3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OMBUDSMAN’S WORK Children’s Ombudsmen on violence against children Deputy Tone Dolčič attended the 19th Annual Conference of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) on Violence against Children, which was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, between 21 and 25 September 2015. The conference focused on combating violence against children and the role of children’s ombudsmen in this field. The members of the ENOC were able to exchange best practices and information on the activities and strategies of individual ombudsmen when combating violence against children. Exchange of experience between the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman of the Republic of Croatia Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer and her colleagues, Deputies Jernej Rovšek, mag. Kornelija Marzel, Tone Dolčič and Ivan Šelih, General Secretary mag. Bojana Kvas and Martina Ocepek, Director of the Expert Service, welcomed Croatian Ombudsman Lora Vidović, and her Deputies, Lidija Lukina Kezić and Mario Krešić. The one-day visit of the highest representatives of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Croatia was an opportunity to discuss current work issues of both institutions, to present work and organisation, and to exchange information, experience and findings. Ombudsman Lora Vidović familiarised the expert board of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia with the functioning and achievements of the Croatian Ombudsman. In 2008, the Croatian Ombudsman as an independent national institution acquired status A according to the so-called Paris Principles (Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights). The Croatian Ombudsman is both the central body combating discrimination and also the National Preventive Mechanism for the prevention of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Improving measures relating to detention conditions at EU level Deputy Ivan Šelih attended a seminar entitled ‘Improving measures related to detention conditions at the EU level’ held in Trier, Germany, between 14 and 16 October 2015. Deputy Šelih presented the role of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia when discussing complaints by persons in detention and visiting prisons in the role of the National Preventive Mechanism. The seminar was organised by the Council of Europe and the Academy of European Law in cooperation with FTI – Fair Trials International. On European Asylum Law On 21 October 2015, Ombudsman’s adviser Mojca Valjavec attended the Annual Conference on European Asylum Law 2015, which was held in Trier, Germany. Meeting of ombudsmen for the supervision of armed forces Deputy Jernej Rovšek attended the 7th International Conference of Ombuds Institutions for the Armed Forces – ICOAF, which was held in Prague, the Czech Republic, from 25 to 27 October 2015. The ombudsmen implement control of armed forces and research actions which are subject to complaints submitted to the ombudsmen about armed forces. Countries have different supervisory mechanisms: as independent ombudsmen for armed forces, ombudsmen included in military structures (as inspectors in the USA), or general ombudsmen having jurisdiction over the armed forces (as in Slovenia). The objective of the ICOAF is to establish best practices and exchange experience relating to the tasks, powers and functioning of these institutions. On the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at an international meeting Between 26 and 27 October 2015, Deputy Tone Dolčič attended the 11th meeting and seminar in Zagreb, Croatia, on Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Equal recognition before the law), 202 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 which inter alia binds States Parties to take appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity. Ombudsmen on the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child Deputy Tone Dolčič and Ombudsman’s adviser Lan Vošnjak attended the meeting of the Children’s Rights Ombudspersons’ Network in South and Eastern Europe (CRONSEE) held in Osijek, Croatia, on 28 October 2015, where the participants discussed the Third Optional Protocol on the collective protection of children’s rights, including the refugee crisis and children’s rights protection. The meeting was organised by the Croatian Ombudsman for Children and Save the Children (international non-governmental organisation for children’s rights). Formation of joint standards relating to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants Ombudsman’s advisers Robert Gačnik and Mojca Valjavec attended the Tirana Jurisprudence Workshop and Conference – Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Return Migrants Treatment in South East Europe: Discussing Common Concerns and Establishing Common Monitoring Standards, which was held in Tirana, Albania, between 29 and 30 October 2015. Visit of the National Preventive Mechanism to Croatia Between 3 and 4 November 2015, Deputy Ivan Šelih and colleagues within the framework of the NPM, mag. Jure Markič, Robert Gačnik and Lili Jazbec visited the Croatian NPM, which is being implemented by the Croatian Human Rights Ombudsman (in cooperation with NGOs and other representatives of civil society) as is the case in Slovenia. The representatives of the Slovenian NPM learned about the working methods of the Croatian NPM, particularly their visits to prisons, police stations and psychiatric hospitals. Together with their Croatian colleagues, the Slovenian delegation visited a prison, a police detention centre and Vrapče Psychiatric Hospital in Zagreb, and saw certain interesting solutions, e.g. the supervisor of police detention and a diagnostics centre for prisoners serving sentence in confinement. At the request of the Croatian NPM, the representatives of the Slovenian NPM presented the provision of health care for prisoners within the public health network, its advantages and shortcomings. The interest in the experience of the Slovenian NPM was great, since the Republic of Croatia was planning to implement the provision of health care in the same manner in the future. Various experiences of ombudsmen when cooperating with Constitutional Courts Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer and Deputy Jernej Rovšek attended the 13th International Conference of Ombudsmen Institutions entitled ‘The Role of Cooperation between National and International Stakeholders in Ensuring Constitutional Rights and Freedoms’ on experiences with Constitutional Courts in the field of providing and protecting human rights, which was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, between 10 and 15 November 2015. The Slovenian representatives spoke about the work of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia in relation to state authorities and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia. Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe visits the Ombudsman On 13 November 2015, Deputy Ivan Šelih and his colleagues received Tineke Strik, Rapporteur of the Committee on Migration, Refugees, and Displaced Persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and her two colleagues. Deputy Šelih presented to the Rapporteur the activities and findings of the Ombudsman regarding the refugee problem. Georgian Human Rights Committee visits the Ombudsman Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer and Deputies Jernej Rovšek and Ivan Šelih received the delegation of the Georgian Human Rights Committee, who were on a study visit to Slovenia on 16 November 2015. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 203 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OMBUDSMAN’S WORK A child in the labyrinth of criminal proceedings On 18 September 2015, Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer gave a lecture entitled ‘A child in the labyrinth of criminal proceedings – how the situation is and how it should be’ during the 22nd Pannonian Lawyers’ Symposium in Stegersbach, Austria. The organisers were the Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice and the Burgenland Legal Association.