 | | Map source: Human Rights Watch |
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Population of women: 1,019,000/1,982,000
Life expectancy of women (at birth): 79.8 yrs
School life expectancy for women: 16 yrs
Adult illiteracy for women: 0.4%
Unemployment of women: 6.3%
Adult economic activity rate: 52%
Source: U.N. Statistics Division, Social Indicators, updated 12 July 2004 (Some statistics provided may be from previous years and other sources as cited by the U.N. Statistics Division)
last updated March 24, 2005
Slovenia is generally recognized as one of the more politically and economically stable former Yugoslav republics. Slovenia has been formally invited to join the EU, provided that the country fulfills certain requirements. Slovene domestic legislation must comply with European legislation, which, in part, emphasizes equal opportunity and promotion of women's equal rights.
Slovene legislation promotes and protects women's equality in several provisions. Article 14 of the Slovene Constitution guarantees everyone equal human rights and fundamental freedoms regardless of "national origin, race, sex, language, religion, political or other conviction, material standing, birth, education, social status or any other personal circumstance." Article 14 also guarantees equality before the law. Article 53 of the Constitution states that "marriage is based on the equality of both spouses.The State shall protect the family, motherhood, fatherhood, children and young people and shall create the necessary conditions for this protection." The Criminal Code also guarantees equality in Article 141, "Violation of Right to Equality." Discrimination or deprivation of a recognized right against members of a protected class may be punished by a fine or up to one year in prison. Article 141(2) imposes the same punishment on any person who "prosecutes" an individual or organization because they advocate for equality. An official who commits either of the aforementioned acts may be punished by up to three years' imprisonment (Article 142(3)). In 2002, the government passed the Act on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, for the purpose of defining "common grounds for the improvement of the status of women and the establishment of equal opportunities for women and men in political, economic, social, educational fields and other fields of social life" (Article 1(1)). Article 5(1) defines equal treatment as the absence of direct and indirect discrimination. Article 5(2) defines direct sex discrimination as whenever "a person has been, is or could be treated less favourably in equal or similar circumstances than a person of the opposite gender." Article 5(3) defines indirect sex discrimination as whenever "apparently neutral provisions, standards or treatment in equal or similar circumstances and conditions place persons of one gender in a less favourable situation, unless these provisions, standards or treatment are relevant, necessary and justified by objective facts not related to gender." The Act establishes formal legal requirements for gender equality and remedies for disputes, as well as an official Advocate for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men to investigate reports of gender discrimination.
According to the U.S. Department of State's 2003 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Slovenia, violence against women is an area of concern and is underreported. Nevertheless, recognition of spousal abuse and violence against women has been growing in recent years. The State provided some funds for three battered women's shelters, which have a total of forty beds. However, numerous women have been turned away due to a lack of space. In cases of reported spousal abuse or violence, the police have actively intervened and prosecuted offenders. According to Women 2000 -An Investigation into the Status of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States Report on Slovenia, (Women 2000) "[The Slovene Press] tend[s] to present domestic violence as a problem for which both partners are responsible and connect it mostly with alcohol abuse." The Penal Code does not specifically address domestic violence, although it can be prosecuted under provisions that address violence in general. Article 145 states, "Whosoever threatens the safety of another person through serious threat to life or limb shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment of up to one year." Article 146 states, "Whosoever, through maltreatment, affects the physical or mental integrity of another person shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for up to six months." The victim must file a complaint in order for the prosecutor to initiate proceedings.
Rape is punishable by law under Article 180 of the Penal Code by a period of imprisonment for one to ten years. Paragraph 3 of the same article adds that "Whosoever forces a person of the opposite or the same sex to have sexual intercourse under threat of disclosing information about her/him, or a person close to her/him, that could harm personal dignity or the person's good name, or under threat of causing damage to wealth, shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to five years." The Penal Code also addresses sexual assault and the sexual abuse of helpless persons and juveniles under the age of fifteen years.
Sexual harassment is not explicitly addressed in the Penal Code, although the Code does punish sexual assault through exploitation of a position. The Employment Relationships Act entered into force on 1 January 2003 and prohibits sexual harassment. The Act requires employers to provide employees with a workplace free of unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal treatment of a sexual nature, which would lead to "intimidating, hostile or humiliating relationships and environment at work and offends the dignity of men and women at work" (Article 45). Under Article 229(6), a minimum fine of ST 1,000,000 may be imposed on employers who fail to protect employees from sexual harassment.
Slovenia is a transit country for human trafficking to Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. To a lesser extent, it serves as a destination country for Eastern European trafficking victims. Trafficking in women is not criminalized specifically as such, but may be punished under Article 186 "Presenting Persons for Prostitution" of the Penal Code, which states the following:
"(1) Whoever incites, solicits, lures or entices other persons to prostitution or is in any other way engaged in presenting these persons for prostitution to a third person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than six months and not more than [f]ive years.
(2) If the offence under the preceding paragraph has been committed by force, threat or deception; the perpetrator shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than one and not more than ten years."
A proposed amendment to the Penal Code has been drafted, which criminalizes trafficking in human beings. Article 387(a) would punish anyone, who, "for the reasons of prostitution or other forms of sexual abuse, servitude or trafficking in parts of human body, buys, takes over, lodge, transfers, sells, hands over, or other ways has another person in disposal" by a prison sentence of one to ten years. According to representatives of the Slovene government at the 620th and 621st meetings of CEDAW, the Act on Breaches of Public Order and Peace was amended. While prostitution is still illegal, it is no longer a misdemeanor and prostitutes may not be imprisoned. According to the U.S. Department of State, there is no comprehensive protection and shelter program for victims of trafficking. A National Coordinator for Trafficking in Persons, and a working group has created a response plan for victims to receive assistance and information. In coordination with the NGO Kjuc, the Ministry of Interior has agreed to grant trafficking victims immunity from prosecution, as well as temporary status, work visas and access to social services.
On 23 September 2004, Slovenia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (OP-CEDAW). Slovenia succeeded to CEDAW on 6 July 1992.
Compiled from:
2003 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Slovenia, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 25 February 2004.
Women 2000: An Investigation into the Status of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, 5 November 2000. (PDF, 16 pages).
A Form of Slavery: Trafficking in Women in OSCE Member States, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, 19 June 2000. (PDF, 91 pages). | 