Human Rights Committee

11 6 th session

Summary record of the 3246th meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Tuesday, 15 March 2016, at 3 p.m.

Chair:Mr. Salvioli

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant (continued)

Third periodic report of Slovenia

The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant (continued)

Third periodic report of Slovenia (CCPR/C/SVN/3; CCPR/C/SVN/Q/3 and Add.1)

At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Slovenia took places at the Committee table.

Ms. Brecelj (Slovenia), introducing the third periodic report of Slovenia (CCPR/C/SVN/3), said that its late submission was attributable to her country’s concurrent preparation of a number of treaty body reports and a new common core document. Several significant political, legislative and other changes had occurred since its submission. The 2014 parliamentary elections had substantially improved the representation of women in politics, with women currently holding 35.6 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly and 50 per cent of all ministerial posts. After years of economic and financial crisis, the first signs of economic recovery had been discerned in 2014, and in late 2015, the National Assembly had abolished austerity measures relating to social welfare benefits and discontinued some of those relating to child benefits and government scholarships.

In 2015 Slovenia had faced a massive influx of migrants, most of whom were in transit towards the north. Some 480,000 migrants had crossed the country since mid-October 2015. Slovenia was doing its best, in cooperation with other countries in the region, to find proper ways of dealing with the extraordinary situation. Volunteers, NGOs and international bodies were helping to provide migrants with the necessary assistance. Slovenia would strive, in collaboration with other countries located along the Western Balkan migration route, to comply with international standards applicable to migrants and to grant international protection to all persons entitled thereto.

In December 2014, Slovenia had ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (otherwise known as the Istanbul Convention), thereby taking an important step towards a more holistic and effective response to violence against women.

The amended Criminal Code, which had entered into effect in October 2015, provided enhanced protection for victims of criminal offences. The criminal offence of threatened discrimination, which had previously been subject only to private prosecution, was now prosecuted ex officio by a State prosecutor at the victim’s request. A restraining order could be issued by the courts in connection with specific criminal offences involving violations of a person’s physical or mental integrity. Another important amendment had made the confiscation or destruction of personal documents in the context of human trafficking a specific criminal offence. Forced marriage had also been recognized as a criminal offence. Following a recommendation by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, a study on early and forced marriages in the Roma community had been conducted in 2013 and had found that the incidence of such marriages in Slovenia was not negligible. Based on the study’s findings and following ratification of the Istanbul Convention, a definition of that new criminal offence had been prepared. In 2016, the issue of forced marriages would be included as a training topic for Slovenian social service staff. The amended Criminal Code also defined the offence of stalking, which included harassment via electronic communications.

The new Code established criteria for the partial exclusion of liability for the criminal offence of disclosure of classified information in order to protect freedom of expression. One of the aims of the amendment was to protect journalists who reported on irregularities committed by the authorities.

The amended law on the prison system, which had also entered into effect in October 2015, established more effective legal avenues for convicted persons wishing to file a complaint about prison overcrowding. Based on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the conclusions of the Human Rights Ombudsman, prisoners claiming that they had been subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment were guaranteed more effective legal protection. The law also stipulated that prisoners who, due to old age, sickness or disability, required additional assistance had the right to be accommodated in adapted cells or sections.

The Employment and Work of Aliens Act of 2015 introduced new regulations and a standard expedited procedure for the issuance of a work and residence permit.

The Constitutional Court had annulled the provisions relating to the storage of traffic data by communications service providers. Based on that decision, the Criminal Procedure Act would now include a set list of serious criminal offences in respect of which the use of stored data would be admissible in a court of law. The Court had also found the existing provisions on searches of law offices and seizure of materials to be unconstitutional. The regulations would henceforth protect lawyer-client confidentiality.

In August 2015 the Government had endorsed the Fourth Report on the Situation of the Roma Community in Slovenia. The series of reports on the Roma community pointed to slow but steady progress in all areas covered by the 2010-2015 National Programme of Measures for Roma. Although the Roma community enjoyed full citizenship rights, as well as special rights deriving from laws based on article 65 of the Constitution, the Government was nevertheless aware of the need for much greater social inclusion of the Roma community and was therefore giving priority to the development of a new five-year national programme that would focus on combating intolerance against Roma, along with related instances of hate speech, prejudice and stereotypes, and on promoting dialogue and cooperation among State and local authorities, the Roma community and civil society organizations. Representatives of the Roma and local communities and interested members of the public were participating in the drafting of the new document.

In December 2015 the Governmental Group on the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings had adopted guidelines on identification, assistance and protection for staff dealing with victims of trafficking. Slovenia provided training in that area for judges, prosecutors, criminal investigators, police officers, social workers and representatives of NGOs. Similar action was being taken regarding such issues as the sexual abuse of children, domestic violence, sexual exploitation and violence via the Internet.

The Resolution on the National Programme for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (2015-2020) defined eight priority areas for efforts to improve the situation of women. In February 2016, the Government had adopted the Protection against Discrimination Act, which introduced systemic reforms and would strengthen the Office of the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, guarantee its independence and provide it with additional staff. A public debate on the amended Domestic Violence Prevention Act had also been held in February 2016. The amendments broadened the definitions of domestic violence and of family members and dealt with such other areas as the transfer of common residence, training and the roles of the courts and the police. Following the rejection in the 2012 referendum of an explicit prohibition of corporal punishment of children, such a prohibition would be included in a regulation that was to be adopted in 2016.

The Government had recently instructed the Ministry of Justice to draft amendments to the Human Rights Ombudsman Act that would meet the standards required for “A” status in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles). The Human Rights Ombudsman had almost doubled the number of visits made to places of deprivation of liberty in 2015.

Under the Constitution of Slovenia, treaties that had been ratified and promulgated were directly applicable, and the provisions of the Covenant could therefore be invoked in the country’s courts. Human rights training for judges and State prosecutors was organized on a regular basis. In 2015 the national Judicial Training Centre had joined the Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals Programme.

Key reforms had reduced court backlogs to a point where they could no longer be viewed as a systemic problem. The number of pending cases in 2014 had been the lowest since 1995.

Slovenian women were relatively well-represented in public affairs. A gender balance had been achieved among the incumbents in ministerial and deputy ministerial posts, and five out of nine constitutional judges were women. However, the number of women in managerial posts remained rather low. Efforts to address the issue were under way, and a legal foundation was being established for the application of quotas on management and supervisory boards.

The State had regrettably responded rather slowly to the mass violation of human rights that had followed its establishment as an independent republic, namely the erasure of persons’ name from the Register of Permanent Residence in 1992. In 2010 the Speaker of the National Assembly and Minister of the Interior had offered a public apology, and a law had been enacted to establish the legal status of “the erased”. Another law had been enacted in 2013 to introduce a scheme for providing compensation and other remedies for human rights violations. The payment of financial compensation had begun in 2014 and was currently in progress.

The training provided to the police force laid great emphasis on strict respect for legality, proportionality in the use of coercive measures and the protection of human rights. The Specialized State Prosecutor’s Office and its division for the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences committed by officials, including the police, was independent of the Ministry of the Interior.

Applicants for international protection in Slovenia enjoyed basic procedural safeguards, including legal assistance. Special attention was devoted to vulnerable groups, particularly unaccompanied minors. Persons granted international protection could apply for family reunification and other forms of integration assistance. In 2015 Slovenia had updated its standard operating procedures for dealing with cases of sexual and gender-related violence involving asylum applicants. A new law on international protection provided a clearer definition of the safeguards to be put in place for applicants with special needs and set out procedures for ascertaining the best interests of child migrants.

Slovenia guaranteed freedom of religion for all. In response to an initiative by religious communities, the Government had established the Council for Dialogue on Freedom of Religion in 2015, whose members included representatives of the four principal communities, two elected representatives of smaller religious communities and the Human Rights Ombudsman.

An increase in hate speech directed, in particular, against Muslims had been discernible in recent months, primarily on the Internet. Prominent representatives of the State had publicly stressed the unacceptability of hate speech, had condemned hostile acts targeting the Muslim community, which were being investigated by the police, and called for tolerance and mutual respect.

On the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2008, Slovenia had published a collection of United Nations human rights treaties translated into Slovene. The publication also included the country’s reports pursuant to the treaties and translations of the treaty bodies’ concluding observations. An electronic version was accessible on the Internet, and hard-copy versions were distributed to all Slovenian public libraries and to the Administrative Academy, which provided training courses and seminars for civil servants.

A number of ministries and government bodies had been involved in preparing the periodic report, and civil society organizations had been given the opportunity to present their views and proposals. It had also been reviewed by the Interministerial Commission on Human Rights, comprising representatives of all ministries, NGOs and academia. The report had then been published on the Internet, where a Slovene translation of the concluding observations would also be made available. Representatives of civil society organizations had been informed in December 2015 of the dates on which the report would be considered by the Committee.

As 2016 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the two International Covenants, Slovenia, as a member of the Human Rights Council, had called for their universal ratification.

Ms. Jelić said that she would like to know more about specific instances in which the Covenant had been applied by the courts and about the training provided on its provisions to judges, lawyers and prosecutors, particularly in respect of the rights of asylum seekers, migrants and victims of human trafficking. It would also be interesting to learn more about the joint activities organized by the Government and civil society to raise the general public’s awareness of their rights under the Covenant.

Noting the recent cuts made in the national budget, she asked what steps had been taken to ensure that the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman was fully in compliance with the Paris Principles and had all the financial, human and material resources necessary to perform its functions effectively, particularly given that it had been designated as the national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In that connection, information on whether other national human rights institutions would be provided with the appropriate resources to function effectively and independently would also be welcome.

As to the rights of the Roma, she wished to know what steps had been taken under the 2015-2020 National Programme of Measures for Roma to combat intolerance, discrimination and hate speech, particularly against Roma women, and to strengthen the Roma Community Council. Had the State party considered taking affirmative action to support the Roma community?

Mr. Rodríguez- Rescia said that he would welcome additional disaggregated data on acts of discrimination that had occurred over recent years, including the number of cases investigated and prosecuted. Further information would also be appreciated concerning the measures taken to increase the resources available to the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, improve access to justice and provide redress for victims of discrimination, strengthen the provisions of the Protection against Discrimination Act, and introduce a comprehensive national approach for combating discrimination. In regard to the prevention of discrimination against refugees, he wished to know what measures had been adopted to ensure that persons seeking asylum had access to legal aid during the initial stages of the asylum application process pursuant to the International Protection Act.

As to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, he asked what concrete measures had been taken by the State party to combat all forms of torture and to collect reliable, comprehensive, disaggregated data on cases involving cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It would also be interesting to learn more about the content of training courses for law enforcement officials on the use of force and prevention of torture.

Mr. Ben Achour said that he would appreciate a more detailed explanation of the statistics contained in paragraph 16 of the State party’s replies to the list of issues (CCPR/C/SVN/Q/3/Add.1). Could the delegation also tell the Committee which articles of the Criminal Code the various entries related to? He would also be interested in receiving additional data on the number of acts of discrimination, hate speech or intolerance committed by State officials. While welcoming the State party’s legislative efforts to promote equality and tolerance, he wished to know what concrete steps had been taken to combat the reported rise of xenophobia and Islamophobia in the country following the recent terrorist attacks and the migration crisis that had swept across Europe.

Regarding the representation of women in public affairs, he wished to congratulate the State party on the progress it had made towards strengthening women’s participation in the judiciary, where in some cases women now outnumbered men. However, it would be interesting to learn more about the policies that had been adopted to increase the number of women in the National Council and the private sector, particularly in senior decision-making positions. What had been the main outcomes so far of the action plan adopted in 2015 with a view to increasing the representation of women?

Ms. Seibert-Fohr said that she was concerned at the State party’s slow response to the situation of “the erased”, that was, citizens of other republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who had lost their status as permanent residents of Slovenia in 1992 and had thus become illegal aliens. She wanted to know whether it was true that many people had still not been able to have their status restored, as they had missed the July 2013 deadline for applying for permanent residence under the 2010 Act Amending the Act Regulating the Legal Status of Citizens of Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic of Slovenia and that they now had no legal avenues for doing so. Given that the short deadline provided for in the original 1999 law had caused the current problems in the first place, why had it been deemed necessary to introduce another deadline in the amended 2010 Act? She wished to know to what extent persons who had not yet had their status as permanent residents restored were eligible for compensation under the 2013 Act on Compensation for Persons Erased from the Register of Permanent Residents. Was it true that compensation claims had been dismissed by the courts because they had been submitted after the relevant deadlines? The State party seemed to be suggesting that, by adopting the compensation scheme, it had fully met its obligations to remedy the violations, but in order to remedy a violation of the Covenant, Slovenia should provide for restitutio in integrum to the extent possible and ensure that no deadlines interfered with the restoration of the previous status, irrespective of any financial compensation that might later be paid.

Noting that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had expressed concern in 2014 about the prevalence of domestic violence in the State party and that there appeared to have been a 50 per cent increase in the number of cases of domestic violence between 2010 and 2015, she asked what the outcome of the 2009-2014 National Programme on Prevention of Family Violence had been. Had an evaluation of the effectiveness of that programme been carried out? Had the Government identified areas for further action and had a follow-up programme been launched? She would appreciate more information about the nature of the amendments to the Family Violence Prevention Act. Had they already been adopted? How were the measures taken to tackle violence against women coordinated, monitored and assessed, and how did the State party ensure that assistance was accessible to Roma and migrant women, women with disabilities and older women? Noting that some sources indicated that restraining orders were not well enforced, she invited the delegation to comment on the effectiveness of protection mechanisms for victims of domestic violence.

Mr. de Frouville said that he welcomed the commendable efforts made by the State party in recent years to address the problem of trafficking in persons, particularly in the areas of prevention and assistance for victims. He invited the delegation to comment on whether the Government might consider introducing a more formal system for identifying victims of trafficking and adopting a general law on trafficking in persons. He would be interested to know about the content of the guidelines on the identification, assistance and protection of victims of trafficking and how they were incorporated into the framework for combating trafficking in persons. He was also interested in learning what impact the current migrant crisis was having on the State party’s efforts in that area and whether the procedure for identifying and providing assistance to victims of trafficking was still operating effectively. What was the State party doing to ensure that trafficking victims arriving at Slovenian borders had access to protection mechanisms? He would appreciate clarification as to whether the provision of accommodation to victims of trafficking was contingent upon their agreement to cooperate in criminal proceedings and whether Slovenian and foreign victims were treated differently in any way. He would be grateful for updated statistics on the number of prosecutions and convictions of human traffickers in the past three years. Was it true that the number of cases was on the decrease and, if so, why?

Mr. Politi said that he welcomed the entry into force of the amended Criminal Code, which exhibited a number of positive changes, especially with respect to the protection of victims of criminal offences. With regard to the criminal offence of threatened discrimination, he wished to know whether prosecutions must always be initiated at the victim’s request or whether the prosecutor could bring a prosecution based on information from other sources. Noting the introduction of the new criminal offence of forced marriage, he requested statistics on the number of such marriages. He wondered whether the provision on the offence of stalking included a list of examples of the types of behaviour or acts that constituted stalking and whether there was the possibility of ex officio prosecutions, particularly if the victim was a minor or a person with disabilities.

The meeting was suspended at 4.45 p.m. and resumed at 5.05 p.m.

Ms. Brecelj (Slovenia), responding to Mr. Ben Achour, said that, having worked in the Supreme Court herself, she was aware that quotas for women in the judiciary were no longer required; in fact, it was now men who were in the minority.

Mr. Pavlin (Slovenia) said that the Covenant could be applied directly by the Slovenian courts and, in the event of a gap in national law or a contradiction between national legislation and the provisions of the Covenant or other international human rights treaties, the international treaties would prevail. With regard to training on the Covenant for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel, Covenant rights were usually included as part of more general human rights content in courses on family law or women’s rights, for example. As to the application of the Covenant in practice, in 2008 a provision concerning the right to counsel, in line with article 14 of the Covenant, had been removed from the Criminal Procedure Act on the grounds that that right would now be covered by the Free Legal Aid Act. However, in 2011, the situation had been reassessed and the relevant provision had been reinstated and strengthened. Its reinstatement had been accompanied by an explanation that its removal had been a mistake and had unintentionally left a gap in the law and that it was being restored due to the importance of the corresponding article of the Covenant. One of the significant measures taken to raise awareness of the Covenant and the other human rights treaties had been the publication in Slovenian of all of the State party’s reports to the treaty bodies.

The debate regarding a national human rights institution and compliance with the Paris Principles had been ongoing for several years now, and an informal agreement had been reached with the Human Rights Ombudsman on the approach to be taken prior to drafting legislation on the matter. There were plans to introduce new autonomous units within the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman to focus on areas such as awareness-raising and assistance for victims of alleged human rights violations, but the Ombudsman would remain the lead agency for overall policy. The new units would undoubtedly require additional financial and human resources, but the exact amount involved would not be known until the Ombudsman’s annual report was submitted to Parliament at the end of May 2016. However, the need for additional funding was not expected to pose a problem, as the Government was generally supportive of such efforts and had already provided additional resources at the request of the Ombudsman when the national preventive mechanism had been established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in 2006. In any event, if the Government did not accede to the request, the Ombudsman was entitled to go directly to Parliament to apply for additional financial resources.

Ms. Herman (Slovenia) said that a new version of the National Programme of Measures for Roma was currently being developed, and a number of coordination meetings had already been held with representatives of the Roma community. The new programme would include anti-discrimination measures, activities designed to raise awareness among civil servants and judicial officials, and initiatives aimed at the empowerment of Roma women and girls and the elimination of stereotypes. Her Government recognized that progress had been slow with regard to protecting the rights of Roma, and it continued to give priority to that issue. In the light of the difficulties encountered since the entry into force of the Roma Community Act, amendments to that law would be drawn up in consultation with the Roma community. A special round table on hate speech had recently been organized in collaboration with The Peace Institute and Roma civil society organizations.

Mr. Pavlin (Slovenia) said that the incidence of hate speech tended to increase in the face of moral or political crises that incited strong public debate, such as the migrant crisis that had begun in 2012. The police force and State prosecution services had been prepared for such an increase in hate speech and were taking action to combat it. Parliament had recently held a special session devoted to the issue, as well as a public session attended by NGOs and academia, and had roundly condemned the recent expressions of hatred, violence and intolerance. Significant amendments had been made to the Criminal Code in 2011 which had broadened the scope of the provision criminalizing hate speech. Of the individuals who had been convicted of hate speech, only one was a public official. Regarding the statistics provided on cases of hate speech and violations of the right to equality, less than 10 per cent of those cases had involved violations of the right to equality, while the rest had all been cases dealing with hate speech.

Ms. Lovšin (Slovenia) said that an umbrella law that afforded protection against discrimination for all persons had been in place since 2004. Her Government recognized, however, that the Human Rights Ombudsman Act was inadequate and had therefore submitted a bill to Parliament to address its shortcomings. The bill had been prepared in consultation with the Ombudsman, civil society organizations and other stakeholders and had been posted on a government website for public comment. It was hoped that Parliament would discuss and adopt the bill at its April 2016 session.

If the bill passed, the Ombudsman would become fully autonomous and would be appointed by the President and confirmed by Parliament. The budget allocated to the Office of the Ombudsman would be proposed by the Government and approved by Parliament, and the number of staff members working in the Office would be increased to four. The Ombudsman’s scope of authority would be broadened to include the functions of an inspection body, although he or she would not have the power to impose sanctions. The Ombudsman would, however, be allowed to participate in judicial proceedings. In addition to the funds allocated to pay the salaries of the four staff members, the Government would also provide funding for research and awareness-raising campaigns. The Ombudsman had emphasized that cases of discrimination were underreported, as indicated by the decrease in the number of complaints received. It was hoped that the new bill would provide greater visibility to the work of the Ombudsman and to the issue of non-discrimination in general and would encourage victims of discrimination to file complaints.

Ms. Koselj (Slovenia) said that torture had been made a specific criminal offence in Slovenia only recently, which explained why the corresponding statistics covered only the period since 2010. Her Government firmly believed that those statistics, which indicated that there had been no instances in which torture had been committed in Slovenia, were correct. The overall situation was reflected in other indicators as well, such as the statistics which showed that the use of firearms by the police was extremely infrequent.

Mr. Klančnik (Slovenia) said that, since 2011, police officers and instructors and staff from the special prosecutors’ offices had been required to attend regular training courses on the detection of torture or other violations of human dignity, as outlined in the Istanbul Protocol. Training sessions on detecting signs of torture had also been held for hospital staff. In addition to basic human rights training, police officers also received training on topics such as the role of law enforcement in a democratic society, policing in multi-ethnic communities, homophobia and child pornography. They also received language training in the Romani and Albanian languages.

Ms. Lovšin (Slovenia) said that the statistics on the representation of women in senior positions in large companies could be misleading because, given the small number of such companies in the country, the data could easily be skewed. Nevertheless, her Government was aware that much remained to be done in that regard, and it supported the directive on that subject proposed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. A working group was going to prepare a bill on the subject which would hopefully be adopted by the end of 2016.

Ms. Snoj (Slovenia) said that the erasure of persons’ names from the Register of Permanent Residents had not had any effect on those persons’ status as citizens of any other republic that had been part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Act Amending the Act Regulating the Legal Status of Citizens of Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic of Slovenia had been adopted to establish the legal status of those persons. Under that law, residency could be granted to persons who no longer lived in Slovenia and who had left the country because of their removal from the Register. The three-year deadline for submitting residency applications established in that law was much longer than the deadline originally established at the regional level and had been deemed sufficient by the Constitutional Court.

Printed brochures and the Internet had been used to disseminate information on the Act. The number of applications for residency submitted under its terms had been lower than expected, presumably because many persons who no longer lived in Slovenia had no intention of returning and therefore had no reason to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the Act. As at 1 March 2016, residency had been granted to about 11,000 applicants, and those who had not applied still had the possibility of obtaining residency under the terms of the Aliens Act. Pursuant to regulations adopted in 2013, persons whose names had been erased from the Register and who had subsequently been granted residency or who were citizens of Slovenia, as well as persons who had applied for but been denied residency, were entitled to compensation.

Ms. Boškić (Slovenia) said that the Resolution on the 2009-2014 National Programme on Prevention of Family Violence had focused on educating public officials and the general public and had resulted in increased reporting of incidents of family violence. The Government had not yet fulfilled the commitment it had made to set up a database on family violence and violence against women; that commitment would thus also be included in the next resolution on the subject. Public consultations would be held on a bill on the prevention of family violence which had been developed by an interdepartmental working group with the participation of NGOs. The bill would broaden the definition of family members and of family violence and would also cover stalking as a newly defined form of violence. In addition, the obligation to report family violence would be extended to cover all cases involving vulnerable persons who were unable to report such incidents on their own. The bill would specify procedures to be followed by the courts and law enforcement officials. Protection measures, especially for children, would be expanded.

Mr. Klančnik (Slovenia) said that restraining orders were successful in 80 to 90 per cent of cases and that the bill in question would strengthen the provisions on such orders so that they would also apply internationally.

Mr. Čurin (Slovenia) said that systematic action plans and projects for the identification of victims of human trafficking had first been introduced in 2004. The contracts signed by organizations that ran projects to provide support to trafficking victims included provisions on cooperation between NGOs and law enforcement officials. An interdepartmental working group on human trafficking had formalized those procedures in 2015 by adopting a manual on the identification of and care for victims of human trafficking. Once approved by the Government, the manual would be distributed to all professionals who were likely to encounter trafficking victims and would serve as the basis for future training sessions for those persons.

The interdepartmental working group was currently reviewing the various pieces of legislation that dealt with human trafficking and was surveying umbrella legislation on human trafficking adopted by other countries. The results of that survey would serve as a basis for discussions on whether or not to adopt such an umbrella law in Slovenia. In the context of the refugee crisis, police officers who registered migrants at the border took steps to identify members of vulnerable groups, including trafficking victims, and referred those cases to specialists from the criminal investigation police.

The meeting rose at 6 p.m.