HELSINKI MONITOR OF SLOVENIA

Human Rights problems in Slovenia
 
 

addressed to

Article 65 of the Constitution of Slovenia determines: “The position and special rights of the Roma community in Slovenia, are regulated by the law.”

In nine years since the existence of the new Slovene constitution after secession of Slovenia in 1991, the quoted law has not been prepared. The only law concerning the Roma population in Slovenia on local communities gives the Roma only right, namely the right for one local member of small community parliaments in areas where there are some settlements of autochthonous Roma.

No governmental report gives any information on how many members of the Roma community in fact are representatives in community parliaments.

The key word for understanding the position of the discriminated group of the Roma in Slovenia is “autochthonous Roma”. The governmental reports of 2.3.1993 30.11.1995 and 10.6.1999 (which Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia received as the latest) gives information on:
 

1.  The Indian origin of the Roma
2.  Legal situation of the Roma in international documents and in Slovenia
3.  Demographic and social image of the Roma
4.  Manner of making their living and employment
5.  Humanitarian aid
6.  Health and health care of the Roma population
7.  Social care
8.  Preschool education
9.  Primary school
10. Prevention of crime
11. Cultural and information activity of the Roma
12. Organizing the Roma and their participation in local self-management
13. Proposals for regulation of the Roma situation in Slovenia.
 

Whatever has been done by the authorities for the autochthonous Roma population (those who live in Slovenia for several centuries, as explained in governmental reports), excludes the non-autochtonous Roma, who have come to Slovenia later than 15^th century, the Roma, who have come to Slovenia within the duration of former Yugoslavia - that is before the establishment of the new state of Slovenia.

As explained in the attached Statement No.1 of Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia, the government of Slovenia, Ministry of the Interior, erased 130 000 permanent residents of non-Slovene ethnic origin from registrars of permanent residence, illegally, in secrecy, without their knowledge or consent on 26.2.1992. among 130,000 erased there have been a yet unidentified number of the Roma, of which 90 families are clients of Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia because of various violations of their human rights practiced through administrative erasure, as a tool of administrative ethnic cleansing. Helsinki Monitor is endeavoring to intervene for citizenship of approx. 60 Roma families, the erased former citizens and permanent residents of Slovenia, who have been waiting for Slovene citizenship for 9 years since secession of Slovenia (list enclosed). These members of the Roma community live in suburbs of Maribor and Ljubljana, mainly, stripped of their identification documents, passports, denied health services, pensions and also humanitarian aid (which they receive by the Red Cross organization mainly after interventions of HMS). Not only that they do not have any special rights as the Roma community, they do not even have basic human rights. For 9 years they are deprived of their right to vote as well.

Other 30 Roma families, clients of HMS, complain of various other violations of their rights like forced evictions, denial of preschool and primary school education to children, pensions, humanitarian assistance.

The answer of the authorities to question of Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia, whether there are any reports on the situation of non-autochthonous Roma in Slovenia - has been negative: there is no such governmental report. Quoting governmental report of 2.12.1993:

“Aside from the autochthonous Roma inhabitants in Slovenia, a strong wave of migrants from the South (Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) has been felt especialy for a decade prior to independence of Slovenia. These Roma from the South have stopped at the outskirts of bigger towns on their way to Western Europe, and they represent a special social problem, yet our information does not deal with them.”

With an exception of Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia, no other organization in Slovenia deals with these non-autochthonous Roma, whose permanent residents status actually exceeds the duration of the 9 years of existence of the state of Slovenia, who took the liberty to retroactively erase them together with their children, who have been born in Slovenia prior to its secession.

The formulation of the underlined governmental report is indicative. According to their opinion these Roma have only “stopped in Slovenia” for a while (which lasts for several decades), as they are “on their way to Western Europe”, while actually they have permanently settled in the suburbs of some Slovene towns prior to its secession by registering their permanent residence there - of which there is ample proof. Another implication of such governmental formulation is, that these Roma actually are not Slovene residents, but are the sole responsibility of Western Europe, where they are heading. The consequences which the Slovene authorities have driven out of such reasoning are, that these waiting Romas are not granted Slovene citizenship, but have been erased from permanent residence in Slovenia, thus making them a nonexistent Roma population, not included in any governmental report and via erasure excluded from Slovene society.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in Article 1, paragraph 2, says: “This Convention shall not apply to distinctions, exclusions, restrictions or preferences made by a State Party to this Convention between citizens and non-citizens.” By the erasure of the non-autochthonous Roma (together with 130 000 other non-Slovenes compatriots of former Yugoslavia after secession of Slovenia), these former citizens of Slovenia have been made non-citizens of Art. 1, para.2 of the Convention, to which, according to understanding of Slovene authorities, all kinds of distinctions, exclusions, restrictions can be applied freely, regardless of the letter and the spirit of Article 1, para 1 of the Convention, clearly prohibiting “racial discrimination”, i.e., any distinction, exclusion, restriction based on ..... national or ethnic origin, as applies in this case.

The erased group of the Roma are victims of violations of their human rights of Article 5 of the Convention:
 

(a) The right of equal treatment before the tribunals and all other organs administering justice
 

As a rule, on the basis of their darker complexion, they are stopped by the police and asked to show their identification documents - which the erased no longer have. They are therefore taken to police stations and to courts for minor offence, and unless they have a confirmation of HMS stating, that they are clients of HMS and in procedure for obtaining Slovene citizenship, they are taken to Ministry of the Interior Centers for Removal of Foreigners from the Republic of Slovenia, from where they are deported, even in cases when they have been born in Slovenia prior to secession. Their luggage are often inspected by the police on the suspicion of stealing its contents.
 
 

The case of Ramo Adžaj
is one of the erased non existing citizens of Slovenia, whose valid Slovene identification documents have been cancelled by the Ministry of the Interior. He does not have any passport, and could not travel for 9 years now, he could not even visit his parents and brothers, Roma refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who fled from ethnic cleansing carried on in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, by the Albanians, last year after the Nato intervention. He is married, father of two children, the family are Slovene citizens. His application for citizenship was rejected. When he appealed to the court through his attorney, a counselor of the ministry of the Interior demanded withdrawal of his appeal at court, and in case he would not do it, the counselor threatened to cancel citizenship of his wife. Fearing that, he withdrew his appeal. Two days after writing a statement of such treatment, he was put to jail under accusation of transporting refugees across the Italian border (how could he do that without a passport). The accusation has not been supported by any proof, nevertheless his imprisonment is prolonged, and the judge says he could be released and wait for trial, if had he been Slovene citizen.

HMS possesses evidence of other cases of violation of point (a) of the Roma and other erased non-Slovenes.
 

(b) the right to security of person and protection by the State against violence and bodily harm, whether inflicted by government officials, or by any individual group or institution:
 

The Case of Sadik Kemalj
one of the erased former citizens of Slovenia, and as such left without a passport, he was forced to take a Macedonian passport in which his permanent address in his own house in Slovenia was written. The police at the border did not like it and has beaten up Sadik Kemalj so that he was injured. After that he was taken to the court of minor offence, where the judge decided his golden jewelry should be confiscated until he pays penalty. The incident took place in 1997, Kemalj appealed against such treatment to the Ministry of the Interior and received no reply till today. Instead his application for restoration of his factual permanent residence since 1980 in Slovenia was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior on 3.1.2000.
 
 

The Case of Danko Brajdiè
has been beaten up by a policeman on 29.5.1998 so severely, that Brajdi? had to be taken to hospital. He raised denunciation against the policeman, which was rejected on 20.7.1999. Brajdi? belongs to a group of autochthonous Roma and was beaten up in front of his little house in autochthonous Romani settlement at Novo mesto for the reason of using abusive language addressed to the policeman.
 

(c) The right to participate in elections - has been taken away to 130 000 erased on the basis of their non- Slovene ethnic origin. HMS has evidence of hundreds of clients, who cannot vote for 9 years since the secession.
(d) Other civil rights, in particular:
(i) The right to freedom of movement - the erased do not possess any valid passport;
(ii) The right to leave any country, including one’s own, and return from one’s country -has been violated by cancellation of passports after the erasure;
(iii) The right to nationality - the majority of the erased has been forced to leave Slovenia to the third countries in the West - the problem of refugees from Slovenia has been neglected, or actually hidden by the fact, that refugees from Slovenia are not ethnic Slovenes, but non-Slovenes from Bosnia, Croatia, etc, thus regarded as refugees from other parts of former Yugoslavia.
 

The Case of Mira Abazi (14) and Bajramša Bajra
The 5 member Abazi family, after they have been erased in 1992, have now finally received Slovene citizenship, except for the daughter Mira (as well as her mother) in January this year, after several years of efforts of HMS, who in December sent them to the American embassy to apply for the US citizenship there.

Father, Adem Abazi, a Roma from Kosovo, lost his job after erasure and after some time could no longer pay for the rent and electricity. When he first came to HMS in ¸1997, electricity has been disconnected in their flat for 4 months during winter. They had no light, no heating and could not cook. Electricity was again connected through humanitarian aid and interventions of HMS in spring next year. The debt for rent has been taken to court for forced eviction.

Bajramša Bajra, mother of Mira Abazi, has promised her citizenship in Italy, so the daughter left her home, father and sisters and went to Italy with her mother illegally. Both are still without any citizenship (nationality). In the mean time the Abazi family received citizenship, including Mira, but as soon as the Ministry of the interior realized, that Mira is no longer in Slovenia, they announced negative decision for Mira Abazi. She now cannot return home from Italy, where she lives illegally with her mother.
 
 

The Case of Enver Šaèiri and Family
permanent residents of Slovenia before independence of Slovenia, and were erased. The family became even poorer and health services were denied to them. As a result 6 members (also one baby born with TBC) got tuberculosis, which has remained uncured for several years.

Cases of tuberculosis have lately been discovered also among authothonous Roma population near Novo mesto.
 
 

The Case of Adem Abazi
 
 

The Case of Hamit Hajrizi and Family
The family lives in Slovenia since ....... Hamit Hajrizi was employed as .... before being erased from registrars of permanent residence. After that he supported his 6 member family by begging, collecting waste metals and has been seeking for food and clotheng in garbage containers. Helath services were withdrawn from them. His wife, a psychiatric patient, could not get any medical assistence, she has repeatedly been refused from the Maribor clinic. She was hospitalized only after several interventions of HMS.

Hamit Hajrizi had to take care of his two children and additionaly of two of his grandchildren left to him by his son. The two grandchildren Remka (13) and Hasan (8) were refused meals at primary school, because they could not pay for them. Interventions of HMS in writing and by telephone did not help. They were given free meals only after personal visit to the school by a HR activist from HMS late in 1999.

The family often starved and had no heating during the winter.
 

(iv) The right to marry - the erased cannot marry in Slovenia without an intervention of HMS.
(v) The right to property -the erased have no right to own property (flats, houses, cars) in Slovenia, not even the property which they have acquired prior to erasure

(e) Economic, social and cultural rights, in particular:
(i) The rights to work, ... to protection against unemployment - the erased have lost the right to work as a consequence of erasure practice of the authorities - which do not protect them against unemployment, but make employed non-Slovenes unemployed through administrative measures based on the principle of ethnic discrimination.
 

(iii) The right to housing - HMS has now 5 cases of pending forced evictions of Roma families for debts for rent, and several hundreds (1200 families have been sued for eviction by the Ministry of Defense)other non-Slovene families to be evicted from flats of former federal military fund of flats.
(iv) The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services:
the erased Roma and other non-Slovenies in Slovenia have lost all such rights, including the right to pension.
(v) The right to education - HMS deals with numerous cases of denial of preschool and primary school (as well as secondary - as a rule) education to children of the erased Roma;
The right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport, hotels, etc.:
 

The access is granted, but people of darker complexion and poorly dressed are often checked there by the police (the employees of the Ministry of the Interior, who has erased them) whether they have valid identification documents - which they no longer have.

This is a report specified on the erased non-authothonous Roma population. The incident of hygenic raid of the Ministry of Agriculture in areas of autochthonous Roma population in Dolenjska and Bela Krajina in Slovenia in July 1999 is also indicative of the general attitude of the authorities towards non-Slovenes. The incident of Killings of 211 Roma dogs is reported in Statement No.7, which is an integral part of this report to UN and the Petition to UN on behalf of the erased non-Slovene residents of Slovenia, and clients of HMS.

The report has been prepared on the basis of total 4000 cases of HMS, and 90 family cases of the Roma. Governmental reports state 5320 autochthonous Roma in Slovenia, the number of the non-autochthonous is not given by the government, while officially, according to census 1991 there were only 2293 members of Roma community who declared themselves as such - from which conclusions might be draw on (non)favourability of the Roma community in Slovenia.
 
 

Ljubljana, 13.3.2000
 
 

PRESIDENT
Neva Miklavèiè Predan
 

Enclosed:
- List of Roma families – clients of HMS
- List of the erased Roma families – clients of HMS
- Statement No. 1
- Statement No. 7