Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Slovenia (Ratification: 1992)

Other comments on C111

Observation

Direct Request

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Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Protection of workers against discrimination. Legislation. The Committee notes the adoption of the Employment Relationship Act No. 21/13 of 5 March 2013, replacing the Employment Relationship Act No. 103/07. The Act supplements provisions regarding the liability of the employer in case of discrimination with respect to moral damage (section 8) and the protection of parents against termination in employment by prohibiting the employer to undertake any action to start the termination procedure during the protected periods (section 115). The Committee notes that the same grounds of discrimination are covered in the new act and recalls that in a previous report, the Government indicated that “belief” also, but not only, covered political belief. In this respect, the Committee notes from the Government’s report that no violations on the ground of political belief were established by the labour inspectorate between 2010 and 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of Act No. 21/13, including any relevant administrative and judicial decisions, with respect to the protection of workers against discrimination on the basis of all the grounds enumerated by the Convention (race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction and social origin) and any additional grounds prohibited by the law. Please provide information on any interpretation of the ground of “belief” under Act No. 21/13 given by the courts.

Sexual harassment. The Committee notes that, pursuant to section 47(2) of Act No. 21/13, the employer must now inform workers of the measures taken pursuant to section 47(1) to protect them from sexual and other harassment or from mobbing in the workplace. Section 218(4) provides for penalties in case of non-compliance with this obligation. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that regular monitoring of section 47(1) and (2) of the Act is ensured by labour inspectors, who detected 27 violations of section 47(2) and 96 violations of section 47(1) in 2013. Regarding the public sector, the Government indicates that at the beginning of 2014, over 500 people had taken part in the training of advisors to offer help and advice to victims of sexual harassment under the Decree on Measures for Protecting the Worker’s Dignity at Work in State Administration No. 36/09. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken by employers to prevent sexual harassment and protect workers against this practice, both in the private and the public sector, and to continue to provide information on cases of sexual harassment dealt with by labour inspectors and the courts.

Discrimination based on national extraction. The Committee recalls the concerns expressed in 2010 by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) regarding non-Slovenes from the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (namely the “erased” people) facing difficulties in terms of access to social and economic rights, including access to education and employment because of their lack of legal status. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that the Act Regulating the Legal Status of Citizens of Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic of Slovenia, as amended in 2010, grants prospective and retroactive residence permits to persons submitting applications and fulfilling the legal requirements in accordance with the Constitutional Court Decision No. U-I-246/02-28 of 3 April 2003. The Committee notes from the report of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) that the Act has been criticized for setting requirements that are excessively hard to meet. The ECRI further indicates that from the date of its entry into force until April 2013, only 368 applications for permanent residence were lodged, of which 101 resulted in permanent residence permits – estimates regarding the number of remaining “erased” persons are around 13,000 – (CRI(2014)39, 16 September 2014, paragraph 120–132). The Committee also notes the adoption on 21 November 2013 of the Act regulating Compensation for Damage to Persons Erased from the Permanent Population Register which regulates the restitution of damage to persons who were erased from the register of the permanent population, further to the judgment of the European Court for Human Rights in Kuric and others v. Slovenia (Application No. 26828/06, 26 June 2012). The Committee notes the information provided by the Government with respect to access to education and understands that persons holding a permanent or temporary resident status should have equal access to education with Slovenian citizens if they or their providers are employed in Slovenia (and therefore are tax payers). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of persons who have benefitted from the provisions of the Act Regulating the Legal Status of Citizens of Former Yugoslavia Living in the Republic of Slovenia and their situation with respect to access to education and training, employment and occupation. The Government is also requested to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged to address the situation of those persons excluded from the effect of these provisions who continue to face difficulties in accessing education, training or employment.

Equality of opportunity and treatment of men and women. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government regarding the implementation of the Resolution on the National Programme for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men 2005–13, including on programmes promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship of women and the active employment policy programmes attended by women. The Committee also notes the Government’s efforts to better reconcile work and family life, such as the introduction of special forms of part-time work for mothers and fathers with children up to a certain age; the Family Friendly Enterprise Certificate; and the Balancing Power between the Sexes initiative. The Committee also notes that, according to the Eurostat Labour Force Survey (2010), there is a significant gender segregation within the labour market. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged to promote equal opportunities and treatment between men and women, including measures aimed at reconciling work and family responsibilities and promoting women’s access to a wider range of jobs and educational and vocational opportunities, and their impact on gender segregation in the labour market. Please also provide updated statistical information on the participation of women and men in the labour market, disaggregated by sector and occupation.

Equality of opportunity and treatment of the Roma. The Committee welcomes the measures taken by the Government to include persons from the Roma community in the active employment policy programmes implemented by the Employment Service comprising measures regarding counselling and assistance in jobseeking, education and training, promotion of employment and self-employment, including community work, and social inclusion. The Committee also welcomes the measures taken, within the framework of the Strategy for Education of the Roma in Slovenia amended in 2011, to include more Roma children in education and to introduce and train Roma assistants in schools so as to improve the relations between teachers and children and parents and the school. The Committee notes the project Towards Knowledge Together Implementing the Goals of the Strategy for Education of Roma in the Republic of Slovenia from April 2014 until August 2015 aimed at further developing and upgrading innovative and alternative forms of educational work to integrate Roma children through family literacy and increased cooperation with the non-Roma population. In its 2014 report, the ECRI noted that the problem of separate classes for Roma seems to have been resolved even if there is still a high concentration of Roma children in certain schools due to geographical reasons (ECRI (2014)39, paragraph 101). Recalling that one of the main reasons of the high unemployment rate among Roma is their very low education level, the Committee requests the Government to pursue its efforts to promote equal access of Roma to education and training and to continue to provide information on the results of the various initiatives taken in this respect. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures implemented to promote access to employment and to particular occupations of Roma men and women, including a description of the community work programmes, and their concrete results. Please also indicate the reasons for focusing primarily on community work in the context of employment programmes. The Government is requested to provide information on the measures taken to prevent and address discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices against the Roma community.

Equality of opportunity and treatment of workers with disabilities. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government with respect to the employment of persons with disabilities. It further notes from the Government’s National Report to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations the adoption of the Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities 2014–21 which includes education, work, and employment in its main objectives (A/HRC/WG.6/20/SVN/1, 15 August 2014, paragraph 56). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged under the Action Plan 2014 and the results thereof, as they relate to providing equal opportunities and addressing discrimination in education, training and employment.

Enforcement. The Committee welcomes the seminars and trainings organized for judges and state prosecutors as well as for labour inspectors regarding gender equality and mainstreaming, structural and institutional discrimination, the influence of prejudice and how to recognize discrimination in the workplace. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government regarding enforcement of non-discrimination legislation by the labour inspectorate and the Advocate of the Principle of Equality. It notes the low number of violations of the prohibition of discrimination in employment detected by the labour inspectors from 2010 to 2013 (around 35) and addressed by the Advocate of the Principle of Equality (around 20). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken or envisaged to strengthen monitoring and enforcement of the equal treatment legislation and specific information on the Advocate of the Principle of Equality (status, tasks and powers, resources etc.) as well as summaries of its annual reports as they relate to employment and occupation. The Government is also requested to provide information, on any developments regarding the Advocate for Equal Opportunities whose tasks are currently carried out by the Advocate of the Principle of Equality. Please continue to provide detailed information on the number, nature and outcome of discrimination cases dealt with by the courts and the labour inspectorate, and awareness-raising activities among labour inspectors and judges.