Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: General overview of Slovenia's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research. National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Article 8 of the Constitution of Slovenia provides that ratified treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, can be directly applied in national law, and requires that domestic Laws and regulations must comply with international treaties and conventions. Article 160 of the Constitution also empowers the Constitutional Court to decide on the conformity of laws and regulations with international treaties. The Constitutional Court can, and has, directly applied the Convention in its decisions as of superior force to domestic legislation. Constitution: Chapter II of the Slovenian Constitution contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age and a large number of provisions that specifically address the rights of children can be found throughout the Constitution: Article 14: guarantees equal human rights and fundamental freedoms irrespective of various grounds, including birth. Article 16: allows for the temporary suspension or restriction of human rights and fundamental freedoms, but prohibits any restriction or suspension that creates inequality based solely on listed grounds, including birth. Article 41: enshrines a right of parents to provide their children with a religious and moral upbringing in accordance with their beliefs. The article also provides that the religious and moral guidance must be appropriate to the age and maturity of the child and be consistent with the child's free conscience and religious and other beliefs or convictions. Article 52: provides that children with disabilities, whether physical or mental, have the right to education and training for an active life in society financed by public funds. Article 53: provides that the State shall protect the family, motherhood, fatherhood, children and young people and shall create the necessary conditions for such protection. Article 54: enshrines a right and duty of parents to maintain, educate and raise their children. This duty may be revoked or restricted only for such reasons as are provided by law and in order to protect the child's interests. The article also provides that children born out of wedlock have the same rights as children born within wedlock. Article 55: provides that everyone shall be free to decide whether to bear children and provides that the State shall guarantee the opportunities for exercising this freedom and shall create such conditions as will enable parents to decide to bear children. Article 56: provides that children shall enjoy special protection, care and human rights and fundamental freedoms consistent with their age and maturity. Children shall also be guaranteed special protection, regulated by law, from economic, social, physical, mental or other exploitation or abuse. Furthermore, children and minors who are not cared for by parents or who are without proper family care shall enjoy special protection of the State regulated by law. Article 57: guarantees freedom of education and provides that primary education shall be compulsory and financed by public funds. Article 64: guarantees the rights of autochthonous Italian and Hungarian children to education and schooling in their own languages as well as the right of these communities to establish and develop such education and schooling. Legislation: there is no comprehensive or consolidated Children's Act in Slovenian law, rather provisions on children's rights can be found in a number of Acts. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to: The Criminal Code The Criminal Procedure Act The Civil Procedure Act The Family Violence Prevention Act The Family Benefit Act The Marriage and Family Relations Act The Act Concerning the Pursuit of Foster Care The Restrictions on the Use of Tobacco Produces Act The Roma Community Act The School Students Meals Act The Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act The Aliens Act The Mental Health Act The Act regulating the Legal Status of Citizens of the Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic of Slovenia The Social Welfare Act The Social Assistance Act The Elementary School Act The Employment Relations Act Legal Research The website of the National Assembly of Slovenia provides access to limited legal resources in English (http://www.dz-rs.si/wps/portal/en/Home) and legislation and the Constitution in Slovenian (http://www.dz-rs.si/wps/portal/Home). The Constitution of Slovenia is available in English and Slovenian through the website of the University of Moribor (http://www.pf.uni-mb.si/datoteke/janja/Angleska%20PT/anglesko-slovenska_urs.pdf). The World Law Guide provides access to a selection of Slovenian legislation in English and Slovenian (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/eur/lxweslv.htm) as does the International Labour Organisation website, NATLEX (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=SVN). In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Slovenia (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Slovenia1.htm) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/slovenia.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/si/) both provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources. Case Law CRC Jurisprudence The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been cited in cases before Slovenian courts, including in relation to children's contact with non-custodial parents (http://www.crin.org/Law/instrument.asp?InstID=1428). Case Law Research The Constitutional Court of Slovenia publishes its case law in English and Slovenian (http://www.us-rs.si/en/case-law/search-3441/) and the Supreme Court (http://www.sodisce.si/znanje/sodna_praksa/) and Administrative Court (http://www.sodisce.si/usrs/odlocitve/) publish their case law on their respective websites. Compliance with the CRC In its Concluding Observations of 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed the adoption of legislation on children's issues, but expressed regret at the continued absence of a consolidated children's law to incorporate all the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child into national legislation. The Committee urged the State to introduce such a law, and in the meantime to continue to amend legislation to bring it into conformity with the Convention, including by repealing the provisions of the Marriage and Family Relations Act which are incompatible with the CRC. In depth analysis Many of the Committee's concerns about the implementation of the Convention in national law revolved around violence against children. The Committee welcomed the adoption of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act and the Provision of Foster Care Act, but expressed concern that the definition of violence within this legislation was too narrow and only covered that committed within the family. The Committee also noted a lack of rules governing the contact between abused children and allegedly abusive parents and that in certain circumstances an abused child could be obliged against his or her will to meet with an allegedly abusive parent. With regards to corporal punishment, the Committee highlighted the absence of a legal prohibition against physical punishment in the home and expressed concern that prohibitions on corporal punishment did not extend to the alternative care setting. The Committee also urged the State to extend its legislation on violence to explicitly address sexual exploitation and abuse, and to ensure the existence of a mechanisms to detect, investigate and prosecute child sexual exploitation and abuse. The Committee also expressed a number of concerns about the treatment of asylum-seeking, refugee and unaccompanied children. While welcoming the amendments to the International Protection Act, which regulates asylum seekers' access to basic health services, the Committee expressed concern that families who lack legal status only have access to emergency health care; that the State uses harmful age assessment tests and that the procedure to determine children's applications can be lengthy. Specifically with regards to unaccompanied children, the Committee urged the State to ensure that all such children are provided with a legal guardian as soon as they cross the border and to assume responsibility for the legal assistance of unaccompanied minors at all stages in the process of applying for international protection. Several of the Committee's recommendations also related to discrimination within the State. Of particular concern was the persistent discrimination against Roma children, including the distinction between autochthonous and non-autocthonous Roma populations within legislation and the differing rights between the two groups of people. The Committee also expressed concern that despite the fact that same sex couples can adopt children, there was a lack of provisions regularising the situation of such adopted children and ensuring that they enjoy the same rights as children of heterosexual couples. Current legal reform projects During the review of the State in 2013, the State Part expressed its intention to establish specialised provisions for children under the Criminal Code.