Information about Roma issue in Slovenia

December, 2006

In the period since 2004 Government of Slovenia have invested considerable efforts into improving the situation of our Roma compatriots and achieving a higher level of inclusion of the Roma community in society.

Below is explanation in detail government policy to the Roma community in Slovenia and the measures that Government have taken for the protection of the Roma family Strojan.

The case of Roma family Strojan

The resettlement of the family took place by agreement, since its members themselves expressed a willingness to leave the area in Ambrus. Their accommodation in Postojna centre is certainly only temporary. Government is in constructive dialogue with the family and a solution for their long-term accommodation will be found in agreement with them. The governmental intention is to enable them to own their own land in a new location since, due to the environmental and inspection provisions, they cannot stay in the current one in Ambrus. The building must be in the vicinity of a school and also be suitable for the residence of children and pregnant mothers. We are in constant contact with the family and actively engaged at this moment in seeking together a suitable, long-term solution. Government believes that it will be found to the satisfaction of all.

The status of the Roma ethnic community

The Republic of Slovenia invests a great deal of effort and financial resources into arranging and improving the situation of the Roma community in Slovenia. The legal basis for regulating the status of the Roma ethnic community in the Republic of Slovenia is Article 65 of the Constitution, which determines. "The status and special rights of the Roma community living in Slovenia shall be regulated by law". This article is currently realised through 11 sectoral laws, and the Government, in which among other things we have the Commission for the Protection of the Roma Ethnic Community, has decided to prepare an "umbrella act" on the Roma community, and in this way end the period in which there was no will to realise the aforementioned constitutional provision.

The act will regulate the status and special rights of the Roma community in the Republic of Slovenia, the responsibility of state bodies and local government bodies for its implementation and the organisation of the Roma community for exercising their rights and obligations. The act is based on the prohibition of discrimination in any sphere of social life, and in particular in the spheres of employment, upbringing and education and social security. The draft act specifies that, in order to overcome the development lag and for successful inclusion in society, members of the Roma community, in addition to the rights and obligations of all Slovene citizens, shall have additional rights specified by sectoral laws, in the fields of education, improving living conditions, culture, health and social security and the right to participate in decision making in public matters that concern the Roma.

The sphere of upbringing and education and the fields of living conditions and spatial planning are also covered in the draft act. A very important field that the Roma Community Act defines and covers in general form is the field of employment, whereby the stress is on suitable education and encouragement of employment of Roma, and the act will also regulate cultural and informative activities.

The draft act also determines the organisation of the Romany community in the Republic of Slovenia on a national and local level. The act specifies the creation of an "umbrella Roma organisation", which will be the representative of the Roma community in the Republic of Slovenia on a national level and will be interlocutor with state bodies. Similarly, the creation of Roma organisations on a local level is specified, which municipal Roma communities will found and which will be combined in the "umbrella organisation", and which will be the representatives of the Roma community on a local level and interlocutor with local government bodies.

The draft act specifies the means of financing the Roma community in the Republic of Slovenia, in which the main sources are the national budget and, to a lesser extent, municipal budgets. The act defines and determines the financing of the aforementioned organisation. It precisely delineates financing which is the responsibility of the state, on the one hand, and local communities on the other, and thus resolves the dilemma of financing.

The Government have prepared the act in close cooperation with the Roma community and on the basis of wide public debate. In June of this year, the Government sent the draft act to Amnesty International Slovenia, which did not make any comments or proposals.

We would like to highlight in particular that none of the 25 European Union member states protects their Roma community with a special act. Slovenia will be the first in this field, and an example to others.

The policies of co-financing the Romany community in Slovenia

Since 2004, Government has increased the funds that the state devotes to the Roma community by more than five-fold. Within the framework of projects of the Ministry of Education and Sport, the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of Culture, the Government Nationalities Office and the Governmental Service for Local Government and Regional Policy, the state thus devoted 132.4 million SIT (552.000 EUR) to the Roma community in 2004, and this year we plan some 776.8 million SIT (3,241 mio EUR).

The funds are used for co-financing individual and integration programmes, providing education, textbooks and teaching technology, co-funding programmes in the area of social protection and in the area of protection of the family, providing programmes within the framework of the Community Initiative EQUAL, and co-financing infrastructure.

In order to reduce unemployment among Roma, Government is implementing a programme of active employment policy for unemployed Roma, such as a programme of social inclusion, a special programme for employment and education, a programme of employment of Roma, equal job opportunities for Roma - our shared challenge, and programmes of public works. Within the framework of the Community Initiative EQUAL, two projects devoted to the Romany community are financed, to wit: a Romany Employment Centre and a Romany Education and Information Centre.

The Government is, of course, aware that the area of education is particularly important for the long-term improvement of the position of members of the Roma community. A strategy for more successful inclusion of Roma in the system of care and education was therefore adopted in 2004. A slightly different, or more favourable, method of financing pedagogic work applies for schools that have Roma pupils enrolled. This means more teachers, smaller class numbers, additional funds for Roma pupils for costs in connection with school activities and excursions, and for refunding school meals.

At the same time, the Government provides scholarships for those members of the Romany community that decide on pedagogic studies. In addition, for the more successful inclusion of Roma in the system of pre-school care and education, certain other activities are carried out, such as the involvement of Romany assistants or mentors, introducing the subject Romany culture, an organised network of schools for the exchange of good practice and financing development and research projects in the sphere of Romany questions. The Association of Roma of Slovenia actively cooperates in all the aforementioned programmes.