Ombudsman meets reps of Albanian community
Ljubljana, 20 July - Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina and his deputy Miha Horvat have met a delegation of representatives of the Albanian ethnic community living in Slovenia. Topics discussed at the meeting ranged from the community's cultural rights and education issues to integration of immigrant children in schools and media coverage of the Albanian community.
Ljubljana
Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
Slovenia's immigration policy was also on the agenda, especially residence permits under the new foreigners legislation which the ombudsman believes brings the risk of disproportionate encroachment on the right to family life as families could be forced to separate due to Slovenian language proficiency requirements.
The ombudsman believes these provisions unjustifiably discriminate against migrant women, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman said in a press release on Thursday.
Adult family members of non-EU workers in Slovenia, who are mostly women, will have to pass a basic Slovenian language proficiency test to remain in Slovenia after being here for a year already.
This provision, passed under the previous government, was to enter force this April, but the Golob government put in place an 18-month transition period to allow for language courses to be introduced across the country to facilitate passing the A1 Slovenian language test.
The Albanian community representatives briefed the ombudsman and his deputy on the need to strengthen measures that help Albanians, particularly women, better integrate, because the attitude of Slovenian society and the state to the Albanian community is still often based on unjustified negative discrimination.
Ombudsman Svetina outlined his office's efforts in safeguarding the ethnic minorities which enjoy a special status under the constitution and efforts to implement collective rights of those ethnic communities the constitution does not mention.
Enjoying a high level of protection under the constitution are the Italian and Hungarian minorities, while the Roma community also enjoys special rights.
With the exception of the German-speaking Kočevarji community, all the other ethnic communities are of more recent origin, most of ther members having moved to Slovenia when the country was part of the federal Yugoslavia, between 1945 and 1991, while in recent years many Albanians from Kosovo have also come to work here.
Svetina informed the representatives about the Ombudsman Office's leaflets in Albanian available on the website, and assured them that "we will continue, in accordance with our powers, to carefully address the legal situation of all ethnic communities in the Republic of Slovenia".