During his visit in Slovenia from 20 to 23 March, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, examined the situation of Roma, migrants and asylum seekers and of the increasing number of people living in poverty in the country. He stressed the centrality of human rights to ensure that Slovenian society is truly inclusive.
Slovenia, which lies on the Balkan migration route, dealt in a humanitarian manner with the transit of close to 500 000 migrants and refugees in 2015/2016. While recognising the legitimate need of the Slovenian authorities for the means to cope with such a situation in the future, the Commissioner regretted that this has led to legislative amendments aiming at restricting access to asylum in the country. The Commissioner was particularly concerned that some of these amendments, which would allow the detention of asylum seekers, or empower police to close borders and return asylum seekers without hearing their protection needs, are contrary to Slovenia’s legal obligations under international human rights and refugee law.
