We were unable to provide a reply to the journalist’s question about how many criminal violations of labour rights we had discussed, because we do not keep separate statistics on this subject. This issue is in the domain of the courts. However, we provided a detailed description of our efforts in the field of employment relationships. The Ombudsman informed a journalist that it was discussing on its own initiative the issue of workers seconded to temporary work abroad. More on this is written in Chapter 2.10.4. The financing of Info point for foreigners at the Employment Service of Slovenia was also terminated last year. In our public statement, we assessed that by terminating the financing of the project aliens, migrants and asylum seekers, who are especially vulnerable, would have no urgently required advocacy and consulting and would be pushed even further to the edge of the society and onto a path of illegal exploitation in our country. All of the above was taking place when the migrant crisis was at its height. We also added that the state should find financial resources to continue the project. 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OMBUDSMAN’S WORK Base stations and the right to water In the field of the environment, we received a question about whether the Human Rights Ombudsman was considering filing a request for a constitutional review of the Railway Traffic Safety Act (ZVZelP). We did not file a request, but stated our position that the right to water as a fundamental human right must be enshrined in Slovenian legislation. Management of the right to water must be uniform and not as it is now, when each municipality individually determines the conditions for disconnecting the drinking water supply. The right to water is also inseparably connected with the right to life, dignity and health. The Ombudsman assessed again that the right to water is one of the rights which are basic for people’s life. The quality of life, particularly of vulnerable groups, may deteriorate significantly if this right is violated. The Ombudsman thus called on the state to regulate this right at the highest level, i.e. to enter it in the Constitution, and also arrange sectoral legislation (e.g. determine drinking water supply at the national level in the Environmental Protection Act and no longer only at the local level as it is now, when the supply of drinking water is a mandatory municipal utility service of environment protection). Great concern for children’s rights The field of children’s rights also received a lot of attention from the media. We publicly expressed our outrage at the termination of study assistance for children with special needs. The Ombudsman was concerned because no guarantees were given that these and other austerity measures in education were only temporary. The Ombudsman never agrees with any limitation of the rights of the most vulnerable groups of citizens and thus asked the state to find other ways to make savings. It also disagreed with the idea that schools themselves should assess the pupils eligibility for this assistance (i.e. ignoring the provisions of decisions on placement) and combine study assistance for more pupils, which would undoubtedly amount to merely formal fulfilment of the provisions of decisions on the placement of individuals. We also called for the consistent observance of applicable regulations, which also include decisions on the placement of children with special needs. More on this issue and its positive resolution can be found in Chapter 2.16 Children’s rights. We informed the public about our position on the transportation of persons with disabilities, outlined in detail our work regarding children with emotional and behavioural disorders, and repeated our established position on home schooling. Regarding the latter, the criteria of home schooling must be defined more thoroughly. We also expect greater supervision to prevent violations of children’s rights to education, more frequent testing of knowledge to enable a prompt determination of children’s progress or regression, including the seeking of 192 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 optimum conditions for children’s development. The Ombudsman also expects the introduction of qualification criteria for home teachers to be considered. A teacher’s proposal about THC testing of secondary school students received a lot of attention. We discussed and published it, unattributed, on our website. A practical lessons teacher in a secondary technical school asked for our opinion and recommendations about testing students on the presence of THC in their saliva. She required the Ombudsman’s opinion on whether the application of tests would constitute a violation of any human rights. She also added that the testing would take place in a school advisory service room and that at least one additional expert colleague would be present. The purpose of such testing would be solely to protect students unable to follow or perform practical training under the influence of drugs and who thus endanger themselves and others. We submitted our reservations to the complainant. More on the issue can be found in Chapter 2.15 Children’s rights. Since violence is still present in Slovenian society in all its forms, and children are its frequent victims, certain journalists expressed their concern about the arrangement of psychological support offered to them. The public was outraged about cases of children being seized. More on this topic can be found below. In May 2015, the European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe determined that the Republic of Slovenia was violating Article 17 of the European Social Charter because it had not yet prohibited the corporal punishment of children. The Ombudsman repeated publicly that this issue must be regulated legally as soon as possible, either by amending the Family Violence Prevention Act or in the new Family Code. We were also asked about our opinion on begging or the economic exploitation of children. The Ombudsman assessed that the regulatory framework preventing the economic exploitation of children is adequate in the Republic of Slovenia, whereby we are aware that it is very difficult to detect such conduct within a family and even harder to sanction it. Furthermore, certain reasons for economic exploitation of children and child labour could be eliminated with efficient mechanisms to abolish poverty. A case of peer mobbing based on nationality of a 10-year old boy in Deskle received a lot of attention in 2014. The Ombudsman said that the fact that the incident which had taken place at school is reprehensible, and required thorough and responsible consideration by representatives and other expert workers at the school, and especially by the parents of the children involved. The Ombudsman also recommended several measures to be taken by the school’s bodies. Seizures of children The public was outraged about cases of children being seized. The Ombudsman could not comment on the events, since it lacked authorisation and sufficient objective information. We stated that seizure is only one of the pressures to which a child is exposed and which most clearly shows that children are always the victims of parental disagreements. Therefore, all state authorities and holders of public authorisations should particularly note the requirement that a child’s benefit should be the main consideration in decision making procedures. The expert workers of social work centres would have to prepare both parents in advance for the seizure and its consequences and not merely observe the child’s reaction to a (physical) seizure in the last phase of the procedure. Unfortunately, the seizure proves that parents were unable to agree on minimum cooperation in the upbringing and care of their child, and frequently also to the fact that the legal remedies applied were not efficient. We believe that legislation should provide more remedies to enforce observance of competent authorities’ decisions, which would enable prompt and effective reactions in all cases when one of the parents fails to comply with a court decision. In other cases, the Ombudsman assessed that schools are not an appropriate place for the enforcement of seizure, especially if the latter may be carried out in another place and does not harm the child. The Ombudsman also ascertained that legal provisions regulating the enforcement of final and executable court decisions relating to the care and education of children and personal contacts comply with the principle of the best interests of the child and that regulatory changes are not required in this regard. However, it would ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 193 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OMBUDSMAN’S WORK of initial capital required for the establishment of a company would also be suitable. We also pointed out several forms of insecure employment relationships and covert employment relationships. We emphasised that the Ombudsman had been exceptionally critical about all forms of precarious work for a long time, and drawing the attention of competent ministers and authorities to the problem and calling upon changes with various recommendations. On this topic, the Ombudsman also organised a panel discussion entitled ‘How did work lose its dignity?’ in 2014 (further information is available on the Ombudsman’s website under Projects).