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ASSOCIATION OF THE
ERASED RESIDENTS OF SLOVENIA
14 years from
the illegal erasure:
SHAME FOR
SLOVENIA AS A RULE-OF-LAW-STATE
It is 14 years from
the illegal "erasure" of 18.305 legal
inhabitants of Slovenia, when almost all
their social and economic rights were
taken away from them, overnight and in
secrecy – twice seven years of shame for
Slovenia: first, it lasted seven years,
before the Constitutional court found
(in February 1999) that the erasure in
February 1992 was totally illegal – and
since then, another seven years are
already gone without the restauration of
the consequences of that injustice.
But it was not only
an injustice or even an unintentional
administrative mistake, as the
politicians are misleading the public,
but an intentional political crime
– which was finally discovered to the
public already two years ago, but
immediately after that, it was kept
secret again by the politicians and by
the media. The leading "legal
coordinator" of the erasure in the
Ministry of Interior Mr. Debelak
admitted in the interview for the daily
Dnevnik (in March 2004) that the erased
persons were not informed about the
erasure, but that this information was
given to the house-keepers and to the
employers of these persons! It is hard
to immagine a clearer proof that the
erasure was an organized, intentional
attempt how to make to these persons
their life in Slovenia impossible and
how to force them to leave Slovenia
without a formal expulsion. But at that
time (just before the referendum about
the law on the erased in April 2004) the
hysteria of the misled public opinion
was already such that politicians and
media easily "didn't hear" this clear
evidence of the intentional political
crime – and they continued to spread
lies instead of truth. That's why we
call attention to this clear evidence of
a political crime once more – not to let
it sink definitively in the oblivion.
And this evidence was not the only one –
see for example the letter of Minister
Bavčar form 5 June 1992 to the
Government, discovered and published 12
years later (on 26 February 2004 in
daily Dnevnik) – with the famous
sentence that, in deciding the requests
of the erased persons, "their acquired
rights must be neglected (or:
abstracted)".
In the time when,
for ten years, the "erased" were divided
into 18.305 humiliated and atomized
individuals, the state was even prepared
to give to them mercifully "some crumb
from the rich man's table". But, few
years ago, as some hundreds of them
finally dared to join in an association
(now two) and to begin an organized
battle for their rights, the mercy and
the crumbs were over – and our legal
victory at the Constitutional court in
April 2003, paradoxically, ment even the
worst political defeat of our rights and
also of the rule of law.
The right-wing
parties had begun an open battle against
our rights, with lies and xenophobia,
and the left-wing parties dared not to
oppose it resolutely. Our rights were
represented all the time only by the
party ZLSD (now: socialdemocrats), but,
when it became clear that just the
Minister of Interior Mr. Bohinc and the
President of the Parliament Mr. Pahor,
both belonging to this party, were the
most responsible for the non-execution
of the decision of the Constitutional
court, all the hope in Slovenia was
definitively lost. In such
circumstances, the victory of xenophobia
on the referendum in April 2004 with 95%
of votes was no more a surprise.
On the other hand,
in last two years the pressure of
international forums on Slovenia
increased:
- in July 2003: the
report of the commission of the Council
of Europe (ECRI) on its visit in
Slovenia in December 2002
- in October 2003:
the report of the Commissioner for Human
Rights Mr. Gil Robles on his visit in
Slovenia in May 2003
- in July 2005: the
report of the UN Committee for Human
Rights on Slovenia
- in November 2005:
the report of the UN Committee for
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on
Slovenia
- in November 2005:
the report of the European center
against racism and xenophobia
- in May 2005: the
second visit of the Office of the
Commissioner Gil Robles (checking of the
situation after the first visit in May
2003 – we are still waiting for the
report)
- in the fall of
2005 the Committee for Petitions of the
European Parliament declared the
petition of the Association of the
Erased admissible and had begun the
procedure to decide on it.
All the
international forums which had already
completed their procedures are
requesting from Slovenia to resolve the
problem of the "erased" in accordance
with the decisions of the Constitutional
court – but all the activity of the
Slovenian Government in this field since
its election one year ago is consecrated
just to the opposite goal: how not to
execute the decisions of the
Constitutional court – either by using a
"Constitutional Act" aimed to by-pass
the new judgment of the Constitutional
court (a legal trick, known from the
austrian practice 10-20 years ago, but
now recognized as totally inadmissible)
or by doing nothing at all, overturning
the responsability on the opposition if
it will not be prepared to cooperate in
the trick with the "Constitutional Act".
Unfortunately,
there is another sad parallel with
Austria: so as Austria refuses to
execute the decision of its
constitutional court about the rights of
Slovenian minority in Carinthia
(Kärnten), so Slovenia refuses to
execute the decision of its
constitutional court about the rights of
the "erased". But even more sad is the
hitherto reaction of the European Union:
to this union of states which should be
distinguished by respect for human
rights and for the rule of law Austria
is presiding this year and Slovenia will
be presiding in 2008. Under such a
presidencies, of course, the hope for
respect of human rights doesn't exist.
The proverb says
that the hope dies last. Does it mean
that we will die earlier?
The Association
of the Erased Residents of Slovenia
on its assembly
on 19 February 2006
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