Meeting of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in Vienna Deputy Jernej Rovšek attended a meeting of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) with national institutions for human rights and ombudsmen, which was held in Vienna, Austria, between 17 and 20 November 2015. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Council of Europe, the Equinet (European Network of Equality Bodies) and liaison officers within governmental structures, parliaments and NGOs. The main activity of the FRA is advising EU bodies on matters of its jurisdiction on the basis of its own findings and research. Since the EU has little information or few mechanisms for collecting data on fundamental rights protection, the FRA collects data and implements its own research for its advisory role. Until recently, the Peace Institute was the contractual partner for collecting data, but this role has now been taken over by the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana. 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OMBUDSMAN’S WORK The role of ombudsmen in the migration crisis Deputy Jernej Rovšek participated at the conference, ‘Ombudsman/National Human Rights Institution – Challenges to Human Rights in Refugee/Migrant`s Crisis’, which was held in Belgrade, Serbia on 22 November 2015. The conference was organised by the Serbian Ombudsman. Ombudsman receives the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland On 27 November 2015, Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer received the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, His Excellency Paweł Czerwiński. ENNHRI meeting in the Netherlands Deputy Jernej Rovšek attended the General Assembly of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), which was held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, between 30 November and 1 December 2015. Representatives of the Ukrainian NPM visit the Ombudsman Representatives of the Ukrainian NPM visited the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia or the Slovenian National Preventive Mechanism. The delegation consisted of Yuriy Belousov, Kostiantyn Zaporozhtsev, Valentyna Obolentseva, Andriy Chernousov, Svitlana Shcherban, Mariia Kolokolova and Ivanna Dzhyma. The guests were received and greeted by Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer. The programme of the visit was prepared and implemented by Deputy Ivan Šelih, and Ombudsman’s advisers, mag. Jure Markič, Robert Gačnik and Lili Jazbec. The guests visited Ig Prison, Ormož Psychiatric Hospital and Ljubljana Police Detention Centre, and presented their work, experience and the findings of the Ukrainian NPM to the expert board of the Slovenian NPM and vice versa. Ombudsman receives the Ambassador of Slovenia in Belgrade Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer received His Excellency Vladimir Gasparič, Slovenian Ambassador in Belgrade, at the Ombudsman’s head office on 11 December 2015. Reception by the Ambassador of Italy Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer and General Secretary mag. Bojana Kvas attended a farewell reception for the Italian Ambassador, Her Excellency Rossella Franchini Sherifis, at the head office of the Embassy of the Italian Republic on 15 December 2015. 204 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 3.5 SERVICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN Article 10 of the Human Rights Ombudsman Act (ZVarCP) stipulates that the Ombudsman’s head office should be in Ljubljana, and that the organisation and work are to be regulated by the Rules of Procedure and other general acts. The service of the Ombudsman is regulated by Chapter VI of the ZVarCP. The ZVarCP stipulates that the Ombudsman’s head office should be in Ljubljana, but we arranged our operations with the Rules of Procedure so that the Ombudsman may also be present in other regions of Slovenia. We commenced working in this manner in 1995 and continue to do so. Paragraph two of Article 52 of the ZVarCP stipulates that the Ombudsman must have an office managed by the Secretary General. The Ombudsman determined in the Rules of Procedure that the service was to be organised as an office comprised of expert services and a service of the secretary general. Employees As of 31 December 2015, the Ombudsman employed 41 persons: six officials (the Ombudsman, four Deputies and the Secretary General), 24 clerks, eight technical public employees and three fixed-term employees. Fixedterm employees include an employee employed for the duration of the Advocate – A Child’s Voice Project (presumably by the end of 2017 or the end of the Project), and two public employees to replace two employees on maternity and child care leave. The average number of employees in 2015 was 38. Twenty-nine employees have university education (including one doctorate and four M.A.s), nine have higher professional education (two are specialists), one employee has higher education and two have secondary education. As of 31 December 2015, expert services employed 21 employees, comprising 19 clerks and two fixed-term employees. Expert services carry out expert tasks for the Ombudsman and their deputies in individual fields within the Ombudsman’s remit, classify complaints, manage the handling of complaints, discuss complaints and prepare opinions, proposals and recommendations, carry out investigations and prepare reports on their findings regarding complaints, and provide information to complainants on their complaints. Expert services are managed by the Director of Expert Services. At the end of 2015, the service of the Secretary General employed 14 persons, including five clerks and nine technical public employees. The service of the Secretary General, independently or in cooperation with external workers, carries out all tasks in the organisational, legal, material, financial and human resources fields, and administrative, technical, information and other tasks required for the Ombudsman’s operation. The employment relationship of the public employee who was transferred to the Ombudsman from the Sector for complaints against the Police of the Police and Security Directorate at the Ministry of the Interior on 1 December 2014 on the basis of Article 53 of the ZVarCP in order to train for the implementation of the NPM tasks and powers of the Ombudsman in the field of police procedures for three months was terminated on 28 February 2015. The employment contracts of two public employees who replaced two employees for the duration of maternity and child care leave ended on 18 January and 28 March 2015 respectively. On the basis of tripartite contracts, we enabled student practice for a first year university programme student of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security of the University of Ljubljana, i.e. from 27 July to 7 August 2015, and a first-level higher education programme student of the Faculty of Administration in Ljubljana between 28 September and 28 October 2015, and two weeks of practice for two secondary school students with special needs. The first student was attending CIRIUS Kamnik and did her student practice between 2 and 13 February 2015; the second student was attending the Janez Levec Training Institute in Ljubljana, and did her practice from 1 to 14 December 2015. The total number of sick leaves in 2015 amounted to 501.5 days, the highest percentage of which was attributed to individuals with 97.5 days (38.23-per cent annual leave), 84 days (32.94-per cent annual leave), 42 days (16.47-per cent annual leave), and 32 days (12.55-per cent annual leave) of sick leave. The total of sick leaves ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 205 3 INFORMATION ABOUT THE OMBUDSMAN’S WORK Ombudsman condemns the terrorist attacks in Paris On 17 November 2015, Human Rights Ombudsman, Vlasta Nussdorfer signed the book of condolence at the French Embassy following the tragic events that took place in Paris. France was shocked by terrorist attacks on 13 November 2015, in which over 130 people were killed and many were injured. The attacks were carried out at six locations in Paris, with the attack in the Bataclan Club accounting for the highest number of casualties.