken towards giving effect to the procedural rights
of children, granting opportunities
for their enforcement and for
children’s participation in family law procedures before courts of law and
administrative bodies.
- The
provision on representation in legal actions instigated by children against
their parents is contained in article 213 of the Marriage
and Family Relations
Act. According to this provision the child is granted the right to be
represented by a collision guardian when
the interests of the child and the
parents are in collision. This provision was explained in the
initial report (para. 74).
- The
new Civil Procedure Act (in force since 14 July 1999) has brought important
changes to the area of the procedural rights of children.
Among special
procedures the Act lists newly regulated procedures in marital disputes and
disputes arising from the relationship
between parents and children (arts. 406
to 423). Under the chapter containing these articles, children under the age of
18, as well
as persons over 18 under the extended parenting right, are
considered children. The Act defines disputes between parents and children
to
establish or contest paternity or maternity, and disputes over the care,
upbringing and maintenance of children under 18 or persons
over 18 under the
extended parenting right, regardless of whether the dispute is being resolved
independently or at the same time
as a marital dispute, or is a dispute to
establish or contest paternity or maternity. In legal disputes arising from
relationships
between parents and children, courts are obliged ex officio
to undertake everything possible to protect the rights and best interests of
the child. In keeping with the Act, courts must provide
children aged 15 or
over and capable of understanding the meaning and legal consequences of their
actions with the opportunity to
independently perform procedural actions as
clients in proceedings. The legal representative of such a child may perform
procedural
actions only until the child has stated that he will act alone in a
legal action. A child under 15 or a child whom the court considers
unable to
understand the meaning and legal consequences of his actions is to be
represented by a legal representative. If the interests
of the child and those
of the child’s legal representative are in collision, the court appoints a
special representative; the
court acts in the same manner in other cases where,
in view of the circumstances of the case, it considers this to be necessary for
the protection of the child’s best interests. The Act also prescribes
that, when ruling on the upbringing and care of children,
the court must, in a
suitable manner, notify a child over the age of 10 who is capable of
understanding the procedure and the consequences
of the decision of the start of
proceedings and of his rights, and enable him to express his views. Depending
on the child’s
age, he is invited for an informal talk with the judge in
or outside the courthouse, organized by a social work centre or school
counsellor. A child aged 15 or over who has stated his views in proceedings is
delivered the decision by the court and is also entitled
to file a
complaint.
- Even
though the child’s discussion with a judge is informal and the child is
aided by persons who are there specifically to
provide support for him, this is
not necessarily the best solution. The child’s view should be presented
in court by a person
with whom the child is familiar and who has the
child’s trust, such as an independent defence lawyer.
- In
cases where a minor participates in criminal proceedings as a victim of crime,
the child’s legal representative has the right
to give all statements and
carry out all actions to which a victim is entitled under law. A victim aged 16
or over is entitled to
give his own statements and to perform procedural
actions.
- The
new Criminal Procedure Act, adopted in 1998, brought some improvements to the
position of juvenile victims of crime. A juvenile
victim must, for the entire
duration of criminal proceedings, have a representative who looks after his
rights, particularly in relation
to the protection of the child’s
integrity in hearings before the court or when property claims are enforced, in
criminal proceedings
involving crimes against sexual inviolability or the
neglect of children under the age of 18, or when violent behaviour is involved.
A child who has been a victim of any such crimes and is not yet 15 may not be
heard as a witness during the main hearing. Instead,
the child’s
statement, deposited before the hearing, is read out. Other parties may only
question the child indirectly, a
procedure whereby the witness - if the panel
deems it to be necessary - answers these during a hearing before an
investigative judge.
The accused may under no circumstances be present at such
a hearing, which is intended to prevent the victim from meeting the perpetrator
and thus protect the child’s psychological and physical integrity.
- Under
the Non-Litigious Procedure Act a child is not able to perform procedural
actions and is thereby in principle not able to protect
his best interests, but
he is able to instigate a procedure through a legal representative or collision
guardian. Article 39 of
this Act grants courts the power to permit in
procedures to resolve personal conflicts and family relationships a party that
does
not have full business capacity (which of course can refer to a child) to
carry out some procedural actions in order to exercise
their rights or
interests, if it concludes that the person is able to understand the meaning and
legal consequences of such actions.
In article 61 the Act stipulates
that the procedure to obtain full business capacity can be instigated, among
others, by a person
under 18 who has become a parent, and in article 64 that the
procedure to remove the parenting right may also be instigated at the
proposal
of a child over 15 who is able to understand the meaning of the
proposal as well as its consequences.
- The
procedural capacity of a child needs to be better regulated, not only in civil
procedures, but also in other procedures, especially
in non-litigious and
administrative procedures, which are where many children’s rights are
enforced. A child should also have
a special representative in these procedures
(a defence lawyer). If a conflict of interest between the child and the
child’s
legal representative arises, the child would be best aided by an
independent defence lawyer.
V. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
A. Right to a name, nationality and parental care (art.
7)
- The
right of a child to be registered in the register of births, the right to a name
and the right of children under 18 to acquire
nationality were described in the
initial report (paras. 7681).
- Prior
to the adoption of the Act Amending the Citizenship of the Republic of
Slovenia Act, it was possible for children under the
age of 18 to acquire
Slovenian citizenship only if at least one of the parents already had Slovenian
citizenship.
- The
new Act makes the naturalization of children under 18 possible even when they
have no parents or the parents have lost their parenting
right or business
capacity and the child has been placed under guardianship and has lived in the
country since birth. Here it should
be pointed out that the Ministry of the
Interior, even before the new Act was adopted, directly applied the Convention
when dealing
with such cases.
- In
cases where domestic legislation does not provide for a situation that arises in
practice, the Ministry of the Interior, by applying
the Convention’s
principle defined in article 3, paragraph 1, on the best interests of
the child, allows children to acquire
Slovenian citizenship when the
circumstances in favour of the child’s full integration into the
environment in which he has
been living since birth are so powerful that the
cited provision of the Convention can be used as the grounds for the
child’s
naturalization (in 17 cases the Ministry of the Interior has
issued naturalization decisions that bypass the conditions set for
naturalization
by the Citizenship Act by basing its decisions directly on the
Convention).
- One
case in which the Ministry of the Interior assessed that naturalization would
undoubtedly be in the best interests of the child
even though that child did not
meet the conditions was that of a girl born in Slovenia whose mother did not
meet the conditions for
naturalization and had had her application rejected.
The Ministry of the Interior should have rejected the mother’s application
for citizenship for her minor daughter, in line with the country’s
domestic legislation on the naturalization of children.
However, it was
established that the girl had been living in Slovenia since birth and was
allegedly a victim of a crime that had
affected both mother and daughter, so the
Ministry of the Interior took into account the best interests of the child and
granted
Slovenian citizenship to the young girl by directly applying the
Convention.
B. Right to freedom of expression and to access to
information
- The
right to freedom of expression and to access to information was explained in the
initial report (paras. 82-88).
- In
the past few years public libraries have waived borrowing and membership fees
for young members; this has led to a significant
rise in membership of public
libraries. In Slovenia secondary school students are provided with free
Internet access through a special
network that allows them to pay the cost of
telephone calls only.
- Protection
for children in the media is provided for by the Public Media Act and the
Radiotelevizija Slovenija Act. Under the Public
Media Act, any advertising
intended for or featuring children must take into account the fact that children
are especially gullible,
and may not promote violence, pornography or any other
that could adversely affect their mental, moral or physical development.
Films
and other shows (except news reports) that may have adverse effects on the
physical, moral or mental well-being of children
and young people may only be
broadcast between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and the contents must be clearly labelled.
In line
with the Public Media Act, the provision on the protection of
children from violence, pornography and other such contents also apply
to
printed and electronic media. Article 4 of the Radiotelevizija Slovenija
Act states that Slovenian radio and television broadcasters
must protect
children and young people from contents that may adversely affect their mental
and physical development.
- Slovenia
has ratified the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and has
therefore harmonized this area with most European
countries (Ur. l.
RS, 57/1999; MP, 18/1999).
- One
important form of freedom of expression and participation of children in
Slovenia is the children’s parliament, organized
by the Friends of Youth
of Slovenia Association; here children express their opinions on matters of
their own choice every year.
So far, the children’s parliament has met in
11 sessions, with children presenting their demands for improved road safety
and
for a friendlier and less polluted environment, discussing leisure activities,
expressing opinions on how to make schools more
children- and teacher-friendly,
expressing their desire for less violence and more friendship among peers
(“The power of the
friendly word”), drawing attention to relations
between children and adults, identifying how children can say no to alcohol,
cigarettes, drugs and all forms of intolerance, debating school life and the
changes introduced by the new Rules on the Rights and
Duties of Schoolchildren,
and emphasizing the importance of relationships between peers, with a stress on
young people helping each
other, preventing violence and overcoming differences.
They have also pointed out that the media is an indispensable source of
information
and communication and one that they would like to learn more about
and monitor from a critical distance, and whose development they
would like to
follow. At the tenth children’s parliament session (entitled “We
fancy each other”), they warned
that they were already able to fall in
love and think about sexuality. With the intention of providing equal
opportunities for all
children and young people, they put forward a proposal to
include children with special needs.
- In
addition to the children’s parliament, more needs to be done to make it
easier for children to express their opinions within
social services such as
education and health care, as well as within other services that directly
concern the right of children to
express themselves freely.
C. Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art.
14)
- The
right of children to freedom of thought, conscience and religion was described
in the initial report (paras. 89-92).
- Under
the law, a child requires permission from his parents or guardians in order to
be able to attend religious lessons. At present,
it is being considered whether
the age at which children still require permission from parents or guardians to
attend lessons given
by religious communities should be lowered. The proposal
is contained in the draft law on religious communities, which the Government
submitted to the National Assembly in 1998.
D. Freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly
(art. 15)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras. 93
and 94).
- The
method of exercising these rights is laid out in the Political Parties Act, the
Societies Act, the Representativity of Trade Unions
Act, the Legal Status of
Religious Communities Act (right of association), and the Public Gatherings and
Public Events Act (right
of assembly). Pursuant to article 6 of the Political
Parties Act, a young person who is at least 15 years old may become a member
of
a youth wing of a political party and, subject to written permission from his
legal representative, a party member as well. Pursuant
to article 5 of the
Societies Act, a young person may also become a member of a society. If a young
person is under 7 years of age,
the membership statement must be signed by the
child’s legal representative; for a child aged between 7 and 15, the
child’s
legal representative must give consent in writing. According to
this Act, the society must, in its founding act, define the special
rights and
duties of those of its members who are minors. Pursuant to the Public
Gatherings and Public Events Act, children are
granted the right to organize and
participate in a public assembly or public event.
E. Protection of privacy (art. 16)
- The
protection of children’s privacy was described in the initial report
(paras. 95-99).
F. Protection from torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading
treatment or punishment (art. 37, para. (a))
- The
prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment was explained in the initial report (paras.
100-106).
VI. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
A. Parental guidance (art. 5)
- This
provision of the Convention was described in the initial report
(paras. 107-109).
- Under
Slovenian law a family is not a legal subject or the holder of rights and
duties. Article 2 of the Marriage and Family Relations
Act defines
a family as a living community of parents and children which, for the
good of the children, enjoys special social protection because,
under the law,
the social importance of a marital union lies precisely in the formation of a
family. Under this Act, parents have
the duty to support their children, and to
care for their life, health and education. The Marriage and Family Relations
Act includes
under the term “marital union” a common-law union as
the long-term union of a man and a woman who are not married which,
under family
law, is perceived as equal to a marriage in certain legal consequences. If such
a union includes a child, this is a
family in which the parenting right is
exercised by the father and the mother together. The term “family”
from the definition
can also be interpreted in a broader sense; a community in
which a child lives with a person who is not the child’s biological
or
adoptive parent can also be considered a family on condition that such a
community is governed by the individual (long-term) permanent
relationship
of an adult caring for the child and that, in legal terms, such a community is
close to a family union of parents and
children. Provided these two conditions
are met, a child living with a foster-parent or a young child living with his
guardian can
be considered a family. When parents live separately, the
parenting right is exercised by the parent with whom the child lives;
if the
parents are divorced or the marriage has been dissolved, this right is exercised
by the parent who has been granted the right
to care for and bring up the child.
Where one of the parents is deceased or unknown, or the parenting right or
business capacity
has been removed from that parent, the other parent has the
parenting right. Cases where one of the parents exercises the parenting
right
alone are commonly referred to as “lone-parent families”. As far as
decisions which may have a major influence
on the child’s future
development are concerned, such decisions are made by both parents in agreement,
i.e. including the parent
with whom the child does not live, if this parent
is fulfilling his/her duties towards the child.
- Like
all other modern societies, Slovenia is experiencing changes in the patterns of
family and marital life, which are reflected
in a greater diversity of family
forms, a low number of marriages, fewer divorces, and a growing number of
lone-parent families and
of reorganized families where one of the parents
attempts to set up a new marital union.
- In
the past decade the number of marriages has fallen while the age of people upon
marriage is increasing (since 1999, the age of
women and men entering their
first marriage has been higher or the same as the average age of mothers upon
the birth of their first
child). A family with two children is still the most
common form, followed by families with one child and by lone-parent
families.
- The
number of common-law unions and children born out of wedlock is growing. Before
the 1970s only 10 per cent of children were born
out of wedlock. Since then
their numbers and proportion have grown, amounting to 33.6 per cent of all
births and 46 per cent of
firstborn children in 1998. The proportion of
children born outside marriage and recognized by both parents is growing (it was
55
per cent in 1970 and has been over 90 per cent since 1993).
- Statistical
data on common-law unions is unsatisfactory even though such unions are, in
legal terms, equal to marriage and the children
born within such unions have the
same rights as children born in wedlock. According to data from the 1981
census, 10,300 couples
lived in commonlaw unions; this number had risen to
17,300 by 1991. Couples living in commonlaw unions were mostly young (aged
between
20 and 34).
- Most
divorced couples have children. Each year about 2,000 children are affected by
divorce. Most of these children stay with their
mothers; only exceptionally is
custody granted to the father. The reasons can be sought in the fact that
parents usually decide
for themselves that the child will remain with the
mother, and also that it is extremely difficult for judges and social workers
to
decide that the child should live with the father. Nevertheless, in recent
years the number of children living with their father
has grown.
Table 2
Marriages and divorces, 1991-1999
|
Number of marriages
|
Number of divorces
|
1991
|
8 173
|
1 828
|
1992
|
9 119
|
1 966
|
1993
|
9 022
|
1 962
|
1994
|
8 314
|
1 923
|
1995
|
8 245
|
1 585
|
1996
|
7 555
|
2 004
|
1997
|
7 500
|
1 996
|
1998
|
7 528
|
2 074
|
1999
|
7 716
|
2 074
|
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
Table 3
Custody of children in divorce, 1989-1998*
|
1989
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
Husband
|
95
|
86
|
81
|
98
|
96
|
88
|
76
|
104
|
112
|
101
|
Wife
|
1 296
|
1 204
|
1 182
|
1 242
|
1 222
|
1 208
|
933
|
1 190
|
1 185
|
1 194
|
Joint
|
45
|
38
|
40
|
38
|
28
|
40
|
34
|
46
|
33
|
41
|
Other persons
|
7
|
5
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
6
|
2
|
Institutions
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Other options
|
8
|
5
|
4
|
6
|
13
|
15
|
9
|
17
|
9
|
21
|
Total
|
1 451
|
1 339
|
1 308
|
1 387
|
1 360
|
1 354
|
1 050
|
1 362
|
1 325
|
1 359
|
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
* Only dependent children from the most recent marriage
included.
- For
children, divorce can mean the loss of a parent and new living conditions. The
risk factors for the economic stability and upbringing
of children and the
levels of emotional distress suffered by the children depend largely on the
degree of cooperation between the
parents after the divorce.
- Public
health, education (guidance services) and social services, as well as NGOs
(religious and other) within local communities,
grant children and parents equal
access to counselling and other services, and thus to the enforcement of their
rights recognized
by the Convention.
- In
the area of social services, counselling for children and parents is provided by
professionals (psychologists, social workers,
special needs experts) in 62
social work centres where parents and young people in difficult family
situations are offered counselling in the form of learning
assistance for
children, counselling and help when dealing with dependencies, activities for a
healthy living, assistance to children
with behavioural or personality
disorders, and other preventive and counselling programmes.
- Special
importance is given to marriage counselling sessions prior to divorce where the
spouses are given an opportunity for a fresh
start under new conditions and in
new circumstances. The child’s cooperation at this stage is vital.
Mediation as a form
of assistance to parents and children when parents are going
through a divorce is now being introduced. In future it will have to
be
afforded more attention. In 1998 there were marriage or family advice centres
in eight social work centres and three guidance
centres for children and young
people. In the period 1996-2000, 40 social work centres developed and carried
out 368 different additional
programmes. The number of additional (preventive
and developmental) programmes providing education, information and guidance for
parents, spouses and children increased in 1993, when the Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social Affairs began to share the funding
of programmes
selected in public tenders. Individual social work centres developed projects
of providing information, education
and guidance as their typical services.
Projects include the Čepovan project (for children from socially
disadvantaged families who, through work in teams resembling a family
environment
and under supervision, learn social skills required for future
successful development), the Piran model (for children with minor
behavioural or
personality problems), and various workshops for young people. They are
part of primary prevention targeting primary schoolchildren, and annually
include up to 10,000 adolescents in the seventh and
eighth grades (25 social
work centres are participating). The focus is on developing positive patterns
of life (mental, emotional,
behavioural) for children, and preventing alcohol or
drug abuse, violence, the spread of AIDS among young people; at the same time
they serve as a fine example of interdisciplinary and cross-departmental
cooperation (schools and education, social care) and links
between governmental
and non-governmental sectors. Programmes of support for families and children,
of preparation for partnership
and parenthood, and of preservation and
strengthening of the mental health of children and young people, cofinanced by
the Ministry
of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, selected by public tender and
mostly provided by NGOs, offer a greater choice of services.
- In
addition to these services and programmes carried out by governmental and
nongovernmental organizations, there are counselling
centres for children, young
people and parents in Ljubljana, Koper, Maribor and Novo Mesto which have
multidisciplinary teams of
experts helping young people and children through
developmental problems or in crisis situations. The centres, which are
organized
according to the regional principle, work closely with various
institutions and provide information and counselling. In 1996 about
2,000
children and their parents received various forms of assistance, including:
guidance through problems in relationships between
family members, helping
children with learning and behavioural problems, and helping physically or
psychologically abused children.
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18)
- These
provisions of the Convention were explained in the initial report
(paras. 113-125).
- Article
113 of the Marriage and Family Relations Act stipulates that the parenting right
is to be exercised by the parents in agreement;
when the parents live
separately, the parenting right is to be exercised by the parent with whom the
child lives (art. 114). In
compliance with article 18 of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, the parents share common responsibilities for the
upbringing
and development of the child. Because of this provision Slovenian
law enforces common care for the upbringing and education of children.
Under
the condition that this is in the child’s best interest, an agreement that
would allow both parents of the child to
remain jointly responsible for the care
and upbringing of the child would be possible in cases of consensual divorce
(under the current
regulation, given that in article 78/2 of the Act this only
applies to divorce suits).
- The
State grants working parents access to public and private day-care facilities.
The Nursery Schools Act grants parents the right
to choose programmes for their
children in public or private day-care facilities. The parents of children who
are unable to attend
day-care facilities because of illness may, under a special
procedure, exercise an entitlement to pre-school day care at home. The
law
permits public and private day-care facilities to have various preschool
- education
programmes (full day, half day, shorter morning, afternoon or alternate
sessions) in daycare facilities themselves or in
day-care families which provide
care in the home of a preschool teacher or assistant teacher.
- According
to data supplied by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport in
the 1999/2000 academic year, there were 274 public day-care
facilities, of
which 99 were organized by their founders (municipalities) as independent bodies
and 155 as preschool departments
in primary schools. In the same year there
were 14 private day-care facilities in the whole country. The programmes of
day-care
facilities are based on the curriculum for daycare facilities (a
national document), while programmes of private day-care facilities
vary; these
are formulated by the founder and can be carried out if approved by the
expert council on
general education. Private day-care facilities currently
provide programmes based on special teaching methods (Waldorf-style day-care
facilities), programmes that include Christian
content, and programmes with
an emphasis on the English language. Music and some
private daycare
facilities carry out the ordinary programme, i.e. the curriculum for day-care
facilities.
- The
proportion of pre-school children in day care is gradually growing, yet,
according to statistical data, 40 per cent of children
aged between 1 and 7 do
not regularly attend any form of organized institutional care. These children
are looked after by their
families, relatives or neighbours. The number of
children in day-care facilities is the highest among children aged between 3 and
6 or over (in the 1997/1998 academic year there were 53,761 such children, and
in 1999/2000 54,528), while the number of children
under 3 years of age in day
care is falling (in the 1997/1998 academic year there were 9,901 such children,
and in 1999/2000 9,623).
There are relatively few day-care families and their
number is dwindling each year. In 1990/1991 there were 107 day-care families
caring for 640 children; in 1998/1999 there were only 30 left, caring
for 245 children.
- For
children not in day-care facilities, playgroups and other shorter programmes are
organized; day-care facilities provide these
as additional services (an 80-hour
educational programme, travelling day-care facilities, toddlers’ hours,
storytelling hours,
various workshops, festivities).
- On
behalf of children not included in pre-school day-care facilities, the
Government of Slovenia put forward an amendment to article
70 of the new
Parental Leave and Family Benefits Act which increases child benefit by 20
per cent in comparison with the current
amount.
- Programmes
of pre-school care are financed from public sources, the founder’s
resources, payments by parents, donations and
other sources. The amount to be
paid by the parents is set by the local community on the grounds of the Rules on
Payments by Parents
for Daycare Programmes. Parents pay up to 80 per cent of
the full cost of the programme attended by the child and this is considered
to
be payment in full. If more than one child from the same family is in day care,
parents pay the cost for the older child(ren)
according to one category below
what they would normally have to pay. Parents receiving social assistance under
the Social Security
Assistance and Social Services Act are, under the Nursery
Schools Act, exempt from payment. The Act also stipulates that applications
for
children from socially disadvantaged families must be given priority.
Table 4
Number and percentage of children whose parents are
exempt from paying
for pre-school care, 1989-1999
|
Number
|
%
|
1989
|
1 255
|
1.7
|
1990
|
1 668
|
2.3
|
1991
|
1 932
|
2.8
|
1992
|
2 563
|
3.9
|
1993
|
2 806
|
4.2
|
1994
|
4 148
|
6.2
|
1995
|
4 208
|
6.3
|
1996
|
-
|
-
|
1997
|
2 742
|
4.4
|
1998
|
2 659
|
4.2
|
1999
|
5 386
|
4.2
|
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
- Until
27 May 2000 the Rules on Payments by Parents contained a special article that
allowed a day-care facility to exclude a child
if the parents did not make
regular payments. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia ruled
that the provision was
unconstitutional and illegal; it was thus annulled.
- In
giving its reasons the Constitutional Court emphasized that article 56 of the
Constitution granted children special protection and care, that the Nursery
Schools Act granted children the right to attend day-care facilities
and that
article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child stated that the best
interests of the child had to be the main guideline
for the legislator. This
means that any solution to the issue supplied by means of an amendment to the
Nursery Schools Act will
have to favour the protection of children’s
rights over the economic interests of daycare facilities.
C. Separation from parents (art. 9)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras.
126-136).
- Under
the Marriage and Family Relations Act, the decision on the care and education of
children in the event of divorce due to an
intolerable situation or the
annulment of a marriage is made by a court of law (art. 78); in all other cases
where parents do not
live together (or no longer do so) and they are unable to
reach agreement on their children’s upbringing and education, the
decision
is made by a social work centre (art. 105). On 1 July 1999, the Constitutional
Court ruled it unconstitutional that, under
article 105 of the Marriage and
Family Relations Act, the decision on the care and education of children lay
within the competence
of social work centres while at the same time lying within
the competence of courts of law under article 78 of the same Act. The
Constitutional Court considered the arrangement according to
- which,
in some cases, the decision on the care and education of children whose parents
no longer live together lay within the competence
of a court and in others of a
social work centre to be contrary to the Constitution; it therefore instructed
the National Assembly to remove the discord within one year. The Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social
Affairs has drafted amendments to the Marriage and
Family Relations Act. The most important change will occur in article 105,
paragraph
2, of the Marriage and Family Relations Act which will read as
follows: “If the parents are unable to reach agreement, the
decision
shall be made by a court of law in keeping with article 78 of this Act.”
The proposal removes the above unconstitutionality.
Another possible legal
solution could be provided with a special law on the protection of children that
would include not only State
measures in this field, but also rules of special
procedure that would guarantee maximum protection for the child’s best
interests
and rights.
- The
right to personal contact between parents and their children does not stem from
the parenting right, nor is it a remnant of that
right, but an independent
element of parenthood. Under Slovenian law, however, personal contact between
parents and their children
is not only the right of parents, but also of the
child. Contact is given legitimacy foremost by the child’s best
interests.
It would therefore be in the child’s interests if, in addition
to contact between parents and children, provisions were made
for the child to
have contact with other persons to whom he is attached, for example
grandparents, adult brothers or sisters, or
former fosterparents. Slovenian law
grants this possibility in article 119 of the Marriage and Family Relations Act
according to
which social care services must perform all measures to protect the
child’s best interests. Nevertheless, it needs to be explicitly
defined
that children are entitled to maintain contact with persons they feel close to,
except where this is contrary to their best
interests.
D. Family reunification (art. 10)
- The
right of children to be reunited with their parents was explained in the initial
report (paras. 137-140).
- Article
3 of the 1999 Asylum Act defined the terms “family integrity” and
“the rights of close relatives”.
By granting the right to asylum to
close relatives, the commonly accepted principle of family integrity contained
in numerous international
acts and enjoying international protection was
respected. According to this article, the right to asylum is granted to the
close
family members of a refugee. Under this Act close family members are the
following: the spouse, unmarried children who are still
minors, and the parents
of refugees who are still minors. A person authorized to care for a child is
also considered to be a close
family member of a child under 18.
E. Recovery of maintenance for the child (art. 27, para.
4)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras.
141-145).
- Financial
responsibility for a child is an important part of parental obligations and is
independent of the parenting right. In line
with the Marriage and Family
Relations Act, parents have a duty to pay maintenance for a child even if the
parenting right has been
removed from them or if it has ended but the child
continues to study regularly, is unable to earn a living due to a mental or
physical
disability and has no source of income. The new Civil Procedure
Act (CPA) now explicitly stipulates that a court must rule on the
care,
education and maintenance of children, regardless of the parties’ requests
and also if neither of the spouses make any
claims. The only condition is that
where no claims have been made by the parties involved, this option must have
been specially
provided for by law, while the authorization to make the decision
is general and independent of whether such a request has been made
(art. 408,
para. 2., of CPA).
- A
court ruling sets the amount of maintenance to be paid according to the needs of
the beneficiary (the child) and the financial capacities
of the party obliged to
pay maintenance; the amount is then harmonized with the decision of a social
work centre so as to reflect
changes in the cost of living and wages in
Slovenia. The same method is applied for maintenance agreed upon at a social
work centre,
unless a different manner of harmonization that is more favourable
to the beneficiary can be agreed upon. A legally binding ruling
on maintenance
is sent out by the social work centre in the beneficiary’s area of
permanent residence. In the event that maintenance
is not paid, a writ to
execute the court ruling or administrative decision is issued. The writ
procedure is initiated at the proposal
of the beneficiary. The costs of
execution are borne by the defaulting party.
- In
order to protect children’s interests and their right to maintenance,
Slovenia, through the Guarantee and Maintenance Fund
Act (adopted on 23 June
1999 by the National Assembly using the fast-track procedure), institutionalized
the right to replacement
maintenance for children who do not receive their court
or administratively granted maintenance and live in a family in which the
income
per family member is less than 55 per cent of the average wage in the country in
the preceding year. The Fund acquires resources
for unpaid replacement
maintenance from the national budget and by recovering debts. The purpose of
the Guarantee Maintenance Fund
is to ensure the social security for children
from low-income families where persons who should pay maintenance do not do so
regularly.
Under the Guarantee and Maintenance Fund Act a child who has been
granted the right to maintenance with a temporary decree, final
ruling or
agreement reached with a social work centre (and the person who is obliged to
pay is not paying maintenance) is entitled
to replacement maintenance. The
child must be a Slovenian citizen with permanent residence, if so stipulated in
bilateral agreements
or under the condition of reciprocity. The eligible person
may not be older than 18 and must be living in a family in which the
income per
family member is less than 55 per cent of the average wage in the preceding
year. In addition, a writ must have been
filed at least three months prior to
this. Since 1 October 2000, the replacement maintenance for a child under 6 has
been SIT 10,794,
for a child aged between 6 and 14 SIT 11,873; and for a
child over 14 SIT 14,032. When the maintenance itself is lower than the
above amount, the replacement maintenance equals the maintenance set by the
ruling, temporary decree or agreement. If any maintenance
has been paid, the
replacement maintenance is reduced by the amount paid.
- Between
October 1999 and September 2000 the Guarantee and Maintenance Fund received
2,106 claims for replacement maintenance for 2,704
children. Statistical data
show that most of the claims were made for one child (70 per cent), 24 per cent
for two children and
just over 3 per cent for three, four or five children.
There are also cases when one person is not paying maintenance for several
children with different people representing their interests. Most claims (just
under 97 per cent) were made by mothers and 3.4 per
cent by fathers. Most
commonly, maintenance is set by a court ruling (in 70 per cent of cases), and in
29 per cent of
- cases
an agreement was reached at a social work centre. In almost three quarters of
filed claims, the writissuing procedure has not
been completed. Most claims are
made for schoolchildren aged between 6 and 14, 36 per cent are made for children
aged between 14
and 18, and
just over 6 per cent for children
under the age of 6. By mid-October 2000 the Fund
issued 1,953 decisions, of
which 1,426 were granted. As at 30 October 2000 the Fund had
paid a total
of SIT 151,493,003. The average monthly payment was around SIT 11,000. So
far, 72 persons obliged to pay maintenance
have reimbursed the Fund by SIT
4,642,884.
Table 5
Number of claims and of children claiming
replacement maintenance
|
Number of claims
|
Number of children
|
Between 18 and 31 October 1999
|
494
|
666
|
November 1999
|
474
|
616
|
December 1999
|
202
|
252
|
January 2000
|
155
|
214
|
February 2000
|
122
|
165
|
March 2000
|
155
|
184
|
April 2000
|
89
|
115
|
May 2000
|
106
|
137
|
June 2000
|
115
|
153
|
July 2000
|
58
|
70
|
August 2000
|
62
|
81
|
September 2000
|
74
|
87
|
Total
|
2 106
|
2 704
|
Source: Guarantee and Maintenance Fund.
- The
best interests of the child are also protected when the person not paying
maintenance is a foreign citizen or a refugee. Under
article 47 of the Aliens
Act, at the request of a court or social work centre such a person is not issued
with a passport (which
would allow him to leave the country if he had not paid
the maintenance he is obliged to pay as a result of a marriage or a relationship
between parents and children to eligible persons with permanent residence in
Slovenia).
- The
penalty for non-payment of maintenance determined with an executable court
settlement, an agreement reached before another body,
or any other executable
decision prescribed by article 20 of the Penal Code is imprisonment for a
period of up to one year. If a
- conditional
sentence has been passed by a court, the court may order the defaulting party to
pay maintenance regularly and also to
pay overdue maintenance or to comply with
other obligations associated with the maintenance and prescribed by a court
ruling.
Table 6
Number of adults against whom criminal proceedings
in connection with
non-payment of maintenance initiated by State prosecutors
have been
completed, by type of ruling, 1990-1999
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
Charge rejected
|
54
|
61
|
64
|
64
|
43
|
46
|
76
|
85
|
111
|
77
|
Charge upheld
|
94
|
124
|
110
|
99
|
66
|
91
|
96
|
90
|
98
|
106
|
Other
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
Total
|
149
|
187
|
174
|
163
|
111
|
137
|
176
|
180
|
213
|
184
|
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
- Despite
the institutionalization of the Maintenance Fund and the right of low-income
families to replacement maintenance, in reality
many children who have been
granted the right to maintenance by a court ruling or administrative decision do
not actually receive
it. It is therefore important that rapid response by
courts in cases of writs is ensured, or alternatively the right to replacement
maintenance is granted to all children.
F. Children deprived of their family environment (art.
20)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras.
146-158).
- When
children and young people are not cared for by their parents, or have no parents
or family care, they are granted special protection
by the State. Their
situation is regulated by the Marriage and Family Relations Act. Around 86 per
cent of such children are looked
after by means of alternative forms of care
such as guardianship, foster care and adoption. The remaining 14 per cent are
placed
in institutional care or other forms of care (housing communities). In
1999, a total of 1,158 children were under guardianship as
a special form of
social care; in comparison with 1995, this represents a decrease of 105 (in 1995
social work centres dealt with
1,263 children). In Slovenia there are around
750 foster families; in 1999
they were caring for an average of 1,490
children and young adults. In February 2000 there were 1,440
children staying with foster families. Every foster family is entitled to
payment for the costs of caring for the
child, and the foster mother also
receives a small financial remuneration (in 1999 this was around 11 per cent of
the average net
wage). A certain number of foster mothers (between 120 and 130
in 1999) perform this as their only and main job (they are selfemployed).
In
recent years, children with special needs have not been placed with foster
families as much as they used to be because the State
has developed other forms
of care (such as clinics and mobile care
units).
- The
number of children adopted in Slovenia is falling year by year.
According to figures provided by the Statistical Office, there were 86 adoptions
in 1994, 64
in 1995, 57 in 1997, 46 in 1998 and 59 in 1999 (of these, 23
were one-sided adoptions). Most children adopted were under the age
of 5
(around 80 per cent).
- At
present, there is no home in Slovenia providing institutional care for children
and young people deprived of normal family life.
All children under the age of
7 who, for various reasons, cannot live with their biological families are
placed in family care,
i.e. with foster families. The only exception is
children who are placed in institutions providing special education.
Schoolchildren
and young people are mostly placed with foster families as well.
There are educational institutions for schoolchildren and young
people, and
homes for young people. In Slovenia there are eight educational institutions
for children with behavioural and personality
problems and two homes for young
people; all are part of the school system. Two of these institutions have
their own primary schools
with small classrooms (6-12 children).
Four of
them (in various locations throughout the country) accept children aged between
7 and 15. Three are intended for children
with behavioural and personality
problems aged
between 15 and 18. The children in these homes are
able to receive secondary education inside or outside the institution.
Educational
work is conducted in the form of educational and housing groups. At
the start of the school year the total number of children in
all these
institutions was 409 (of whom 251 were placed by social work centres
in 1999); they were divided
into 33 educational and 17 housing groups.
- The
Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs has begun to prepare the Foster
Care Act, which will lay down the conditions for
becoming a foster parent,
define the obligations of foster mothers and social work centres, and regulate
fostering fees and contracts,
the procedure of acquiring permits for fostering
and for performing fostering as a full-time job, and other issues concerning the
application of the Act.
- More
attention needs to be paid to the organization and coordination of work in the
area of adoption even though the main problem
at the moment is the question of
how to harmonize professional work with practical application of existing
knowledge. The organizational
problems include the development of a supervisory
network involving all adoption professionals, and additional training for
professionals
(which at the moment is a somewhat neglected area). There is no
doubt that in addition to Clover, an NGO that already provides advice,
education
and training on issues relating to adoption, other agencies providing assistance
in preparations for adoption or mediation
in international adoptions will be
created. In any case, professional standards will have to be set for work with
individual participants
in the adoption procedure and supervision of the
application of these standards organized.
G. Adoption (art. 21)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras.
159-168).
- Since
the number of adoptions in Slovenia is falling, Slovenia acceded to the
Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation
in Respect of
Intercountry
- Adoption
in 1999. With the Act Ratifying the Convention on Protection of Children and
Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
(Ur. l. RS,
MP, 14/99), the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs was appointed
as the central body responsible for implementing the Convention;
it will, in
cooperation with social work centres, other authorized agencies, the Ministry of
the Interior and other competent ministries
ensure implementation of the
Convention. Bilateral agreements with Albania and Macedonia on international
adoptions are being prepared;
these will allow Slovenia to engage in adoption
procedures with these two countries.
H. Protection of abused, maltreated and neglected children
(arts. 19 and 39)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras.
169-182).
- In
the areas of education (guidance services in primary schools, schools with
programmes adapted for special needs, training institutes
for children with
special needs, and secondary schools providing assistance to children, young
people and parents), health care and
social care, public services conduct
standardized programmes of assistance to parents and children. These include
therapy, counselling
and other measures to help parents and children in social
distress and difficulty.
- Under
the Social Assistance and Social Services Act, services aimed at preventing
social problems and difficulties (social prevention)
include activities and
self-help support for individuals, families and other groups of people,
including children. In compliance
with the Social Assistance and Social
Services Act, public service includes social first aid (for example, social help
to children
and young people, crisis centres for young people), personal help
services, help to families (psychosocial and/or social pedagogical
help to
families, multi-expert crisis teams to plan and monitor procedures and measures
for dealing with the neglect or abuse of
children, day centres), home help to
families, care in an institution or another family, or other organized forms of
management and
care. An important form of social care for abused, maltreated
and neglected children is the crisis centre (such centres exist in
Ljubljana and
Celje Maribor) for children at risk; these primarily offer protection and
personal help to children, young people or
families by providing one-day
treatment sessions or short-term stays and counselling, or by creating
conditions for their return
to a home environment or family. They have 12 rapid
response teams (operating within social work centres) which are organized on
a
regional basis and provide round-the-clock assistance in cases of family
violence or children in distress. At the national level,
this type of rapid
response is supported within public work programmes by the B & Z company
which, in association with the Papilot
institute, carries out the Psychosocial
Assistance to Victims of Crime project throughout the country. A considerable
number of
children at risk receive treatment within the framework of this
project.
- Five
new crisis centres are planned within the National Social Assistance and Social
Services Programme Until 2005. Since one crisis
centre will cover an area
containing
around 250,000 people, they will have to be set up for a region
or several municipalities, and will cover the entire
country.
- Social
work centres act upon the slightest suspicion of danger to a child. In 1997,
they acted in 2,756 cases involving children
they considered to belong to the
category of children at risk; in 1998 and 1999 there were 2,531 and 2,537 such
cases, respectively.
Table 7
Number of children at risk, by category,
1999
|
0-6
|
7-14
|
15-18
|
Total
|
Neglect
|
260
|
442
|
105
|
807
|
Psychological abuse
|
148
|
322
|
122
|
592
|
Physical violence
|
62
|
180
|
89
|
331
|
Sexual abuse
|
29
|
83
|
33
|
145
|
Suspicion of maltreatment
|
212
|
369
|
81
|
662
|
Total
|
771
|
1 396
|
430
|
2 537
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
- Professional
services are expected to provide extra protection for children against the
consequences of crimes committed by adults,
sometimes by their own parents
(violence, sexual abuse). Training is provided for groups of experts (social
workers, health workers,
education professionals, educational institutions,
courts, the police, etc.) aimed at enabling the multidisciplinary handling of
these issues. Teamwork is becoming common practice when working on these
issues. Most social work centres have teams composed of
experts from various
fields of expertise who are able to detect any risks to children in the early
stages and can, based on shared
information, develop strategies for dealing with
the problem and of course for punishing offenders. These multidisciplinary
teams
regularly include crime experts who specialize in investigating such
crimes. Their duty is to plan and monitor the procedures and
measures aimed at
stopping child neglect and abuse, and achieving further normalization of the
child’s life. In Slovenia there
are around 50 such teams operating on the
administrative unit level.
- In
1998 the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs prepared guidelines for
working with children at risk. The purpose of the
guidelines is to coordinate
activities, and to protect children at risk (from physical and mental violence,
injuries and abuse, neglect
and lack of care, torture or abuse, including sexual
abuse) and enable their rehabilitation; this is carried out by governmental
or
non-governmental organizations. The guidelines contain concrete solutions and
proposals for working with children at risk, procedures
for the protection of
children at risk and the administrative procedure in the case of a child at
risk, and set up an organizational
system for working with such children. The
content of work with victims, families and offenders is left to the methodology
and various
theoretical approaches to the
- content,
method and function of expert work in such cases. Since the guidelines have not
yet properly been implemented in practice,
the Child Protection Act is being
drafted; this will regulate preventive and curative work in this field at the
national level.
- Special
support in the physical and psychological recovery of children who have suffered
abuse or neglect is provided by NGOs in the
form of telephone helplines for
children, women and victims of crime. NGOs also play an important role in
prevention (for example,
the Society Against the Sexual Abuse of Children,
which, in addition to existing networks of other institutions, supplies
additional
information and support to experts and the general public working
with abused children).
- Shelters
for abused women and children (currently in Ljubljana, Maribor, Krško and
Novo Mesto - more are being founded) provide
help to mothers and children who
are victims
of family violence. In line with the National Programme of
Social Care Until 2005, places
for 200 mothers and children in homes and
shelters are planned by 2005.
- Punishment
for child neglect and abuse is provided for by the Penal Code. Individual
provisions (article 201 defines the crime of
neglect and cruel treatment of a
minor, whereas article 183 defines the crime of sexual assault on a person under
15). In 1991 the
Ministry of the Interior uncovered offences and brought
criminal charges in 51 cases of neglect and cruel treatment of minors (95
such
cases in 1995 and 151 in 1999). In 1989, 64 cases of sexual assault on children
under 15 were uncovered, and criminal charges
brought in these cases (89
criminal charges in 1995 and 162 in 1999).
Table 8
Crimes and charges brought under articles 201 and
183 of the Penal Code, 1995-1999
|
Number of crimes uncovered and criminal charges brought under
article 201 of the Penal Code
|
Number of crimes uncovered and criminal charges brought under
article 183 of the Penal Code
|
1995
|
95
|
89
|
1996
|
107
|
89
|
1997
|
136
|
117
|
1998
|
113
|
176
|
1999
|
151
|
162
|
Source: Ministry of the Interior.
- The
number of people convicted of child maltreatment and neglect is also increasing.
In 1998 there were 44 adult perpetrators sentenced
under article 201 of the
Penal Code, an increase of 14 over
1997.
I. Periodical review of placement (art. 25)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (para.
183).
VII. BASIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
A. Children with special needs (art. 23)
- Children
with special needs enjoy the special care of the State. Mentally or physically
disabled children and other people with serious
disabilities have the right to
education and training to prepare them for active participation in
society (funded from public resources). They are granted equal access to health
and other
services, and the right to financial assistance within the system of
family benefits, tax relief and other benefits arising from
employment, pension
and disability insurance and social welfare.
- These
rights were described in the initial report (paras. 185-203).
- In
1999 the age for entitlement to a special childcare allowance was raised and, in
keeping with the Family Earnings Act, is paid
to one of the parents of a
seriously ill child or a child with a mental or physical disability under the
age of 18; since 1999 it
has also been paid for a child who attends school,
but only until the age of 26. In July 2000 the allowance was SIT 12,737
and,
if the child was in an institution providing day care free of charge, it
was SIT 8,491. Parents are not entitled to the allowance
for the period
during which the child is in 24-hour free-of-charge care in an institution.
The right is universal, is not means-tested
and does not interfere with the
right to child benefit.
Table 9
Average number of children entitled to a special
childcare allowance
and funds spent, 1997-2000
|
Average monthly number of recipients
|
Resources (in SIT million)
|
1997
|
3 705
|
495.35
|
1998
|
4 132
|
567.60
|
1999
|
4 424
|
631.13
|
2000
|
4 581
|
722.60
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
- In
addition to changes to family benefits, the new Parental Leave and Family
Benefits Act, which is currently going through its second
reading, proposes
special benefits for parents of disabled children, such as the possibility of an
additional 90 days of leave to
care for a child and shorter working hours, with
wages being paid for actual work and the State paying
- social
security contributions on behalf of the worker. The new Pension and Disability
Insurance Act, adopted in 2000, has already
introduced an option that allows the
mother, father or another person caring for a disabled child unable to function
independently
to join a voluntary pension and disability scheme. This will help
to gradually reduce the differences between families whose children
have been
placed in institutional care and those who care for a disabled family member at
home.
- Education
and training for children with special needs is provided for by school
legislation. Under the new school legislation (adopted
in 2000), groups of
children and young people with special needs are as follows: children with
mental disabilities, children who
are blind or of poor sight, children who are
deaf or hard of hearing, children with speech defects, physically disabled
children,
children with long-term illnesses and children with single defects,
children with behavioural and personality disorders, and children
and young
people (under the age of 18) who need specially adapted programmes and
additional professional assistance, adapted educational
programmes or special
education programmes. Education for children with special needs is based not on
the objectives and principles
identified by the laws governing individual fields
of education, but also on the following objectives and principles: equal
opportunities
and respect for their differences, maintaining a balance between
the various aspects of the child’s physical and psychological
development,
the integration of parents in education and training processes, the securing of
suitable conditions for the best possible
development of an individual child,
timely referral to a suitable educational programme, education in schools as
close to the place
of residence as possible, comprehensive and complex education
and training, an individualized approach, the continuity of educational
programmes and an interdisciplinary approach. In the 1998/1999 academic year,
day-care facilities in Slovenia had 56 developmental
units
(1.7 per cent of all day-care units). Most of these developmental
units (62.5 per cent)
were for mentally disabled children and 22 per cent
for physically disabled children. These developmental units were attended by
277 children (0.44 per cent of all children in day care); 156 (65 per cent)
were in units for mentally disabled and 67 (21 per cent)
in units for physically
disabled children. In the 1997/1998 academic year developmental units
employed 151 professionals, of whom
80 (53 per cent) were specially trained
pedagogues.
The number of developmental units has fallen dramatically in
recent years as more of
these children are integrated into regular units and
also because more of these children remain at home for various reasons, where
they are cared for by their family, relatives or neighbours. Pre-school
education at home for children who, because of illness are
unable to attend
day-care facilities provided by a day-care institution or other legally
registered entities providing such care
has not yet taken off in practice,
except within public work programmes. There is a considerable need for the
organization and regulation
of early detection of children with
special
needs.
- In
1999 primary schools with specially adapted programmes were attended
by
2,948 children, of whom 2,632 were children with minor mental disabilities, 37
were
blind or of poor sight, 153 were deaf or hard of hearing, 65 had
behavioural and personality disorders, and 61 were physically disabled.
Institutes or primary school units with adapted
- programmes
were attended by an additional 1,996 children, of whom 410 were deaf or hard of
hearing, 87 blind or of poor sight, 167
physically disabled, 444 had behavioural
and personality disorders and 888 had minor, serious or severe mental
disabilities. The
total number of children with special needs in primary
education was 4,944, of whom 124 were blind or of poor sight, 563 deaf or
hard of hearing, 229 physically disabled, 509 with behavioural or personality
disorders and 3,520 with various degrees of mental
disability. Various forms of
secondary education with adapted programmes were attended by 563 young
people.
- In
addition to whole-day care, new forms of working with children with special
needs are being developed, such as day-time care (eight
to nine hours), half-day
care (four to five hours), short-term and temporary stay, and housing
communities whose aim is to provide
suitable and comprehensive treatment within
a home environment and to level the opportunities for independent life. An
important
role in the area of working with children and young
people with
special needs is assumed by the disabled people’s organizations which
organize schools for parents, provide support
for families with disabled
children, and carry out
individual support services for disabled students
(supplying study material in adapted forms, transport).
- A
general assessment is that this is a well-organized area. There is a network of
special institutions that are constantly improving
their programmes, and the
position of families whose child is in institutional care or who have a child or
young person with special
needs in other forms of organized care (full-day care,
half-day care, short-term or temporary stay in an institution, mobile services,
etc.) or who stays at home is gradually becoming more equal; this can also be
assessed as a positive development. The growing number
of housing communities
that take in young people with disabilities is also encouraging. In June 2000 a
basic law on the education
of children with special needs, a law that had been
missing from Slovenian legislation, was adopted (Guidance for Children with
Special
Educational Needs Act). Thus the long-term process of the integration
of children with special needs into regular forms of education
has begun. It
regulates educational guidance for children with special needs and defines the
methods and forms of education and
training. Instead of the current system of
classification of children, which lay within the competence of the Ministry of
Labour,
Family and Social Affairs, the Act prescribes that the mandatory testing
of the classification be carried out by the Ministry of
Education, Science and
Sport. The new feature introduced by the Act allows the referral of children
with special needs to regular
educational programmes, adapted to their abilities
and with additional expert help provided, to adapted programmes that provide an
equivalent level of education, to programmes that provide less demanding levels
of education, and to special educational programmes.
An important new feature
of the Act is that it provides for special equipment for students with special
needs.
- The
participation of young disabled people in the labour market is made possible by
programmes of training and preparation for employment
and by other measures,
including: protection from dismissal, adaptation of the workplace and machinery
to the abilities of
disabled people, vocational training for disabled
people, and support for self-employment.
- The
Programme for the Employment of Disabled People Until 2002 has raised the volume
and quality of training for the disabled, which
will allow them to compete for
jobs on the labour market.
B. Health and health services (art. 24)
- These
provisions of the Convention were explained in the initial report (paras. 204-
227).
- In
2000, the National Assembly adopted the National Health-care Programme for
Slovenia Health for All By 2004, which includes activities
for the
protection of the health of children and young people, such as improving health
education and medical and dental care for
children, the comprehensive protection
of the health of pre-school children and young people based on a clinic system,
the execution
of special programmes for the detection and monitoring of children
and groups at risk, and the application of modern preventive programmes.
The
scope, content and organization of preventive health care are defined in the
Instructions on the Implementation of Primary-Level
Preventive Healthcare
(Ur. l. RS, 19/98) issued by the Minister of Health. In the
introduction the Instructions lay down the new set-up by naming doctors in
charge
of individual types of care and medical areas. The basic duty of these
doctors is to ensure in their medical areas that any difficulties
in connection
with staffing, time, finances or the organization of application of the national
programme are dealt with immediately,
and to regularly monitor whether enough
trained personnel are available to work with children and young people.
- In
its main part the Instructions on the Implementation of Primary-Level Preventive
Health Care (adopted on 12 March 1998) describe
in detail the standards
guaranteed by the State to all children, young people under 19 and students.
The scope of these standards
has not changed since the initial report. The
funding of preventive programmes through mandatory insurance has been adapted to
the
Instructions. The system of funding allows doctors to adapt between 5 and
10 per cent of their preventive programmes to the needs
of their patients.
Table 10
Number of preventive examinations of children, by
pre-school
and schoolchildren’s clinic, 1996-1998
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
Age
|
0-6
|
7-19
|
0-6
|
7-19
|
0-6
|
7-19
|
Number of children
|
143 704
|
362 048
|
138 313
|
350 599
|
133 733
|
342 070
|
Number of children examined
|
1 282 000
|
612 400
|
1 026 000
|
556 800
|
1 320 000
|
609 500
|
Source: Institute of Public Health.
- The
prescribed immunization programmes for pre-school children and schoolchildren in
Slovenia have been slightly expanded in recent
years.
- In
1999 immunization with the acellular component of whooping cough was introduced
for pre-school children and schoolchildren; a gradual
transition from two doses
of diphtheria and tetanus vaccine to one is being made.
- There
have been no changes to the programme of immunization against poliomyelitis in
the past five years. For immunization a three-type,
live oral vaccination is
still compulsory, with the exception of children who themselves or whose family
members are immunodeficient,
in which case dead vaccination is used. In line
with the worldwide immunization doctrine, Slovenia will introduce dead
parenteral
vaccinations for all children, in combination with other vaccinations
of course.
- There
have been some changes to immunization against measles, mumps and rubella.
As a result, children are now vaccinated with a combined vaccination in
their second year
and are given a booster when starting school. In the
spring of 1998 vaccination against hepatitis B was introduced in line with
the
WHO recommendation for all children starting school. In 2000 immunization
against Haemophilus influenzae type b was introduced for preschool
children.
- In
Slovenia newborn babies are compulsorily vaccinated against tuberculosis in the
first few days after birth or within the first
year, while schoolchildren in the
seventh or eighth grade of primary school are compulsorily tested without
inoculation.
- In
line with WHO doctrine there are plans for the immunization of pre-school
children and schoolchildren with combined vaccinations
that will protect against
several illnesses at the same time. There are plans to improve computer records
of childhood vaccinations
and to upgrade them into a uniform system.
- The
overall health care (prevention and treatment) of children and young people in
primary education is provided by pre-school clinics
and schoolchildren’s
clinics, and by private clinics for children and young people. According to
estimates by the medical
profession, doctors spend 40 per cent of their time on
prevention and 60 per cent on treatment, which is unsatisfactory.
- In
1998 there were 63 medical centres for the general public and one medical
centre for students in Slovenia. The public health-care network included 44
clinics for preschool children, 44 clinics for schoolchildren
and young
people, 22 combined clinics,
and 12 developmental clinics. Medical care for
children and young people was also provided by 40 private medical centres
in 1999.
In the same year medical care for women was provided by 53 clinics
and 31 private gynaecological
surgeries.
Table 11
Vaccination rate for pre-school children and
schoolchildren in Slovenia, 1996-1998
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
First
|
Booster
|
First
|
Booster
|
First
|
Booster
|
Diphtheria/Tetanus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-school children
|
96.88
|
94.26
|
92.53
|
86.77
|
90.13
|
85.64
|
Schoolchildren
|
|
97.35
|
|
97.32
|
|
98.08
|
Tetanus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Secondary schoolchildren
|
|
95.76
|
|
95.31
|
|
96.52
|
Pertussis
|
96.18
|
93.53
|
91.89
|
86.28
|
89.47
|
85.14
|
Poliomyelitis
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-school children
|
97.21
|
94.44
|
90.97
|
84.9
|
90.23
|
84.45
|
Schoolchildren
|
|
98.19
|
|
97.35
|
|
98.04
|
Measles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-school children
|
91.56
|
|
94.7
|
|
91.6
|
|
Schoolchildren
|
|
97.68
|
|
97.3
|
|
97.47
|
Mumps
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-school children
|
91.52
|
|
94.7
|
|
91.59
|
|
Schoolchildren
|
|
97.68
|
|
97.3
|
|
97.47
|
Rubella
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-school children
|
91.52
|
|
94.7
|
|
91.69
|
|
Schoolchildren
|
|
97.65
|
|
97.23
|
|
96.66
|
Source: Institute of Public Health.
Table 12
Proportion of first and return visits for medical
treatment to pre-school
and schoolchildren’s clinics, 1996-1998
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
Age group
|
0-6 %
|
7-19 %
|
0-6 %
|
7-19 %
|
0-6 %
|
7-19 %
|
First visit
|
56.1
|
55.2
|
48.4
|
54
|
52.6
|
54.1
|
Return visit
|
43.9
|
44.8
|
51.6
|
46.0
|
47.4
|
45.9
|
Total
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
Source: Institute of Public Health.
- In
1998 there were 3.2 medical centres per 100,000 people. There was one clinic
per 4,325 children and young people up to the age
of 19, and one
gynaecological team per 9,182 women over the age of 15.
- The
average staffing situation in primary health care in 1999 was as follows: there
was a team of child doctors for every 943 pre-school
children (0-6 years) and a
school doctors’ team for every 2,338 young people (7-19 years). The
composition of a preventive
medical team is prescribed and is as follows: one
specialist doctor, one nurse and one medical technician per team.
Table 13
Average number of doctors for pre-school children
and schoolchildren,
young people and women (over 13) in primary health care,
1999
Individual
type of health care
|
Number of patients per doctor
|
Target
|
|
|
Instructions on the Implementation of Primary-level Preventive Health
Care
|
Pre-school children
|
943 children (0-6 years)
|
800 children (0-6 years)
|
Schoolchildren and young people
|
2 338 young people (719 years)
|
1 700 young people (7-19 years)
|
Women
|
9 182 women over 15
|
6 500 women over 15
|
Source: Institute of Public Health and the Rationalization or New
Organization of Paediatric Health Care project.
- Since
1996 all hospitals in Slovenia have treated children in children’s
hospital units, regardless of the illness, and children
have had their medical
condition monitored by a paediatrician who is a regular staff member or
consultant.
- Table
14 below shows that there has been an increase in the past three years in the
rate of hospital treatment for 0-6-year-olds;
in the 7-19 age group the rate has
not changed significantly.
Table 14
Hospital treatment rate for children (0-19 years),
1996-1998
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
Age
|
0-6
|
7-19
|
0-6
|
7-19
|
0-6
|
7-19
|
Number of children
|
143 704
|
362 048
|
138 313
|
350 599
|
133 733
|
342 070
|
Number of examined/1 000
|
169.2
|
80.6
|
194.1
|
76.8
|
199.5
|
80.1
|
Source: Institute of Public Health.
- In
1999 a start was made on the Rationalization or New Organization of Paediatric
Health Care project at the primary, secondary and
tertiary levels. Its aim is
to reduce the number of hospital treatments of children and the average length
of hospitalization, and
to redirect diagnostic and treatment work to specialist
clinics at the secondary level and day hospitals. The primary level paediatric
health-care network is to be strengthened and 24-hour paediatric care ensured.
By linking paediatricians at all three levels, the
exchange of knowledge will be
increased and the treatment of children raised to a higher level. The project
is trying to preserve
the personnel structure, i.e. specialist paediatricians
and school medicine specialists at the primary level (first contact), despite
the political intention to have general or family practitioners for all age
groups.
- According
to figures for 1998, 99.8 per cent of women in Slovenia give birth in maternity
wards. On average, 8.3 examinations are
carried out during pregnancy, which is
one examination more than in the preceding five-year period. Just under half of
pregnant
women attend antenatal classes. The proportion of women pregnant for
the first time and attending antenatal classes was higher than
the proportion of
other pregnant women.
- Of
all young women under 19, 3.4 per cent gave birth (regarding age at the time of
giving birth, 83.3 per cent of these young mothers
are over 18). One fifth of
them are single mothers and their percentage is growing.
- The
rate of legal abortions has been falling most visibly in various categories of
young women. In 1998 there were, on average, 12
legal abortions per 1,000 young
women under 19, while the rate of legal abortions among young girls under 16
was, as expected, low,
i.e. two legal abortions per 1,000 young girls.
- The
infant mortality and antenatal mortality rates continue to fall. In 1999, 94.2
per cent of newborn babies weighed more than 2,500
g (identical to the
proportion from the early 1990s).
Table 15
Infant mortality rate, 1987-1999
|
Stillborn
|
Early infant mortality
|
Antenatal mortality
|
Infant mortality
|
1987
|
4.8
|
5.6
|
10.4
|
11.2
|
1988
|
4.0
|
5.4
|
10.3
|
9.0
|
1989
|
6.0
|
4.6
|
10.6
|
8.2
|
1990
|
4.5
|
4.2
|
8.6
|
8.4
|
1991
|
4.9
|
4.7
|
9.5
|
8.2
|
1992
|
5.5
|
4.6
|
10.1
|
8.9
|
1993
|
4.8
|
3.3
|
8.1
|
6.8
|
1994
|
5.3
|
2.8
|
8.1
|
6.5
|
1995
|
4.4
|
2.6
|
7
|
5.5
|
1996
|
5.6
|
2.4
|
7.9
|
4.7
|
1997
|
4.9
|
2.9
|
7.7
|
5.2
|
1998
|
6.5
|
2.9
|
9.4
|
5.2
|
1999
|
5
|
2.4
|
7.4
|
4.6
|
Source: Statistical Yearbook on Health, 1987-1999.
- In
the last three-year period a growth in the suicide rate among young people
aged between 7 and 19 was observed. There were 6.4 suicides per 100,000
young people
in 1996, 6.8 in 1997 and 10.2 in 1998 (7-19-year-olds).
In the same period, the suicide rate for people over 20 was, on average,
39.2
per 100,000 people. On average the risk of committing suicide was 2.7 times
greater for boys than girls. In collaboration
with WHO a trial application of
the national programme for the prevention of suicide was carried out in three
municipalities in the
Zasavje region where the problem is worst. The project
included campaigns and procedures for assessing the programme so that it
could
be applied later throughout the entire country. An ongoing workshop is running
under the title “Suicide and the Prevention
of Suicide in Slovenia”
for first-contact doctors and for teachers with the aim of teaching them how to
respond correctly when
detecting the first signs of the phenomenon and how to
control the treatment of persons at risk later on. As part of the National
Health-Care Programme Until 2004, provisions are made for the preparation and
implementation of programmes for the healthy mental
life of children and young
people in particular.
- While
admitting that Slovenia’s road safety record is one of the poorest in
Europe, one road indicator - road safety for children
- places Slovenia among
the better developed and safer countries. The number of children killed or
injured on the roads has been
falling gradually since 1970. The number of
pre-school children killed on the roads fell from 32 in 1970 to 2 in 2000,
and of schoolchildren
from 26 in 1972 to 6 in 2000. In 1999, eight children
died in road accidents.
- HIV/AIDS
infection rates in Slovenia are low. According to figures published by the
Institute of Public Health between 1 January
1986 and 30 September 2000, 89
cases of AIDS were reported, as required by law. The annual AIDS rate was
between 0.5 and 0.7 per
million inhabitants. Most of those infected
with AIDS have already died; according to estimates there are now 28 AIDS
patients in
Slovenia. Of the total number of those infected (89 cases), 76
were adult males, 11 adult females and 2 children (1 boy and 1 girl).
Both
children were infected during or after birth. Between 1 January 1986 and 30
September 2000, a total of 75 cases of HIV infections
were confirmed which
so far have not developed into fullblown AIDS; 58 of those infected were adult
males, 16 were adult females
and 1 was a girl.
- As
part of the revision of the school curriculum a proposal for health education
was put forward covering nine areas: family life,
the psychological aspects of
health, personal hygiene, healthy sex education, food and eating, exercise and
health, safety, first
aid, and the use and abuse of substances. Health
education is an interdisciplinary curricular subject.
- Slovenia
has been a member of the European Network of Health-Promoting Schools since 1993
(a project run by the Council of Europe,
EU and WHO). Twelve schools in
Slovenia took part in the Health-Promoting Schools project in the trial
phase, joined since 1998 by 130 primary and secondary schools,
residential
homes for students and the Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The
evaluation results show that the programme
has evolved to the stage where the
formation of a national strategy of health promotion in schools should be
considered. A number
of meetings were organized in March 2000 with the support
of a WHO consultant at which the topic was discussed; they yielded promising
points of departure for the formulation of the strategy.
C. Social security and housing (arts. 26 and 27)
- The
fundamental rights of children to social security were described in the initial
report (paras. 228 and 229).
- The
right of parents to a wage compensation for the nursing of a sick child for the
period in which they care for a close family member
for the duration of their
child’s illness, which guarantees economic and social security and the
necessary level of care for
the child, was amended in 1999. The 1999
Health-care and Health Insurance Act stipulates that, at the proposal of a
collegium of
experts from the Paediatric Clinic at Ljubljana University
Hospital, the entitlement to a wage replacement can be extended by a medical
board of the second degree in cases deemed necessary because of a brain injury,
cancer or other serious deterioration of health.
The right to a wage
compensation for caring for a child can be exercised by one of the parents of a
child under the age of 18.
One of the parents can also be granted this right
for the period in which the child is in hospital.
- Between
11 and 13 per cent of the Slovenian population are cared for at home when ill.
According to statistical data, sick leave
taken in order to care for sick family
members represents a negligible amount of lost working days per employee and
does not amount
even to 1 per cent of lost working days per worker. Sick leave
is used more by women than by men. The average length of absence
from work in
order to care for a family member between 1990 and 1996 was 6.5
days.
Table 16
Sick leave to care for family members,
1990-1999
|
Percentage of lost working days per worker
|
Number of cases per 100 workers in a year
|
1990
|
0.1
|
0.7
|
6.2
|
40.9
|
1991
|
0.1
|
0.6
|
4.7
|
32.6
|
1992
|
0.1
|
0.5
|
4.6
|
27.8
|
1993
|
0.1
|
0.6
|
5.9
|
31.5
|
1994
|
0.1
|
0.6
|
6.3
|
29.4
|
1995
|
0.1
|
0.5
|
5.6
|
28.4
|
1996
|
0.08
|
0.45
|
4.4
|
24.42
|
1997
|
0.05
|
0.44
|
3.88
|
26.85
|
1998
|
0.06
|
0.44
|
3.92
|
27.02
|
1999
|
0.05
|
0.44
|
3.81
|
26.40
|
Source: Institute of Public Health.
- The
right to parental leave is granted to women in employment, self-employed women,
women farmers and sole traders, and lasts 365
days. Of these, 105 days are
classed as maternity leave and 260 days (or, if the mother works part time,
until the child is 17 months
old) as childcare leave, which can also be used by
the father of the child in agreement with the mother. There is also extended
childcare leave for premature babies, for the second and every additional live
child from a multiple birth, and for a child with
a serious physical or mental
disability (childcare leave is extended until the child is 15 months old as full
absence from work,
or until the twenty-third month of life of the child if the
carer works part time). During maternity leave and childcare leave,
payment
equals the full average monthly wages of the recipient in
the 12 months prior to the leave and is adjusted in accordance
with
the movement of the average wage. Since 1995 the lower limit for the payment
has been equal to the minimum wage.
Table 17
Average number of recipients of parental leave, and
funds spent, 1990-2000
|
1990
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000 (estimate)
|
Average monthly number of recipients
|
22 891
|
19 257
|
17 261
|
17 080
|
16 914
|
16 374
|
16 181
|
16 300
|
Funds (in SIT million)
|
0.0
|
14 865
|
16 566
|
18 887
|
21 202
|
22 570
|
24 541
|
27 730
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
- Fathers
rarely use parental leave (0.6 per cent in 1997, 0.8 per cent in 1998, 0.9 per
cent in 1999 and 0.95 per cent in the first
seven months of 2000). This small
proportion cannot be explained by the loss of income since parents receive the
full wage equivalent
while on leave. Nor is parental leave so long that fathers
would risk losing their job if they took the leave. Since fathers are
not
directly entitled to parental leave, the current legislation does not grant
fathers who are employed the right to childcare leave
and childcare benefit
unless the mother is also insured (i.e. employed).
- The
new Parental Leave and Family Benefits Act, which is going through its second
reading, provides for a completely new regulation
of parental leave, parental
benefits, and the right to shorter working hours and to the subsidizing of the
employment of parents.
It also provides for various forms of parental leave:
maternity leave (105 days), paternity leave (90 days), and childcare leave
(260 days). In specific cases such as the birth of twins, of
a premature
baby or of a baby who needs special care, or when the parents are already
caring for one or more pre-school children when the new baby is born,
childcare leave can be extended.
- All
mothers who do not meet the conditions for the right to maternity benefit or any
other wage replacement or pension are entitled
to a parental allowance for the
same duration (365 days), which equals 52 per cent of the guaranteed wage
(in July 2000 it was SIT
22,077). In the second part of parental leave, this
right can be transferred to the father. The right to a parental allowance is
also granted to women who are in secondary school or at university, firsttime
job-seekers, housewives, and some farm wives.
Table 18
Average monthly number of recipients of parental
allowance,
and funds spent, 1994-2000
|
Average monthly number of recipients
|
Funds (in SIT million)
|
1994
|
2 474
|
423.48
|
1995
|
3 015
|
559.36
|
1996
|
2 822
|
554.28
|
1997
|
2 735
|
566.33
|
1998
|
2 616
|
573.75
|
1999
|
2 563
|
602.16
|
2000*
|
2 449
|
607.98
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
* Funds set aside by the 2000 budget.
- A
layette is a form of one-off State assistance given upon the birth of a child to
all children whose mother or father has permanent
residence in Slovenia. The
parents can choose from three types of assistance in kind, or take money to the
equivalent value of the
layette. The layette is currently worth around SIT
29,000. Parents are increasingly choosing money over other forms. In 1993,
a
total of 19,632 parents received layettes (17,637 in 1998 and 17,295
in 1999).
Table 19
Average monthly number of parents entitled to a
layette,
and funds spent, 1993-2000
|
Average number of entitled parents
|
Funds spent (in SIT million)
|
1993
|
19 632
|
316.35
|
1994
|
18 912
|
343.17
|
1995
|
18 408
|
406.25
|
1996
|
18 428
|
396.86
|
1997
|
18 111
|
443.34
|
1998
|
17 637
|
428.99
|
1999
|
17 295
|
452.38
|
2000*
|
18 081
|
506.87
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
* Funds set aside by the 2000 budget.
- Child
benefit, a financial assistance to children, has been paid since 1 May 2001 in
line with the Child Benefit Act. The amount
of child benefit depends on the
number of dependent children and the income per family member in the preceding
year. The Act divides
recipients into three categories, depending on the number
of children, with the amount going up with each additional child in the
family.
Child benefit is adjusted twice a year with the growth index for living
necessities. After the 1996 and 1999 changes to
the criteria for child benefit,
and in line with the Child Benefit Act, child benefit is received by over 80 per
cent of potential
beneficiaries.
Table 20
Structure of child benefit recipients and amounts,
1997
Income per family
member as a percentage of the average wage in Slovenia
|
Child benefit as a percentage of the guaranteed wage
|
Child benefit in December 1997 (in SIT)
|
Child benefit as a percentage of the average net wage
|
Average number of recipients
|
Structure of recipients (%)
|
Share of funds spent in 1997
|
Up to 25
|
22
|
8 109
|
8.2
|
98 902
|
24.21
|
36.66
|
25.1-30
|
19
|
7 004
|
7.1
|
36 671
|
8.98
|
11.74
|
30.1-40
|
16
|
5 898
|
6.0
|
82 292
|
20.14
|
22.18
|
40.1-45
|
13
|
4 792
|
4.9
|
38 347
|
9.39
|
8.40
|
45.1-55
|
10
|
3 686
|
3.7
|
60 607
|
14.84
|
10.21
|
55.1-110
|
7
|
2 580
|
2.6
|
91 710
|
22.45
|
10.81
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
Table 21
Child benefit, by amount and income category, June
2000
Income per family
member as a percentage of the average wage in Slovenia
|
Average monthly income per family member in 1999 (in SIT)
|
Child benefit per individual child (in SIT)
|
1st child
|
2nd child
|
3rd and subsequent children
|
Up to 15
|
Up to 25 987
|
17 642
|
19 406
|
21 170
|
15 to 25
|
25 987 to 43 311
|
15 084
|
16 672
|
18 259
|
25 to 30
|
43 311 to 51 974
|
11 497
|
12 849
|
14 202
|
30 to 35
|
51 974 to 60 636
|
9 056
|
10 350
|
11 644
|
35 to 45
|
60 636 to 77 960
|
7 410
|
8 644
|
9 979
|
45 to 55
|
77 960 to 95 985
|
4 704
|
5 881
|
7 057
|
55 to 75
|
95 985 to 129 934
|
3 528
|
4 704
|
5 881
|
75 to 99
|
129 934 to 171 513
|
3 085
|
4 234
|
5 410
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
Table 22
Child benefit under the Child Benefit Act, in
SIT
Income per family
member as a percentage of the average wage in Slovenia
|
Child benefit per individual child
|
lst child
|
2nd child
|
3rd child
|
Up to 15
|
17 639
|
19 403
|
21 167
|
15 to 25
|
15 081
|
16 669
|
18 256
|
25 to 30
|
11 495
|
12 848
|
14 200
|
30 to 35
|
9 055
|
10 349
|
11 642
|
35 to 45
|
7 409
|
8 644
|
9 878
|
45 to 55
|
4 704
|
5 880
|
7 056
|
55 to 75
|
3 528
|
4 704
|
5 880
|
75 to 99
|
3 058
|
4 234
|
5 410
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
- The
new child benefits increased considerably in 1999; in the first months following
the changes the amounts were higher by as much
as 55.7 per cent in comparison
with benefits before the increase. Since under the law child benefits are
adjusted twice a year,
there is no longer any danger of child benefits falling
behind in real terms.
Table 23
Average number of recipients of child benefit, and
funds spent, 1990-2000
|
Average monthly number of children
|
Funds for child benefits (in SIT million)
|
Share of funds for child benefit of GDP (%)
|
1990
|
152 393
|
978.41
|
0.50
|
1991
|
158 120
|
1 766.37
|
0.51
|
1992
|
149 435
|
4 475.53
|
0.45
|
1993
|
147 478
|
7 311.50
|
0.51
|
1994
|
187 639
|
10 777.92
|
0.58
|
1995
|
222 634
|
14 146.69
|
0.64
|
1996
|
342 443
|
20 354.93
|
0.80
|
1997
|
408 532
|
25 117.46
|
0.86
|
1998
|
410 864
|
26 705.10
|
0.83
|
1999
|
405 040
|
35 159.00
|
0.98
|
2000*
|
406 000
|
45 000.00
|
1.14
|
Source: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
* Funds set aside in the 2000 budget.
- Family
benefits include a special childcare allowance which pays for part of the cost
of caring for a child with special needs.
- The
new Parental Leave and Family Benefits Act (submitted for reading in 1998)
envisages an increase in child benefits for lone-parent
families (if the child
lives in a lone-parent family, the child benefit is to be increased by 10 per
cent) and a special financial
allowance for large families (SIT 70,000).
- In
keeping with the Personal Income Tax Act, tax relief for people with children
includes a reduced income tax base which, for the first child, equals 10 per
cent of the average annual wage in Slovenia, or 50 per
cent of the average wage
if the child suffers from a mild, serious or severe mental or physical handicap.
For each additional child
there is additional relief equivalent
to 5 per cent of the average wage. The age-limit is 18, except for
children in school (for
whom the age-limit is 26). There is no age-limit for
children who are unable to work. Tax reliefs are more beneficial to high-income
families, while child benefits are more favourable to low-income families. For
example, a family with three children and an income
equivalent to two average
wages benefits by approximately SIT 50,000 more from child benefits than from
tax relief for children;
before the 1999 changes to child benefits, the two
benefits were equal.
Table 24
Tax reliefs for 2000
|
Annual
tax relief (in SIT)
|
For one child and any other dependent family member - 10 per cent of
the average wages (AW)
|
230 003
|
For two children - 25 per cent of AW
|
575 007
|
For three children - 45 per cent of AW
|
1 035 013
|
For four children - 70 per cent of AW
|
1 610 020
|
For five children - 100 per cent of AW
|
2 300 028
|
For every additional child the tax relief is increased by 5 per
cent of AW
|
|
For a disabled child - 50 per cent of AW
|
1 150 014
|
Source: Ministry of Finance.
- Unemployment
benefit is granted (in keeping with the new Employment and Insurance
Against Unemployment Act) to a person who, in the last 18 months, has
been
employed for at least 9 months without interruption, or 12 months with
interruptions, before the end of employment and who,
within 30 days, reports to
the Employment Service of Slovenia. This person may, within 30 days of the end
of the right to unemployment
benefit, exercise the right to unemployment
assistance if his/her income is less than 80 per cent of the guaranteed wage.
Unemployment
assistance is paid for six months. For the first three months
unemployment
- benefit
equals 70 per cent of the basic wage and in subsequent months 60 per cent of the
basic wage (but not less than 80 per cent
of the guaranteed wage) and can only
be paid for a maximum of 24 months. At the end of December 1999 the Employment
Service of Slovenia
was paying unemployment benefits to 31,227 individuals, or
to 13.5 per cent fewer people than in December 1998. At the beginning
of
1999 the lowest unemployment benefit (under the old law) was SIT 31,266
gross (SIT 39,082 under the new law). In addition to
unemployment benefits and
unemployment assistance, the State also funds active employment policy
programmes.
Table 25
Unemployment benefit (UB) and unemployment
assistance (UA)
recipients, 1991-1999
|
Number of UB recipients (Dec.)
|
Number of UA recipients (Dec.)
|
Total (UB+UA)
|
Growth index (UB+UA) (preceding year = 100)
|
Duration of UB (in months)
|
Average duration of UA (in months)
|
Average number of recipients (UB+UA)
|
Proportion of UB and UA recipients in average monthly unemployment
|
1991
|
31 818
|
14 110
|
45 928
|
168.6
|
4.2
|
7.6
|
30 053
|
40.0
|
1992
|
32 532
|
18 229
|
50 762
|
110.5
|
8.5
|
10.4
|
46 191
|
45.0
|
1993
|
42 582
|
20 052
|
62 634
|
123.4
|
14.3
|
19.0
|
55 618
|
43.1
|
1994
|
31 452
|
11 036
|
42 488
|
67.8
|
14.4
|
8.0
|
53 454
|
42.1
|
1995
|
28 305
|
5 936
|
34 241
|
80.6
|
12.7
|
7.3
|
36 824
|
30.3
|
1996
|
33 715
|
4 112
|
37 827
|
110.5
|
13.1
|
5.9
|
36 343
|
30.3
|
1997
|
37 152
|
3 734
|
40 886
|
108.1
|
11.6
|
3.7
|
40 791
|
32.6
|
1998
|
36 082
|
2 818
|
38 900
|
102.8
|
14.3
|
3.7
|
41 065
|
32.6
|
1999
|
31 227
|
3 283
|
34 510
|
88.7
|
17.8
|
3.9
|
36 905
|
31.0
|
Source: Employment Service of Slovenia.
- In
line with the Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment Act, children
aged between 15 and 18 (secondary school students) and students aged between
18 and 26 are entitled to company, national or Zois scholarships.
Company
scholarships are granted by companies and employers in keeping with their needs;
national and Zois scholarships are
granted by the State. National
scholarships are awarded to apprentices, secondary school and university
students who otherwise would
not be able to continue studying; Zois scholarships
are given to gifted secondary school or university students. In 1998 the income
limit for national scholarships was made the same for all applicants (130 per
cent of the guaranteed wage, i.e. SIT 615,523). In
addition to the
financial background of applicants, the study results, abilities and interests
in the chosen study course and profession
are taken into account when awarding
scholarships. Scholarships for gifted secondary and university students are not
meanstested.
In December 1999 the average national scholarship for
apprentices and secondary school students studying in their home town was
SIT
11,307.86, for those who travelled daily SIT 20,917.43 and for those who lived
away from home during their studies SIT 27,377.56.
Students studying in their
home town received SIT 15,127.64, those commuting daily SIT 25,683.27 and
those living away from home
SIT 31,302.64. The average Zois scholarship
in December 1999 for secondary school students studying in their home town
was SIT 17,136,
for those who travelled to school daily SIT 26,436, for those who lived away
from home SIT 33,035, and for those who studied abroad
SIT 38,517. In December
1999 the average Zois scholarship for students studying in their home town was
SIT 24,083, for those who
travelled to school daily SIT 34,173, for students
living away from home SIT 39,814, and for students studying abroad SIT 50,688.
Currently 34 per cent of all young people in education are receiving some form
of scholarship (national, Zois or company).
Table 26
National and Zois scholarships, 1993-1999
|
National scholarships
|
Chain index
|
Zois scholarships
|
Chain index
|
Total
|
Funds spent (in SIT million)
|
Index
|
1993/1994
|
47 830
|
-
|
6 581
|
-
|
54 411
|
7 342 909
|
100.0
|
1994/1995
|
45 482
|
95.1
|
6 921
|
105.0
|
52 403
|
8 886 660
|
121.0
|
1995/1996
|
47 200
|
103.7
|
7 437
|
107.5
|
54 637
|
10 097 590
|
137.5
|
1996/1997
|
46 210
|
97.9
|
8 733
|
117.5
|
54 943
|
13 043 274
|
177.6
|
1997/1998
|
45 803
|
99.1
|
9 952
|
114.0
|
55 395
|
10 532 221
|
143.3
|
1998/1999
|
43 136
|
94.6
|
11 222
|
107.1
|
54 358
|
13 709 384
|
205.4
|
Source: Employment Service of Slovenia.
- The
right to a family pension is granted to family members of a deceased
pensioner or person with the required amount of years of pension insurance cover
(workers,
farmers, traders and other sole traders, or self-employed persons
performing public or State functions), provided they meet the conditions
set by
the Pension and Disability Insurance Act. The new Pension and Disability
Insurance Act, adopted in 2000, provides for voluntary participation in
mandatory pension and disability insurance in certain circumstances, such
as
when caring for a child under the age of 7 or for an elderly person, expands the
circle of insured persons to include parents
of children under the age of 1, and
reduces the retirement age by each birth or adopted child (the set retirement
age is lowered
by eight months for the first birth or adopted child and by four
months for each additional child). It also provides for the option
of
purchasing pension insurance cover for the first three years of the
child’s life if the person was not insured during that
time at all.
- The
1991 Housing Act and the National Housing Programme, passed by the National
Assembly in 2000, determine the social instruments of housing policy.
Their aim
is to help people and families with low income who are unable to find housing or
pay housing bills to acquire and use
housing. This includes, in particular,
families with several children, families where few members work, young families,
disabled
people, and families with disabled family members, as well as other
citizens with low or no income. The basic social housing instrument
is the
right to social housing. The right to social housing is granted to all
Slovenian citizens who meet the income-related requirements
set in article 26 of
the Social Security Act. Under this Act, these limits are as follows: for
children up to the age of 6, 29
per cent of the national
- average
wage; for children aged between 7 and 14, 34 per cent of the national average
wage; and for children from the age of 15 until
the end of their schooling, 42
per cent of the national average wage. The operational objective of the
National Housing Programme
is to achieve and subsequently maintain the target of
building 2,000 social housing units a year by 2009. In 2000 municipalities
plan
to build 350 social apartments, while current demand is for around 7,000
apartments. The National Housing Programme envisages
significant changes to the
system of granting housing help, which is currently regulated by the Social
Security Act; these have been
partly applied with the most recent changes to the
Housing Act (January 2000). This change to the Housing Act allows tenants with
the right to rent a social housing apartment under the Social Security Act to
pay a lower rent, and to be relieved
of the costs of depreciation and
investments in the apartment (objective subsidies). There is also a need to
expand the circle of
people entitled to subjective subsidies, in keeping with
the forecast changes to entitlements to social assistance. The National
Housing
Programme estimates that its application will provide children with better
opportunities for healthy physical and mental
development.
VIII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
A. Education and aims of education (arts. 28 and 29)
- The
education system, which includes pre-school education, free primary education
and equal access to secondary, higher and university
education, as well as the
regulation and funding of education, were described in the initial report
(paras. 230-264).
- In
March 2000 the new Music Schools Act, based on general principles of primary
education, was passed. The provisions of the Convention
on the Rights of the
Child (art. 29), the EU Resolution on Music in Schools and the Charter of the
European Conference on Musical
Education were also respected. The last two
documents in particular insist that the State must make provisions for musically
gifted
children and found special institutions for their training (in Slovenia
music schools are attended by 11 per cent of all schoolchildren);
the State must
also ensure the development of vocal and instrumental music groups in schools
(an orchestra is a requirement for the
formation of a music school and, as a
rule, all primary schools have a children’s and a youth choir). The
lessons must be
conducted in classrooms which are suitable in terms of space and
acoustics, and which are fitted with audio-visual equipment and
other compulsory
teaching aids. Teachers must have appropriate training (in Slovenia music
teachers must have a relevant university
degree, which guarantees that all music
teachers are highly trained and skilled musicians). In order to be allowed to
operate, a
public music school must also give music lessons to pre-school
children from the age of 5 in the form of music playgroups.
- In
the 1996/1997 academic year there were 491 public primary schools
with 9,925 classrooms in Slovenia. Primary schools were attended
by
205,339 schoolchildren in all. The average number of children per
classroom in primary schools was 20.6. In the 1999/2000 academic
year the
number of schools increased to 497 (9,657 classrooms); they were attended
by 189,342 primary schoolchildren. The average
number of children per
classroom was 19.6.
- For
the past seven years the policy of the Ministry of Education has been to provide
as many children applying for secondary school
with a place on a course of their
choice as possible, and as many children leaving primary school with a place in
secondary school
as possible. In 2000 the Vocational and Professional
Education and Training Act was amended. While under this Act and the Grammar
Schools Act general vocational and professional education is not compulsory in
Slovenia, it is equally accessible to all children
free of charge for compulsory
subjects. That general, vocational and professional schools are truly
accessible can be seen
from the proportion of enrolment in these schools,
which for the 1999/2000 academic year was 98 per cent of the
whole generation (87
per cent in 1986/1987 and 93.3 per cent
in 1995/1996).
- In
the 1999/2000 academic year, secondary education was provided by 138 public
and 7 private secondary schools, 3 music schools, 2
open universities
and 6 institutes for young people with special needs. In the first year of
all secondary school programmes together,
29,802 students enrolled (9,671
in grammar schools, 8,881 in four-year technical or other professional schools,
9,833 in three-year
secondary vocational training programmes and 1,417 in
basic vocational training programmes). On average, classrooms were considerably
larger than in primary schools, as an average secondary school classroom had 26
students and grammar schools nearly 29 students per
classroom.
- The
number of students completing their secondary education is growing: 22,517 in
the 1980/1981 academic year, 19,154 in 1984/1985,
21,793 in 1993/1994,
22,197 in 1994/1995 and 25,750 in 1998/1999.
- The
2000 national budget set aside SIT 1.6 billion for subsidizing school meals.
The subsidy is currently SIT 90 per day for each
primary schoolchild and SIT 120
per day for each secondary school student. Children who qualify for fully
subsidized meals under
specific conditions (lowincome or unemployed parents,
children from families with long-term social problems, family illness, alcohol
abuse in the family, etc.) are identified by the counselling service, which
examines each case individually. On this basis, 22.8
per cent of children
receive subsidized meals. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport also
guarantees free meals to all schoolchildren
in the first grade of a nine-year
primary school and their parents receive financial assistance under the
regulations on social security.
Schoolchildren are given free meals for as long
as they are receiving financial assistance.
- The
State has pledged long-term assistance for the purchase of school textbooks.
Since 1996 all primary schools must have a textbook
fund, which means that
all pupils from the first to eighth grades (or the ninth grade, once school
reform reaches that level in 2001)
can borrow textbooks for a fee set by the
Rules on the Management of Textbook Funds. In the 1997/1998 academic year the
Ministry
began to encourage the setting up of textbook funds in secondary
schools. In the 1999/2000 academic year, 80 per cent of secondary
schools
decided to set up their own book funds. In the following year (2000/2001) only
the lower grades of four-year programmes
had yet to establish textbook funds;
their inclusion will allow all secondary school students to borrow books from
the book funds.
- Since
1994 the State has set aside SIT 1,031,320,000 for textbook funds in primary
schools and SIT 574,340,000 in secondary
schools.
- In
the 1999/2000 academic year the State gave 42 primary schools participating in
the trial application of the nine-year primary school
project a one-off payment
for each schoolchild in the first grade. This amounted to a total of SIT
5,950,000. The State will continue
with this form of assistance in 2000/2001.
In 1996 the Government of Slovenia adopted the Decree on Consent to the Prices
of New
Textbooks as a measure aimed at harmonizing prices.
- Further
and higher education are regulated by the Higher Education Act and the
Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act. The University of
Ljubljana has 26 departments (20 faculties, 3
academies, and 3 higher
colleges); the University of Maribor has 10 departments (9 faculties and 1
higher college). In addition
to these two universities there are seven higher
education institutions in Slovenia (two faculties and five colleges).
- In
implementation of the Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act,
new two-year higher professional colleges for catering and the tourist
industry, machinery
and electronics are being introduced gradually. The
programmes are equally accessible to
all young people and are set up
according to the regional principle. In 1996/1997 the first generation of
students (430, of whom
346 were young people and 84 adults) attended five
higher colleges teaching six study programmes. In the 1999/2000 academic
year nine colleges with 13 programmes were attended by 1,478
students, of whom
817 were young people
and 661 adults. In 1999, a total of 329 students
graduated from higher colleges.
- The
number of students in university programmes is on the increase. There
were
50,667 students in the 1996/1997 academic year and 66,198 in 1999/2000. There
were 3,059 teaching staff in 1996/1997 and 3,465
in 1998/1999. There were
22.8 students
per lecturer in 1997/1998 and 23.8 in 1998/1999. The number
of students who complete university is also increasing. The number of
students
who completed higher college
was 2,746 in 1995/1996 and 2,707
in 1998/1999. The number of students graduating
was 4,507 in 1995/1996
and 7,060 in 1998/1999. The number of students completing postgraduate studies
is increasing: 355 received
Master’s degrees and 199 received Ph.Ds
in 1995/1996 (597 and 258, respectively, in 1998/1999).
- Children
who fail to complete school (school dropouts) continue to be a problem. The
issues of dropout rate and more appropriate education
are closely connected to
the issue of flexibility of forms of education which must be able to accommodate
the various needs and interests
of schoolchildren, students and apprentices.
The new school legislation (passed between 1996 and 1999) allows for various
forms
of education (dual system, certificates system, vocational courses). It
is important for the education system to allow transition
in a horizontal as
well as vertical direction, and to allow a return to education (lifelong
learning), thus increasing the proportion
of professionally qualified
people.
- Schoolchildren
who have not successfully completed compulsory primary education
(i.e. successfully completed the eighth grade) but
have fulfilled their
obligation towards primary education in a lower grade (usually the 6th or 7th)
can further their education within
secondary education in basic vocational
training programmes, which normally last two and a half years. These programmes
cover the
following areas: agriculture, the food industry, electrical
installations, textiles, glassmaking, carpentry, the construction industry,
machinery and services.
- In
the 1999/2000 academic year there were 15 basic vocational training programmes
in nine areas with a total of 2,400 places. The
programmes were attended by
1,417 students
(4.8 per cent of all students enrolling in secondary schools
in that year).
- Lately
more attention has been given to those who drop out of secondary school because
of poor study results. By improving the methods
of work in schools in the past
five years
(from the 1994/1995 to 1998/1999 academic years) the percentage
of students repeating a
grade fell on average from 5.4 per cent to 4.06 per
cent. The problem has also been alleviated
by additional measures that
enable young people to complete secondary education. Grammar school students
who fail the matriculation
exam can join a one-year vocational course where they
can obtain vocational qualifications and then find employment in their chosen
profession. Since the 1998/1999 academic year secondary schools, as part
of a tender for the provision of education to unemployed
people prepared by the
Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education,
Science and Sport, have reintegrated
dropouts who left school some time ago,
training them for their first profession. Important measures intended to remove
the discrepancy
between desires and actual enrolment include: expansion of the
network of schools and school places; vocational guidance to establish
professional desires; a revision of the curriculum; and the introduction of new
forms of secondary education.
- The
proportion of students who successfully enrol in a study course of their choice
is increasing - this obviously gives students
the best motivation to work and
complete their
studies. In the 1997/1998 academic year, 93.5 per cent of
students made it into a programme
of their choice (96.3 per cent in
1999/2000). There has been a decline in the dropout rate
among secondary
school students, which nevertheless remains high. The highest dropout rate has
been observed among students in basic
vocational training. There are no
considerable gender differences. The dropout rate is characteristically
high in the first year
- as many as 4050 per cent of students
drop out in the first year, 30 per cent in the second year
and 20 per cent
in the third year. The number of those dropping out in the fourth year is
negligible.
- Through
various education and employment programmes for young people carried out by the
Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs
in cooperation with the Ministry
of Education, Science and Sport, the employment system enables children and
young people who have
left it prematurely to join the labour market. Among the
more important programmes in this regard are the Employment Action Programme
for
Slovenia for 2000 and 2001 and the Programme for Developing a Business Mentality
and Creativity Among Young People. The Employment
Action Programme for Slovenia
for 2000 and 2001 gives special attention to young unemployed people
and is a combination of target-oriented programmes and measures executed by
various institutions. With the help of the continued
reform of vocational
education and training, it aims to achieve a more open school system, reduce the
proportion of those who leave
the education system prematurely, and raise the
general educational level of the population. To facilitate the transition of
young
people from school to employment, it envisages the development of a dual
system of education, more rapid development of more practically-oriented
higher
and high schools, the adjustment of programmes to new know-how, and the
introduction of new forms of preparation for employment
such as learning
workshops and learning companies.
- Programme
5000, which includes publicly certified programmes providing primary, general,
vocational, professional, technical or university
education, forms part of the
Action Programme. The programme is intended for unemployed people, in
particular:
- − Those
without professional or vocational qualifications, especially those under
26;
- − Those
with vocational or professional qualifications who are unable to find employment
in their profession and have been registered
with the Employment Service for
over six months.
- The
key guideline in working with unemployed people is to provide a shorter path to
employment. The duration of training or of the
period before finding a job
depends on the type of training undertaken by an individual and on the previous
skills, abilities and
qualifications of the unemployed person. The duration of
training is defined by the subcontractor by means of an education plan
and
normally lasts three years at most.
- The
key target of the Programme for Developing a Business Mentality and Creativity
Among Young People is to ensure an appropriate system of guidance and
funding for the development and execution of various forms of training for
individual
target groups of young people, especially by developing their
abilities and understanding for the basic principles of company operation
and
business skills, thus enabling them to join the labour market. The programme
includes primary school children, students of secondary
vocational and crafts
schools, and dropouts who wish to continue their education. The programme is
not intended for young unemployed
people only, as it has a more preventive role
and includes all young people; it is an expansion of existing programmes
(business
enterprise teaching groups in primary schools, summer workshops for
young people in vocational schools, etc.) for all areas of activities
of young
people. Various ministries (Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs;
Ministry of Education, Science and Sport; Ministry
of Economic Activities;
Ministry of Small Business and Tourism; and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Food) will provide 50 per
cent of the funding, local communities 25 per
cent, participants 15 per cent (fees) and sponsors 10 per cent. Up to
50 per cent
of the school fees will also be funded. The total amount set aside
for the programme in 2000 was SIT 221,492,771 and SIT 451,207,525.
- In
keeping with article 29 of the Convention, international treaties, and Council
of Europe’s and EU directives, additional
lessons in the mother tongue and
culture of children who are foreign citizens were organized in the academic year
1999/2000 (in the
Albanian, Croatian, Macedonian and Hungarian languages).
- Italian
schools function in the municipalities of Izola, Koper and Piran. Each
municipality has one complete eight-year primary school,
with local schools that
have classes from the first to fourth grades in the smaller towns. In addition,
day-care facilities in Italian
are provided. In the 1999/2000 academic
year Italian-language schools were attended by 504 children, and
day-care facilities by
235 children. In that area there are also three
secondary schools where lessons are taught in Italian (two grammar schools and
one
vocational school). In the 1999/2000 academic year the Antonio Sema
Grammar School in Piran had 65 students in four classes, and
the Gianni
Rinaldo Carli Grammar School in
- Koper 56 students
in four classes. The Pietro Coppo vocational school in Izola trains for the
professions of clerk, shop assistant,
secretary and car mechanic, and in the
1999/2000 academic year had 145 students in 17 classes. After completing
secondary education
a small proportion of students find jobs; others continue
their studies in Slovenia or, in many cases, go on to universities in
Italy.
- In
the bilingual areas of the municipalities of Lendava and Murska Sobota along the
Hungarian border, education in day-care facilities
and primary schools is
conducted in both languages. This allows children of either nationality to
learn not only their own language,
but also the language and culture of the
other community. Lessons are conducted in both languages; during language
lessons, children
are divided into two groups as lessons in the mother tongue
are more demanding. In the 1999/2000 academic year, bilingual schools
in the
municipalities of Lendava, Dobrovnik and Moravske Toplice were attended by 1,078
schoolchildren and bilingual daycare facilities
by 359 children. After primary
school, children can continue their education in a bilingual school in Lendava
or in one of the Slovenian-language
secondary schools in Murska Sobota or
elsewhere. Students who wish to continue to learn Hungarian are given lessons
in their mother
tongue. In 1999/2000 the bilingual school in Lendava had 21
classes with 381 students. The school has five grammar-school classes
and
also gives classes for those wishing to become clerks (eight classes), shop
assistants (five classes) and machinery technicians
(three classes).
- Primary
education for the Roma in Slovenia is conducted in keeping with the
Primary School Act and other regulations. Only rarely is a whole primary
school classroom
composed exclusively of Roma children (in the 1998/1999
academic year there were only seven such classrooms in the whole of Slovenia).
This goes to show that primary schools are more inclined to integrate Roma
schoolchildren into ordinary classrooms. This approach
to the integration of
Roma children in combination with occasional work in smaller groups has yielded
good results in recent years:
the number of Roma children who complete the
upper grades in primary schools is increasing, as is the number of those who,
after
completing primary school or compulsory education, continue their
schooling. In the 1997/1998 academic year, 88 Roma schoolchildren
completed
their compulsory schooling, and in the 1999/2000 academic year 55 joined further
education. The placement of Roma schoolchildren
in afternoon care has
contributed to better school results. In the 1999/2000 academic year there was
one such afternoon-care unit
exclusively for Roma children. In total, 405 Roma
schoolchildren are included in afternoon care. In the 1999/2000 academic year,
1,130 Roma schoolchildren received school snacks and 545 also received school
lunches. Up until 31 December 1998 the Ministry of
Education, Science and Sport
paid SIT 1,000 a month per Roma schoolchild (SIT 1,100 after
1 January 1999). Schoolbooks for Roma
children are provided by
schools from textbook funds.
- Article
100 of the Guided Education Act instructs schools to individualize programmes
and provide options for the fast-track study of individual subjects or even of
the
entire programme for the year. This regulation is in line with modern
trends in the provision of special care for gifted children
and is in compliance
with paragraph 1 (a) of article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
There are also Waldorf schools
for gifted children.
B. Leisure, recreation and cultural activities (art.
31)
- Slovenes
like to spend their spare time in the company of relatives and friends. They
learn about the world around them from the
mass media and from people they know
personally. Young people socialize in public places more than the rest of the
population.
Cultural events in particular attract young or better educated
people (Quality of Life in Slovenia, FDV, Ljubljana 1996). The pattern
of
leisure activities by young people is similar. Most of their spare time is
spent with friends and peers, in clubs, listening
to music, going to the theatre
and exhibitions, writing diaries and poems, visiting relatives, playing sport,
reading cartoons, sleeping,
doing nothing, watching TV, going to rock concerts
or messing around with computers. In their spare time young people also help
parents with domestic chores.
- In
general the pace of life of schoolchildren is set by their school. As a result
they have more time on Saturdays and Sundays than
during the week. They take
part in various voluntary leisure activities in schools such as sports, arts,
social and humanitarian
activities or other cultural extra-curricular
activities.
- One
important activity undertaken by the Friends of Youth of Slovenia Association
is the organization of leisure activities for children and young people.
They organize summer and winter holidays in 17 facilities
at the seaside or in
the mountains. Over 60,000 children a year spend their holidays in these
facilities. Through such activities
the Association guarantees children
highquality and safe holidays. The Association also organizes festivities
during December in
daycare facilities and schools (Veseli December, or
“Merry December”), and organizes or participates in
festivals.
IX. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES
A. Refugee children (art. 22)
- At
the end of 1999, a total of 4,369 persons with temporary protection were
registered in Slovenia, and nearly 30 per cent were under
16 years of age. This
figure is changing on a daily basis, as a significant number of refugees, in
particular those from the Kosovo
area, are returning to their country of their
own free will. In February 2000 there were about 1,250 refugee
children - persons
with temporary protection (aged 7 to 18) - from
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in Slovenia.
- In
1999 Slovenia adopted the Aliens Act, the Act Regulating the Legal Status of
Citizens of the Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic
of Slovenia, and the
Asylum Act. The Aliens Act defines as an alien any person without
Slovenian citizenship. The Act Regulating
the Legal Status of Citizens of the
Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic of Slovenia provides that citizens of
another successor
country to the former Yugoslavia who, on
23 December 1990, had their permanent residence registered in Slovenia
and who actually
lived there will be able to apply for a permanent residence
permit. In this way any person who did not submit an application under
article
40 of the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act or whose application
was late will be able to apply for a permanent
residence permit. Under the
Asylum Act the right to asylum is granted to aliens who request protection
for reasons cited
- under
the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol
(Geneva Convention). Article 2 of the Act provides that
asylum is the
protection granted to aliens in the Republic of Slovenia. It includes, in
particular, the right to reside in the Republic
of Slovenia, rights granted to
aliens on the basis of the Geneva Convention, and rights provided by the
Asylum Act itself. Asylumseekers
have the following rights: the right to
reside in Slovenia until the application procedure is finally closed; the
provision of basic
living conditions, basic health care, education, financial
assistance or an allowance; free legal aid for the implementation of their
rights pursuant to the Act; and the right to humanitarian aid. The scope of
these rights is the same as for persons with temporary
protection.
- Refugees
who have been granted refugee status have the following rights: the right to
permanent residence, financial assistance,
basic housing, health care, schooling
and education, assistance in integrating into the new environment, the right to
work, and inclusion
in active job search programmes. Refugees who receive no
income, do not own property and have no persons who are obliged to provide
for
them, or capable of doing so, have the right to financial assistance in
compliance with Slovenian regulations and in accordance
with the law governing
social security. Close family members of a refugee who live with that refugee
in Slovenia without possessing
their own property or income also have the right
to financial assistance. This assistance amounts to 60 per cent of the
financial
assistance provided under the first paragraph of article 50.
Financial assistance allocated to the refugee’s close family
members
depends on the entitlement and duration of the refugee’s right to
financial assistance.
- Schoolchildren
with temporary protection are accorded the same treatment as Slovenian children
in terms of their rights to primary
education. They are also guaranteed equal
access to secondary and tertiary education. A decade of living in Slovenia has
allowed
these refugees to adapt to their new environment, to attain professional
qualifications or to pursue studies at a college or university.
The main
objectives of these measures have been to normalize their life in their new
environment in Slovenia and to prepare them
for life in their home country once
they return.
- Slovenia
was first faced with the task of educating refugees at the outbreak of war in
Croatia. Children who were displaced during
the war and came to Slovenia were
accepted into the Slovenian school system, and had no major problems integrating
back into their
local school environments once they returned home. The first
massive wave of refugees was seen at the outbreak of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina
in 1992, among whom there were about 17,000 children aged between 7 and 16.
Education programmes were carried out in the 1992/1993
academic year in 45
municipalities and at 55 locations, and involved 362 teachers from
BosniaHerzegovina. Between 1993 and 1995
the number of schools and locations
gradually fell. As a result of this drop in the number of schoolchildren,
school classes were
more difficult to put together. In addition, many teachers
left for third countries. For this reason the Ministry of Education,
Science
and Sport prepared a project for the 1995/1996 academic year whose aim was
the integration of schoolchildren with temporary
protection into Slovenian
primary schools.
- Refugees
with temporary protection from Bosnia-Herzegovina - schoolchildren who wished to
enrol in Slovenian secondary schools - were
in a more difficult position than
children of compulsory school age. They had no command of the Slovenian
language and the education
programmes they had attended at home were
incompatible with Slovenian ones, while the major problem was lack of room for
them in
existing Slovenian school programmes. Young people and their parents,
however, showed an extremely high level of interest in enrolling
in secondary
schools in Slovenia. For this reason the Slovenian Ministry of Education,
Science and Sport issued a recommendation
for all Slovenian secondary schools to
accept refugees from BosniaHerzegovina with temporary protection who were of
secondary school
age, should there be any vacancies in their programmes.
- In
the following academic year, the situation in the area of the integration of
refugees from BosniaHerzegovina with temporary protection
- secondary school
children - steadily improved. In the past few years these children have been
able to enrol in the Slovenian school
system under the same conditions as
Slovenian citizens (no tuition fees charged).
- Ever
since it welcomed its first refugees, Slovenia has applied a
foreignstudentfriendly policy. Until 1999 citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina
had
encountered no major problems in enrolling in tertiary education institutes,
although as foreign students they should have been
liable to the payment of
tuition fees.
- Between
1992 and 1999 about 10,000 refugees with temporary protection enrolled in
primary and secondary schools, and in four-year
tertiary education
programmes.
- In
the past two years there has been a considerable growth in the number of asylum
applications under the Asylum Act (for refugee
status under the Convention). In
1999, a total of 744 asylum applications under this Act were submitted.
This number does not include
accompanied minors whose parents or other legal
representatives applied for asylum on 13 August 1999. In 1999 about
170 asylum applications
were therefore submitted by accompanied and 40 by
unaccompanied minors. In 2000, a total of 9,244 asylum applications were
submitted,
which was a dramatic increase over the previous year. In 2000, 11
persons were granted refugee status, 5 of whom were minors. Article
3
(integrity of the family and rights of close family members) of the Asylum Act
(Ur. l. RS, 61/99, 113/2000 - CC Decision, and 124/2000)
determines that the right to asylum under this Act can also be granted to close
family
members of refugees, namely spouses, unmarried children who are minors,
and parents of juvenile refugees. For unaccompanied minors,
the person
authorized to care for the child is considered to be a close family member. In
the asylum procedure these close family
members of the refugee are granted the
same legal status as the asylum-seeker. Article 14 of the Asylum Act
devotes special attention
to unaccompanied minors (i.e. aliens under 18 years of
age) who arrive in Slovenia or who, upon their arrival in Slovenia, remain
unaccompanied by parents or other legally responsible persons. Their asylum
applications have priority and must be resolved in the
shortest time possible.
Such minors may also not be deported to their country of origin or to a third
country willing to accept
them, unless adequate reception and care are provided
for them in this country. Prior to the commencement of the procedure, Slovenia
must appoint legal guardians for unaccompanied minors who apply for asylum.
Article 28 of the Asylum Act
- provides
that a legal guardian must be appointed for an unaccompanied minor before the
start of the asylum procedure, and that in
examining the asylum application
lodged by an unaccompanied minor the competent authority, in cooperation with
the legal guardian,
must take into account the level of the minor’s mental
maturity. Unaccompanied minors, and of course all other asylum applicants
as
well, have the right to the provision of care, basic living conditions, basic
health care, financial assistance or allowance,
free legal aid for the
enforcement of their rights and humanitarian aid; children of school age also
have the right to free education.
In practice, there are difficulties in
issuing decisions on the appointment of a legal guardian for applicants who are
minors, since
it is extremely difficult to find a person willing to assume the
responsibilities entailed in being a guardian. However, the asylum
procedure
for unaccompanied minors cannot be carried out without this condition. Talks
are currently being held with the aim of
actively involving NGOs in addressing
this issue.
- Efforts
to improve the living conditions of asylum-seeking children and persons with
asylum status also extend to the organization
of nursery schools and leisure
activities for these children, the collection of toys and the raising of funds
for their special needs,
such as health care. These activities are carried
out by NGOs.
- The
principle of integrity of the family has consistently been respected in Slovenia
in respect of conditions for entry into Slovenia
and the granting of temporary
protection.
- In
terms of the regulation of international relations, the application of the
Private International Law and Procedure Act needs to
be mentioned. This Act
regulates the competence of bodies and the application of the law. A majority
of unaccompanied children
with temporary protection in Slovenia live with their
parents or another close relative. For the regulation of guardianship, the
law
of the country of which the minor is a citizen is applied. Decisions of
Slovenian bodies (social work centres) on temporary
protection measures are made
pursuant to the law of the foreign country. In instances of abuse or torture of
children with temporary
protection in Slovenia, the competent body decides on
the necessary temporary measures. Social work centres must therefore act in
accordance with articles 120 and 121 of the Marriage and Family
Relations Act. The competent bodies of the foreign country must
be
notified of these measures as soon as possible. The conditions for adoption and
the cessation of adoption are evaluated and determined
on the basis of the law
of the country of which the adopter and adoptee are citizens. When the adopter
and the adoptee have different
nationalities, the law of their countries is
applied cumulatively to the conditions of adoption and the cessation of
adoption. When
the spouses jointly adopt a child, in addition to the law of the
country of which the
adoptee is a citizen the laws of the countries of which
the two spouses are citizens is applied to the conditions of adoption and
the
cessation of adoption. The decision on the form of
adoption is made on the
basis of the law of the country in which adoption is concluded. The effect of
adoption is evaluated on the
basis of the law of the country of which the
adopter and adoptee are citizens at the time the adoption was concluded. When
they
have different nationalities, the law of the country of their permanent
residence is applied. When the
adopter and adoptee have different
nationalities and at the same time their places of permanent residence are not
in the same country,
the law of the country of which the adoptee is a citizen
is applied.
B. Children in armed conflict (art. 38)
- Even
during the aggression of the Yugoslav army at the end of 1991, Slovenia did not
restrict any of the children’s rights acknowledged
by the Constitution and
the Convention. It acted in accordance with the regulations of humanitarian law
applicable to international armed conflicts,
including the Protocol Additional
to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the
Protection of Victims of International
Armed Conflict (Protocol 1). No rights
of the child acknowledged by the Constitution or the Convention were therefore
restricted during the military aggression of June 1991.
- Article
38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child relating to children involved in
armed conflict suggests that this area of
international law be regulated by
lex specialis. It is currently regulated by the Optional Protocol of the
Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict, to which
Slovenia
is a signatory.
- In
Slovenia the area of protection of children in armed conflict is regulated by
the Military Service Act. Article 27 of the Act
provides that conscripts
are enrolled for military service in the calendar year in which they reach 19
years of age. Paragraph 5
of this article specifically provides that conscripts
must be 19 years old. However, this paragraph also provides that, in the event
of immediate danger of war or during a state of war, the Slovenian president may
issue a decree recruiting 18-year-old conscripts
for military service.
Paragraph 4 of article 27 provides that conscripts may also be persons
aged 18 who volunteer for military
service.
- It
needs to be stressed that general law defines a child as any person from birth
until they are 18 years of age, while humanitarian
law ensures legal protection
for children from birth until they reach 15 years of age. Children are among
the most vulnerable categories
of civil society, and for this reason their
personal development, education and care and their living conditions have to be
paid
due consideration even in the direst of circumstances. On the basis of the
provisions of the Military Service Act, we believe that
the legal regulation of
this area in Slovenia meets the minimum requirements laid down by article 38 of
the Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
- In
the period between November 1996 and August 2000 covered in the present report,
no regulations were adopted in the defence area
that would affect the rights of
the child.
- Slovenia
has made a major contribution to the psychosocial and psychological wellbeing of
children traumatized by war. Members of
the Slovenian Philanthropists’
Society, Ljubljana Counselling Centre for Children, Adolescents and Parents and,
recently, a
number of other institutions as well have implemented several
education programmes of psychosocial help to children affected by the
war in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and education programmes intended for mental health workers
and teachers from Chechnya. In 2000 the Slovenian
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs financed two major seminars entitled “Help for
Traumatized Children at School”
- for 100 teachers
from Kosovo. Such seminars will also take place in 2001. Within the Stability
Pact an international conference
on the mental health of children in post-war
situations will be organized in May this year.
C. Children in criminal proceedings (art. 40)
- The
provision of this article was explained in the initial report (paras.
281-306).
- In
1998 and 1999 the Criminal Procedure Act and the Penal Code of the
Republic
of Slovenia were amended. A new Enforcement of Penal Sanctions Act was adopted
in 2000.
- These
Acts introduce changes in respect of children and minors in criminal
proceedings.
- Children
under the age of 14 continue to be considered unable to violate criminal
law
(14-16 = young minor, over 16 = older minor, from 18 = young adult). Children
are dealt with by the social services, no criminal
sanctions may be applied
against them, and no educational or safety measures may be administered against
them.
- The
main change introduced by the Act Amending the Criminal Procedure Act which
affects the implementation of article 40, paragraph
3 (b) of the Convention is
the institution of settlement. Alongside the well-established institution of
diversion (from criminal
prosecution), settlement is an alternative method to
the standard method of resolving criminal cases, since with the institution
of
settlement public prosecutors have been given the discretion, with the agreement
of the suspect and victim, to transfer the report
of a crime for which a fine or
imprisonment of up to three years is provided to the settlement procedure. In
this way the conflict
between the victim and the suspect of the criminal offence
can be resolved without recourse to criminal proceedings and in the same
environment in which the conflict took place. Settlement is conducted by an
independent conciliator, while full respect for human
rights must at the same
time be assured. The public prosecutor must take into account the nature of the
criminal offence, the circumstances
in which it was committed, the minor’s
previous life, and his personality characteristics, on the basis of which he may
find
that the initiation of criminal proceedings against the minor would be
unreasonable, despite evidence of the minor’s guilt.
However, the
difference between diversion and settlement is not clearly defined.
- The
system of criminal sanctions for minors remains virtually unchanged. Their
enforcement is regulated by the Enforcement of Penal
Sanctions Act. The only
new educational measure is placement in a training facility, which may be
imposed by the court and which
replaces the previous measure of placement in a
training facility.
- Educational
measures may, during their enforcement, be monitored or halted by the court,
when new circumstances arise or when this
seems appropriate on the basis of
education, correction or training. In addition, conditional release is possible
during the enforcement
of placement in an educational or correctional facility,
when the minor has spent at least one year
in the institution and when, on
the basis of results, education and correction, a reasonable
- conclusion
may be drawn that during conditional release the minor will not repeat the
crime.
For this reason, the management of the institution in which the
educational measure is
being enforced must, every six months, report on the
minor’s behaviour to the court which
has imposed the measure, while
the judge himself may also visit a minor placed in an
institution.
- Imprisonment
in a prison for juveniles and fines remain the principal sentences imposed on
minors; disqualification from driving and
deportation for aliens remain the
secondary sentences. With the Act Amending the Penal Code, the system
determining fines has been
changed - now they can be imposed not only in daily
instalments (a minimum of SIT 2 and a maximum of SIT 180), but also as a fixed
amount (a minimum of SIT 10,000 and a maximum of SIT 1.5 million), provided
the minor’s own income allows him to pay this fine
himself. To the
provisions on the imprisonment of juveniles, the amended Penal Code only
introduced a number of minor changes.
The maximum sentence of five years’
imprisonment was previously applied to minors only for those criminal offences
for which
a minimum sentence of five years of imprisonment was normally
prescribed. The duration of imprisonment remains the same: it may
not be
shorter than six months or longer than five years. However, for criminal
offences for which 30 years’ imprisonment
are normally provided,
minors may be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment.
The sentenced minor can be paroled
but no earlier than after serving six months
in the penal institution.
D. Children deprived of their liberty (art. 37)
- Deprivation
of liberty and detention orders are regulated in greater detail by the
Criminal Procedure Act, which is explained in the initial report (paras.
307-310).
- With
the Act Amending the Criminal Procedure Act, adopted in 1998, certain changes
were made in respect of the detention order and
its enforcement; this helped to
improve conditions for detainees. Minors must now be detained separately from
adult detainees.
Only exceptionally may the juvenile court judge order
detention to be served with adults, provided that, with regard to the
minor’s
personality and other circumstances in the specific case, this is
in the interest and to the benefit of the minor. In either case,
all the care,
protection and necessary individual help that they may need with regard to their
age, sex or personality must be ensured,
their dignity respected, and their
physical and mental health protected. A detained minor must have counsel
available to him throughout
the duration of the detention order against him. If
counsel is not chosen by the minor himself, one must be appointed by the court
ex officio. Appeals may be filed against the detention order. Supervision
of the treatment of detained persons is carried out by
the president of the
district court, who must to this end visit the detainees at least once every
week himself, or appoint a judge
to perform the supervision. With the
permission of the juvenile court judge, detained persons may be visited by close
relatives,
a physician or some other person, but only under supervision.
Only the Human Rights Ombudsman or his deputy, a foreign diplomatic
or
consular representative (when the detained person is a citizen of this foreign
country), or an organization protecting the minor’s
interests (when the
minor is a stateless person) are permitted to make unsupervised visits and
correspond with a detainee.
- The
new Criminal Procedure Act did not introduce any changes to the duration of
detention. However, despite the fact that there are
no time restrictions
provided and that individual stages of the procedure can be lengthy, in practice
procedures against minors (as
well as the duration of detention after a sentence
or educational measure has been proposed) do not normally take a long
time.
Table 27
Final criminal proceedings against minors before a
panel
|
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
Total
|
843
|
990
|
1 009
|
1 068
|
Detained
|
12
|
15
|
18
|
11
|
Up to 3 days
|
2
|
3
|
-
|
3
|
3-15 days
|
1
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
15-30 days
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
1-2 months
|
2
|
5
|
6
|
4
|
2-3 months
|
7
|
5
|
12
|
3
|
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
- The
enforcement of penal sanctions is regulated by the Enforcement of Penal
Sanctions Act (Ur. l. RS, 22/00). The Act regulates the enforcement
of all penal sanctions, including juvenile prison and educational measures. In
Slovenia
there is only one juvenile prison, the Celje Young Offenders Prison,
where minors over 16 serve their sentences. This facility was
founded pursuant
to the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions Act by means of an order issued by the
Government of Slovenia (Ur. l. RS, 84/00).
- In
Slovenia the educational measure of placement in a correctional facility is
carried out in the Radeče Juvenile Correctional
Facility, which was founded
pursuant to the Act.
- In
the past five years there have been no major fluctuations in the number of
convicted juvenile offenders to whom the educational
measure of placement in a
correctional facility has been applied.
- In
1996 an average of eight persons were serving sentences in the juvenile prison
(seven in 1997, four in 1998, six in 1999 and seven
in 2000). In 1996
there was an average of 20 persons in the juvenile correctional
facility (29 persons in 1997, 24 in 1998, 24 in
1999 and 21
in 2000). On 30 January 2001,7 persons were serving sentences in the
juvenile prison and there were 21 persons in the
juvenile correctional
facility.
- Older
minors serve sentences in the juvenile prison separately from adult prisoners in
a special juvenile prison facility (hereinafter
the “facility”)
where, as a rule, they can remain only until they reach 23 years of age.
Solitary confinement of the
sentenced minor is allowed only for severe
disciplinary violations and for a maximum period of seven days. Minors have the
right
to correspondence and visits (at least twice a week). When the minor
shows discipline in work and study, the manager of the facility
may allow him to
visit his parents and other persons. The convicted minor serving a prison term
has the right to spend at least
three hours a day in the open air.
- Children
deprived of their freedom have immediate access to legal aid and other
appropriate assistance. They are guaranteed the right
to receive visits, at
their request, from the person authorized to represent them in their affairs, or
a legal adviser if one has
been appointed. If the convicted minor is a foreign
citizen, stateless person or refugee, he may also be visited by the consular
representative of his country or the organization protecting his interests.
Facilities are also obliged to afford convicted minors
free legal aid for the
protection of their rights laid down in the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions Act
and the regulations issued
on the basis thereof, and to assure these minors
access to this Act and the regulations issued on the basis thereof, as well as
access
to various international legal acts ratified by the Republic of Slovenia
and related to the enforcement of penal sanctions and the
protection of human
rights.
- A
convicted minor who believes he has been subjected to torture or to other form
of cruel or inhuman behaviour may submit an application
for judicial protection.
The facility is obliged to send his application to the responsible public
prosecutor. If the convicted
minor suffers damage as a result of such an act,
he may claim damages pursuant to the law directly from the person who caused the
damage. In the event of other irregularities or violations of the
prisoner’s rights for which no judicial protection is provided,
the
convicted minor has the right to complain to the director of the Prison
Administration of the Republic of Slovenia or the Ministry
of Justice.
Supervision of the legality of treatment of convicted minors is carried out by
the Ministry of Justice, the president
of the District Court in the territory in
which the facility or department is located, the Human Rights Ombudsman, and
international
bodies engaged in the protection of human rights and the
prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
- A
convicted minor has unlimited right of correspondence with close family members,
while correspondence with other persons is allowed
only when this is in
accordance with the minor’s treatment programme. Privacy of
correspondence and of other media is ensured.
Inspection of correspondence is
permissible only when there is reasonable suspicion that objects that the minor
is not allowed to
possess in prison are being brought in. Inspection takes the
form of the opening of the consignment by the minor in the presence
of an
authorized facility employee, whereby the facility employee may not read the
contents of the letter. A convicted minor may
telephone close family members,
authorized persons, consular representatives or representatives of an official
organization protecting
the interests of refugees. Telephone calls may not be
tapped. When tapping is required for security reasons in order to preserve
order and discipline in the facility, the manager of the facility may forbid a
convicted minor from making telephone calls.
- In
the facility in which a minor has been placed to serve a sentence in a juvenile
prison or in the case of an educational measure
of placement in a correctional
facility, the minor’s personality is comprehensively examined upon
reception by an expert team
composed of the manager of the facility, a
psychologist, a pedagogical expert, a social worker, a doctor and, when
required, by a
psychiatrist or other expert from the facility.
E. Physical and mental recovery of abused,
neglected or
punished children (art. 39)
- The
provision of this article was explained in the initial report (paras. 312 and
313).
- Children
with temporary protection benefit from a range of psychosocial help services
provided by various governmental and non-governmental
institutions and
individuals (Centre
for Psychosocial Help to Refugees at the Slovenian
Philanthropists’ Society, Society for the Development of Prevention and
Volunteer
Work, MOST Volunteer Work Society, KUD France Prešeren Cultural
Society, Sezam, etc.), which are all a part of one programme
of psychosocial
help to children with temporary protection. In 1996 the Ministry of Health
established cooperation with top experts
in this area from the Department of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. Slovenian health
institutions
also joined a British Council project for the development of
services in this area.
- The
psychosocial help programme, which was already in existence at the time Slovenia
welcomed its first refugees from Croatia, chiefly
encompasses services and
activities aimed at normalizing their life in a new environment, helping
children with temporary protection
who have experienced emotional distress to
recover, and exerting influence on public opinion to establish positive
attitudes towards
refugees and their acceptance. Several activities for
children with temporary protection, which are also based on this programme,
are
organized in transit centres and in the place of their residence (in host
families): nursery schools, schools, various employment
and leisure activities
for children, adolescents and parents, counselling and therapy for children in
emotional distress, education
on the emotional distress of children and help to
these children (organized for experts, teachers and volunteers), help in the
area
of mental health to refugee children with special needs, and the exertion
of influence on public opinion with the aim of promoting
positive attitudes.
Approximately 70 per cent of children with temporary protection benefit from
various programmes of counselling
and therapy aimed at helping them to cope with
emotional distress caused by war.
- The
Centre for Psychosocial Help to Refugees at the Slovenian Philanthropists’
Society, which is a partner of the Office of
the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, carries out the following activities for refugee
children: the organization of
study assistance for children with school
problems (here tutors and volunteers pay special attention to teaching the
Slovenian language);
social activities involving both volunteers and refugee
children (developing friendly relations, helping children with their school
problems and also helping them in crisis situations); the search for financial
resources and the distribution of study grants; the
provision of funds for
special needs (such as special medical measures - funds are raised through
donations); the development of
organized activities in refugee centres
(organization of improvised nursery schools for children from Kosovo); and the
organization
and implementation of education for various groups of experts who
deal with refugee children and their families. The purpose of
this training is
to acquaint groups of various experts with the needs and rights of refugee
children and their parents, and to carry
out campaigns aimed at refugees and
activities for the integration of refugee children. Sezam has organized various
creative out-of-school
activities for refugee children, dance groups, the Hour
of Friendship and Peace programme and a puppet show; KUD France Prešeren
Cultural Society has organized music and photography workshops; and GEA provides
legal aid.
F. Child labour (art. 32)
- This
provision was explained in the initial report (paras. 318-322).
- In
a special section the applicable Employment Act regulates the employment of
schoolchildren and students, and provides that they
may temporarily work for an
employer. Their rights and obligations must be laid down in a collective
agreement or general act.
The provisions of the Work Breaks and Holidays Act,
the Occupational Safety Act, the Special Protection of Young People Act and the
Liability for Damages Act must be applied to such work.
- The
new Employment Act, which is currently in parliamentary procedure, contains a
special chapter on the protection of children, which
is not defined in the
legislation in force. The proposed Employment Act in this section regulates:
- − The
practical training of apprentices, and secondary school and university students
within educational programmes;
- − Labour
conditions for children under 15;
- − The
application of certain security provisions of this Act to the above-stated
cases, to temporary or occasional work by secondary
school and university
students over 15, and to volunteer apprenticeship.
- Children
under 15 are prohibited from working; only exceptionally are children allowed to
participate in film-making and theatrical
performances and in the preparation
and display of works of art and other works from the areas of culture, sports
and advertising
activities against payment. Children over 13 may carry out
light work for a maximum period of 30 days in any given calendar year,
and other
activities during school holidays, in the manner, within the scope and on
condition that such work does not endanger their
safety, health, morals or
education. The types of light work are determined by executive regulations.
Children may perform this
work with the prior permission of the labour
inspector; such permission is issued on the basis of an application made by the
child’s
legal representative. The working hours of children under 15
who carry out light work during the summer holidays may not exceed
7 hours
a day or 35 hours a week. The working hours for labour carried out by a
child during the school year and outside the school
timetable may not exceed
2 hours a day or 12 hours a week. Children are prohibited from doing night
work between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Children must be guaranteed a daily rest period
of 14 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period.
- The
established rules prohibiting hard work, the rules on the limiting of daily and
weekly working hours, the rules on work breaks
and weekly rest periods and the
rules on the relative prohibition of night work, and on longer annual vacations
for employees under
18, shall remain in force but shall be aligned with the
Council of Europe’s Guidelines No. 94/33 of 1994 on the protection
of
young people at work.
- Young
people may not carry out hard physical work that may endanger their health or
have a harmful effect on their health or on their
physical development, or cause
psychological damage. The maximum working hours for a young worker are
8 hours a day or 40 hours
a week, which means that young people may
not be engaged in overtime work. The rest period between two successive
workdays must
not be shorter than 12 hours. When workers under 18 work a
minimum of 4.5 hours a day, they have the right to a 30-minute break.
In
contrast to the legislation in force, there is uniform prohibition of night work
for all young people between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Exceptions may only
be made in the event of force majeure, or when adult workers are not available,
provided that during the three
weeks following such night work young people are
assured an appropriate rest period. The annual vacation for young people must,
by reason of their age, be extended by seven days.
- Labour
inspectors are finding that the number of violations in respect of employment of
workers under 18 is small, or else they are
surreptitious. Here, work by minors
carried out through the mediation of student work services has not been taken
into account.
For work carried out through student work services, inspectors
are finding that young people are still being employed in construction
and are
performing work that has to be carried out at considerable height without
appropriate protection. Inspectors normally issue
regulatory orders. In
analysing the security of workers, labour inspectors found 25 violations of
legislation on the protection of the rights of women and
children, of which the
majority were violations of the rights of women.
- Slovenia
has ratified 68 ILO conventions, of which 7 are basic ILO conventions
regulating to the areas of freedom of association,
the right to collective
bargaining, the abolition of forced labour, discrimination in employment and
work, and the determination
of minimum age of employment, which directly refer
to children. At its 87th regular session, the International Labour Conference
in 1999 adopted Convention No. 182 concerning the Prohibition of the Worst Forms
of Child Labour and Immediate Action for their Abolition.
Slovenia ratified
this Convention in March 2001 (Ur. l. RS, MP, 7/2001).
G. Drug abuse (art. 33)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras.
323325).
- The
prevalence of the use of drugs in Slovenia can be illustrated by statistical
data from individual studies on the risk behaviour
of young people, which
includes drug abuse.
- In
1995 and again in 1999 the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and
Other Drugs (the ESPAD Survey), using a common methodology,
was being
implemented in 26 selected European countries on children born in 1979
and 1983. For both
surveys a representative sample of first-year students
in Slovenian secondary schools (approximately 2,400 students) was selected.
A comparison of results shows certain changes in the prevalence of the use of
legal and illicit drugs within the four-year interval.
Table 28
Surveyed percentage of persons who have never used
drugs from
the list comparison between 1995-1999
|
Percentage of abstinent persons in 1995
|
Percentage of abstinent persons in 1999
|
Alcohol
|
13.1
|
8.7
|
Cigarettes
|
41.1
|
35.7
|
Solvents
|
87.7
|
85.5
|
Tranquillizers (not prescribed by a doctor)
|
92.4
|
92.1
|
Any illicit drug*
|
86.6
|
74.4
|
Sources: E. Stergar, European School Survey Project on Alcohol and
Other Drugs (ESPAD 1995): report on the Republic of Slovenia, Zravstveno
varstvo 1999, 38, Supplement and E. Strgar, European School Survey
Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs,
(ESPAD 1999): report on the Republic of
Slovenia, Ljubljana: Slovenian Institute of
Public Health, 2000.
* The following drugs were considered: marijuana, amphetamine, LSD, crack,
cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.
- Most
young people have at some time consumed alcoholic beverages - as many
as 91 per cent answered that they had already had a full
glass of
wine, beer or strong liquor. Sixty-four per cent of first-year secondary school
students had already crossed the line between
smoking and non-smoking. Illicit
drugs had been used by 26 per cent of students surveyed while 15 per cent
had inhaled solvents.
Eight per cent had used tranquillizers which had not been
prescribed by a doctor at least once.
- In
the month before the survey, nearly two thirds had consumed alcoholic
beverages while over one third had been drunk during that
period. Among
these, over two thirds had been under the influence of alcohol once or
twice, one fifth 3 to 5 times, 8 per cent 6
to 9 times,
and 5 per cent 10 or more times in the preceding month. Nearly
two thirds of the surveyed sample (64.3 per cent) had
already smoked
cigarettes. A quarter (25.7 per cent) had done this 40 times or more,
less than a quarter (23.5 per cent) 5 times
or less, one tenth (10.5
per cent) between 6 and 19 times, and 4.6 per cent between 20 and 39 times.
There is no statistically significant
difference between boys and girls in the
total frequency of cigarette consumption throughout their lives. Seventy one
per cent of
the surveyed sample said they had not smoked cigarettes in the past
month. This group included persons who said they had never smoked
at all (64
per cent) and those stating they had smoked less than one cigarette a week
(7 per cent). Of the group which smoked cigarettes
every day, 15 per cent
smoked less than 1 cigarette a
- day, 38 per cent
between 1 and 5 cigarettes, 25 per cent between 6 and
10 cigarettes, 15 per cent between 11 and 20 cigarettes, and
6 per cent over 20 cigarettes a day. No statistical connection between sex
and the number of cigarettes smoked daily could be established.
- Nearly
three quarters of the surveyed sample (74 per cent) said they had never used any
illicit drugs. Thirteen per cent had used
them up to five times. Less than
3 per cent had used illicit drugs between 6 and 9 times,
10 and 19 times, and 20 and 39 times.
Seven per cent answered that they
had used an illicit drug 40 times or more. A higher percentage of girls said
they had never used
an illicit drug.
- A
quarter of the surveyed sample had already smoked marijuana or hashish: one
third once or twice, one fifth 3 to 5 times, 10 per
cent 6 to
9 times, 10 to 19 times and 20 to 39 times, and 18 per cent
40 times or more. A higher percentage of girls said they had
never used
marijuana or hashish, or had used it between 10 and 19 times. There was a
higher
percentage of boys in all other categories relating to the frequency
of the use of marijuana
or hashish.
- Removing
marijuana consumption from the illicit drugs category, 95 per cent of the
firstyear secondary school students surveyed replied
that they had never
used illicit drugs. Four per cent had used them up to 5 times, 0.5
per cent 6 to 9 times, and 1 per cent 10
or more times.
There was no statistically characteristic difference between the sexes.
- Twenty-five
per cent of students who had already smoked cigarettes had had their first
cigarette at age 11 or younger. One third
of those who had already drunk beer
or wine had had their first glass at age 11 or younger; 13 per cent of those who
had already
drunk a full glass of strong liquor had done this at age 11 or
younger. Among marijuana smokers, 80 per cent had had their first
experience
with it at age 14 to 15.
- Comparison
of the 1995 and 1999 results indicates that during these four years the
percentage of young people who tried and later
regularly used various drugs
increased, with alcohol and cigarettes being the most common. The percentage of
respondents who had
first used alcohol or cigarettes at age 11 or younger was
also higher.
- In
the 1990s the percentage of young people who tried cigarettes for the first time
and smoked them on a daily basis grew. The Slovenian
Institute of Public Health
has prepared, at the initiative of and together with the Lung Disease
Patients’ Society, a prevention
programme for primary schools, entitled
“Promotion of Non-Smoking”. The programme includes a
teacher’s handbook,
education for teachers, and worksheets for
schoolchildren between the third and eighth grades. A test launch will begin at
11 “health-promoting
schools” and at the Osmih Talcev
Primary School in Logatec in the 2000/2001 academic year.
- A
statistical picture of drug consumption can be supplemented by data from the
Slovenian Institute of Public Health on drug users
in 15 outpatient centres for
the treatment of illicit drug users, which mostly provide methadone therapy.
Table 29 below shows the
profile of drug users undergoing medical
treatment.
Table 29
Register of treatment of drug users in 1999
Contact
with the centre (covered in the record)
|
Total
|
First-timers
|
Number of persons seeking medical assistance
|
1 057
|
409
|
Estimate of coverage
|
>50%
|
100%
|
Avoidance of double counting
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
First treatment
|
38.7%
|
100%
|
Own decision to come to the centre
|
92.9%
|
95%
|
Drug abuse problem
|
|
|
Heroin as primary drug
|
93.6%
|
86.6%
|
Cocaine as primary drug
|
0.8%
|
1.7%
|
Injection
|
81.6%
|
76.6%
|
Smoking (heroin, opiates)
|
5.9%
|
11%
|
Daily consumption of primary drug
|
51.9%
|
69.6%
|
First use of primary drug at age 15 or under
|
4.3%
|
5.4%
|
Average age upon first consumption of primary drug
|
18.2
|
18.7
|
Source: D. Nolimal, M. Vegnuti, M. Belec, Slovenian Public Health
Institute, in collaboration with the Network for the Prevention and Treatment
of
Addiction to Illicit Drugs, June 2000.
- On
the basis of this statistical data we may conclude that although young people in
Slovenia are not unfamiliar with the use of illicit
drugs, the prevalent drugs
in Slovenia are alcohol and tobacco.
- The
prevention of the use of illicit drugs, harm reduction in drug abuse, the
addressing of treatment-related problems, social problems
related to drug abuse
and its monitoring, and the illegal manufacture of and trafficking in drugs are
regulated by the Penal Code
of the Republic of Slovenia, the Healthcare and
Health Insurance Act, and the Social Security Act. The Illicit Drug Precursors
Act
was adopted in 2000 and the Manufacture and Trafficking of Drugs Act
in 1999, in addition to the Prevention of the Use of Illicit
Drugs and the
Treatment of Addicts Act. These acts from 1999 apply sanctions to the
manufacture of and trafficking in drugs, regulate
prevention and the treatment
of drug users, determine conditions under which the manufacture of, trafficking
in and possession of
illicit drugs are legal, and provide sanctions for the
possession of illicit drugs as a criminal offence. Among the new measures
that
the Prevention of the Use of Illicit Drugs and the Treatment of Addicts Act has
introduced to this area are the regulation of
measures for the prevention of
illicit drug use and the treatment of
- addicts,
which had previously been carried out without specific regulation. Prevention
measures include the dissemination of information,
health, educational and
counselling activities, treatment, social security services, and programmes for
addressing and monitoring
social problems related to the use of illicit drugs.
These activities are carried out by the competent ministries (the Ministry
of
Health, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Ministry of Labour,
Family and Social Affairs, and other ministries)
and are also dealt with as part
of the National Health-care Programme of the Republic of Slovenia Until 2004 and
the National Social
Security Programme Until 2005.
- Various
types of programmes for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse and
for
the social rehabilitation of addicts allow drug users to seek help in
health-care institutions (network of centres for the prevention
of drug
addiction, child psychiatry clinics, school health centres, psychiatric
hospitals/detoxification programmes, and other institutions),
social work
centres, therapeutic communities and other forms of treatment. At the same
time, Slovenia encourages the development
of other activities in this area
carried out by self-help groups and NGOs.
- The
Slovenian Public Health Institute estimates that around 75 governmental and
nongovernmental institutions are active in the area
of health care and social
security, providing help to users of illicit drugs (such as the Robert AIDS
Foundation, B & Z, the
Help Centre for Young People in Ljubljana, the
Addiction Prevention Centre in Maribor, Kranj Social Work Centre, the Centre for
the
Treatment of Drug Addiction in Ljubljana, Sežana Social Work Centre,
the Projekt Človek (Human Project) Society, Drog Art, the Meaning of
Life Society (Društvo smisel življenja), the Zarja Society, the
Preparation Centre of the Pelikan Institute, Fužine Counselling Service,
Stigma, Koper Council (Svet Koper), the Srečanje (Meeting)
Therapeutic Community, Maribor, Brežice, Kranj, Koper and Ljubljana Health
Centres, and other
organizations disseminating information and providing
counselling and rehabilitation services to addicts. They also include 15
outpatient
centres for the treatment of drug users; these mainly provide
methadone maintenance treatment.
- Along
with social security services, the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs
has co-financed 35 programmes in the area of
social security, 5 of which
were co-financed for a longer period of time. In 2000, over SIT 140 million
were allocated to the co-financing
of such programmes, which covered a wide
range of fields: self-help programmes, low-threshold programmes, different
programmes for
achieving and maintaining abstinence, and standard highthreshold
programmes.
- In
1998 the Government of Slovenia established the Government Office for Drugs,
which monitors the areas of prevention, the use of
illicit drugs, treatment and
social problems caused by drug abuse, and is responsible for harm reduction.
The Government Commission
for Drugs, which was established in the same year, is
responsible for the preparation of a national programme and measures for its
implementation. Forty local action groups also work in the area of drug-related
problems, and are also responsible for prevention
in this area, which also
affects children.
H. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (art. 34)
- This
provision of the Convention was explained in the initial report (paras. 326 and
337).
- Article
183 of the amended Penal Code of the Republic of Slovenia, adopted
on 23 March 1999, raises the age-limit for victims of sexual
assault
on a child from 14 to 15. There is also a new restriction for sexual
assault on a person below 15 years of age “where
there is a marked
discrepancy between the maturity of the perpetrator and that of the
victim”. Prior to the amendment of this
article, children under 14 had
absolute protection, since any form of sexual activity harmful to a child under
14, irrespective of
other characteristics of the victim, the manner in which the
offence was committed, the perpetrator, or the relation between the
victim and
perpetrator was considered a criminal offence. The amendment of the Penal Code
from 1999 allows for exemption in certain
cases: children under 15 are now
no longer considered victims of a criminal offence when they participate in an
equal, loving or
peer relationship.
- In
criminal proceedings involving criminal offences enumerated in article 183
(sexual assault on a child), the juvenile victim must, from the initiation
of proceedings, be provided with an authorized person to
look after his rights,
particularly rights related to the protection of his integrity during an
examination before a court. To juvenile
victims without such an authorized
person, the court must assign one ex officio (art. 6 of the Civil
Procedure Act).
- For
cases where the victim of a sexual assault is over 15 years of age, sanctions
are provided within the provisions of other articles
of the Penal
Code:
- − Rape
(art. 180);
- − Sexual
violence (art. 181);
- − Sexual
abuse of a defenceless person (art. 182);
- − Violation
of sexual integrity by abuse of position (art. 184).
- For
these criminal offences the age of the victim is not determined; the only
restriction is the age-limit of 15 years. These provisions
are applied by
taking into account the characteristics of the victim (for criminal offences
under article 182), the position of the
perpetrator (for criminal offences under
article 184) and the manner in which the offence was committed (arts. 180
and 181), and
apply in the same way to minors (under 18) and adult victims.
Paragraph 1 of article 184 provides sanctions for persons who, by
abusing
their position, induce a person of the same or a different sex to have sexual
intercourse with them or to perform or submit
to any other lewd act. For this
act a sentence of up to three years in prison is provided. A higher prison
sentence (up to five
years) is provided in paragraph 2 of this article for the
same act committed against persons over the age of 15 who are entrusted
to the
perpetrator to teach, educate, protect or care for. A large majority of victims
covered by paragraph 2 of article 184 are
minors between 15 and 18 years of
age.
- Since
1996 the number of adult perpetrators convicted of sexual assault on a minor has
increased. In 1996, 16 adult perpetrators
were convicted of sexual assault on a
minor, while in 1998 there were 25 adult perpetrators against whom criminal
proceedings before
a panel were final.
- Article
185 of the 1999 Act Amending the Penal Code (procurement) now provides stiffer
punishment for such acts. In respect of the
provision of the Convention on the
“exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual
practices”,
article 185 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Slovenia
provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison for persons who
engage in
pimping or who procure the opportunity for sexual intercourse or another lewd
act. A graver offence is considered to be
acting as pimp for a minor, for which
a sentence of between 1 and 10 years’ imprisonment is now provided
with the amended Penal
Code while previously a sentence of only 3 months to
5 years was provided. Sentences have also been raised for the basic form
of
procurement, i.e. from up to three years’ imprisonment to imprisonment
of between three months and five years.
- Sanctions
for the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials
are provided within the provisions of article
187 (presentation and
manufacturing of pornographic material). Any presentation of pornographic
content or provision of access to
pornographic content to a child below the age
of 14 (sentence of up to one year in prison), abuse of a minor (person under 18)
for
the production of pornographic pictures, audio-visual or other objects of
pornographic content, and employment of a minor to act
in a pornographic
performance (sentence of up to three years in prison) are criminalized.
- This
year Slovenia signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution
and child
pornography.
I. Child abduction (art. 35)
- Article
200 of the Act Amending the Penal Code of the Republic of Slovenia provides
sanctions for the abduction of a minor: “Whoever
unlawfully abducts a
minor from his parent, adoptive parent, guardian or institution, or from a
person to whom the minor has been
entrusted, or whoever detains a minor or
prevents him from living with a person he is entitled to live with, or whoever
malevolently
prevents the implementation of an enforceable judgement referring
to a minor shall be punished by a fine or given a prison sentence
of not more
than one year.” In practice, these acts are most often committed by
parents, guardians or relatives. Article
144 of the Penal Code of the Republic
of Slovenia provides separate sanctions for kidnapping provided that the
“abduction
of another was done in order to compel him or any other person
to perform an act or to fail to perform an act or to suffer any harm”.
For this reason, instances in which one of the parents, a relative or some other
person abducts a minor from the person to whom
that minor had been entrusted are
dealt with under article 200 of the Penal Code, since the motive of the
perpetrators in such instances
is to keep the minor with them and not
extortion.
- In
1996 the judicial authorities tried 31 adults on charges of kidnapping or
abduction of a minor (27 in 1997). Five adults were
given sentences for
abducting a minor in 1996 (six in 1998).
Table 30
Abductions of a minor between 1996 and 1998
|
Final criminal proceedings
against adults before the public prosecutor |
Final criminal proceedings against adults before panel |
Total |
Indictment presented |
Total |
Number of sentenced persons |
1998 |
- |
- |
14 |
6 |
1997 |
27 |
15 |
10 |
4 |
1996 |
31 |
15 |
10 |
5 |
Source: Ministry of Justice.
- Slovenia
is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction (Ur. l. RS, MP, 6/93). Until 1996 the Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social Affairs was the central regulatory body responsible
for the implementation
of the Convention. With a government resolution of 4
November 1996, the Ministry of the Interior was appointed as the new regulatory
body. On the basis of the Convention the Ministry of the Interior, as the
central regulatory body, cooperates with State signatories
in the treatment of
individual cases when children with permanent residence in Slovenia are taken
abroad, or when children of foreign
citizenship are brought to and held in
Slovenia.
- Cases
involving children of Slovenian citizenship taken abroad have mainly been dealt
with by the central regulatory body under the
Convention in the past five years;
most often these countries were Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. However,
implementation of
the Convention in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is
difficult since they have not declared their acceptance of Slovenia’s
accession in the way required by article 38 of the Convention.
J. Children belonging to an ethnic minority (art. 30)
- The
provisions of this article of the Convention were explained in the initial
report (paras. 339-341).
- Slovenian
legislation ensures protection of the rights of children from ethnic and
linguistic communities or backgrounds who live
in Slovenia, on two levels: by
protecting the individual rights of children who are members of any minority
group which stem from
the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and by ensuring
the special rights of national minorities. Special rights of national
minorities cover the areas of education and training, culture, contacts with
their country of origin, use of national emblems, the
public provision of
information and publishing, representation, cooperation in decision-making, and
the establishment of their own
organizations. Slovenia supports the exercise of
these special rights both financially and morally. On ethnically mixed
territories
the Italian and Hungarian languages enjoy equal status with the
Slovenian language.
- The
care and education of children who are members of the Italian and Hungarian
national communities are focused on the preservation
of their language and
national identity, the teaching of respect for and understanding of ethnic and
cultural differences, and the
promotion of coexistence in ethnically and
linguistically mixed territories. In order to meet these goals, programmes in
schools
attended by members of the Italian and Hungarian communities include the
history, cultural and national heritage of their native
countries. The fact
that all children in these territories learn both languages and that there are
therefore no language barriers
to communication between them further contributes
to the consolidation of peaceful coexistence in ethnically mixed territories.
Children who are members of the Italian and Hungarian communities actively
engage in various out-of-school cultural and other activities
related to their
national community, and take an active part in various activities that connect
them to the language and culture
of their country of origin.
- Regulations
take into account the specific educational needs of Roma children. Special
standards have been provided for departments
that accept Roma children.
Additional school hours for teaching these children in smaller groups are also
acknowledged outside normal
school classes. These children also enjoy special
care aimed at securing their opportunities in life, providing education and
training
for work and employment.
- The
law gives children with foreign or no citizenship who reside in Slovenia the
right to primary school education under the same
terms as those applicable to
Slovenian citizens. In accordance with international treaties, language courses
in their mother tongue
are provided for such children. For the children of
Slovenian citizens who reside in Slovenia and whose mother tongue is not
Slovene,
language courses in their mother tongue and courses teaching their
culture of origin are organized in accordance with international
treaties, while
a Slovenian language course may additionally be arranged when required.
- Cultural
activities, which are supported by the State, are extremely well developed. The
publication of special newspapers is allowed,
while other publishing activities
are also well developed. As early as 1970 the Ministry of Culture launched a
special programme
in this area, while in the 1990s the programme was extended to
cover new minority groups. In addition to the cultural creativity
of national
communities, these programmes now also cover the Roma people, immigrants,
residents of non-Slovene origin in the Kočevje
area, and indigenous
residents. In 1999 a programme also covered the Jewish community.
- In
order to preserve the cultural identity of national communities and to enable
them to keep up with current events, the entire area
of provision of information
in the language of the national community is of extreme importance. Programmes
for the Italian and Hungarian
national communities are provided by the
Koper-Capodistria RTV Centre and the Maribor Regional RTV Centre. Via the
Regional Office,
Slovenia co-finances publishing activities and radio and
television programmes for the Roma people and for both national communities.
Radio programmes intended for the Roma community, which are broadcast in the
Roma and Slovenian languages, focus on the education
of and provision of
information to the Roma people, on the presentation of their culture, and on
acquainting the rest of the nation
with their specific problems. This in turn
encourages tolerance and peaceful
coexistence.
-----
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