Persons with disabilities or persons with special needs are in a particularly sensitive situation. They reasonably expect that state authorities will do more to allow them decent and as independent and sovereign communication with them as possible. More should be done for this (or at least within the framework of regulatory provisions) so that deaf or deaf-blind persons are able to use sign language or other adjusted forms of communication (interpreters) in procedures before state and local authorities. It is of great concern that in cases when state authorities make mistakes in administrative procedures, also by incorrectly interpreting of legislation, there is no possibility of retroactive payments of eligible income (e.g. simultaneous enforcement of child-care allowance and assistance and attendance allowance), or persons affected must return unjustifiably received social assistance or part of their personal income (due to an error by the authority). People find themselves in severe financial distress which is not their own fault, and their social position is at risk, since they have to repay what the owe in a very short time, which drives them to despair and extreme disappointment over the quality and justice of the functioning of state authorities. It is unacceptable for the entire burden of errors of the authorities to be borne or assumed by people, and most frequently also without establishing the responsibility of the authorities that made the mistake. Public employees must be willing to accept the mistakes they make and remedy them, so that the state assumes the burden of its own mistakes. The consequences of unjustifiably extending procedures or exceeding the statutory time limits on decision making cannot be imposed on clients, nor should they be blamed for the problems that occurred. Authorities may misplace or lose certain documents; these also include providers of health service, who should be particularly careful when protecting data entrusted to them by law. In cases of their loss, the providers must assume full responsibility and help the injured parties immediately by at least issuing a suitable certificate. Rehabilitation of degraded environment is mandatory The right to a healthy living environment is gradually gaining recognition as a human right; however, I find that in Slovenia we are not aware that a polluted environment is a severe threat to people’s health and the maintenance of natural balance – if not today, then surely tomorrow. It is an encroachment on the individual’s private and family life, which was determined several times with the analysis of received complaints, when visiting degraded surroundings and speaking with the people affected, and also during regular monthly discussions with non-governmental organisations and civil society initiatives involved in this issue and also directly in the field (in Ankaran, Mežica and Vrhnika in 2015, and in the Celje region and Bela Krajina in 2014). The number of complaints in this field is growing annually. We have noticed for years that systemic changes or concrete activities that affect the environment are frequently implemented without public participation. The disregard for the public and the ratified Aarhus Convention causes dissatisfaction in many cases, particularly when developments significantly reduce the quality of life, and arouse resistance among the affected people and the establishment of civil initiatives. Reducing funds for rehabilitating certain environments is an utterly unacceptable measure, because the state must rectify the consequences of ill-judged past decisions that are endured by the citizens, particularly children. Citizens should not have to petition for rehabilitation. The state is obliged to rectify this as soon as possible. Funds are always found to rehabilitate e.g. ‘gaps in the banking system’, while it seems that polluted human surroundings are not a priority task for decision makers, to which as the Ombudsman I decisively object. It is difficult to imagine the life of people on whose doorstep a composting plant or a biogas facility has been built and have to live in stench and noxious odours every day. A regulation to govern the field of noxious odours must be prepared, which the Ombudsman has been stressing for several years to no avail. The state is obliged to protect its citizens from such developments by implementing supervision of the issue of permits, operations and safety of industrial activities, particularly if such activities could be hazardous to the environment and human health. I wonder why the interests of capitalists are frequently more important than the public need. demands of people, civil initiatives or local inhabitants to relocate base stations. The problems occur with the payment of relocating individual problematic base stations. The construction of base stations is a textbook example of the consequences of insufficient inclusion of the interested public and local communities in the planning process, which does not suitably inform or clarify, and joint agreement. People say that they do not believe anyone any more. I also wish to draw attention to the frequently inefficient and non-transparent work of inspection services, which have nevertheless published their strategic guidelines and priorities on their websites on the basis of our recommendations. However, we still believe that work priorities as defined in the internal rules of the Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for the Environment and Spatial Planning should be defined in a regulation. In 2015, cooperation with the Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for the Environment and Spatial Planning was good. Let us end the new-age slavery of workers I am exceptionally displeased with the actions of the state authorities in cases of new-age forms of slave work, which is a glaring example of violating fundamental human, labour and social rights and human dignity. Foreign workers are in an even worse situation, because they are unfamiliar with their rights and suitable ways of protecting them. Why do new entrepreneurs record exceptional profits, but do not settle their liabilities to their workers and the state? Have many established ten or more private companies due to their many business operations, or perhaps also with bad intentions? Is it necessary to discuss this issue for several decades? While the state and law enforcement authorities refuse to take sufficient action, we follow stories of short-changed workers reported in the media with great pain and anger. Until these rapidly established and ‘hollow’ business elitists are not substantially afraid of ruthless exploitation, they will continue to heartlessly exploit local and foreign workers with the aid of porous legislation, transfer their ‘dirty money’ to private foreign accounts, and continue to deliberately bankrupt once flagship companies of our business sector. Workers will not only be left on the street, but will be robbed of their basic human dignity, abandoned and ashamed in front of the doors of humanitarian organisations. While the state does nothing. It is simply impossible to live on promises. In 2015, we again discussed the issues of the non-payment of salaries and social security contributions, chaining of companies, employment in precarious (uncertain) forms of work, ill-treatment, bullying, mobbing and other forms of violence at work, the conduct of inspection procedures, suspicious placement abroad, voluntary traineeship and the problem of foreign migrant workers. I believe that the state is not aware of the seriousness or the extent of the non-payment of salaries. The shortage of personnel at certain inspections could be corrected by reorganising staff within the public administration, which particularly applies to the Labour Inspectorate, which employs only 78 inspectors, and in spite of 16,000 inspections cannot sufficiently monitor the implementation of labour legislation in many companies. Systemic measures are urgently needed to ensure a transparent, efficient and fast system of supervision of the payment of salaries and other contributions. People are deprived of their minimum dignity when employers with unstoppable double-crossing and chaining of companies are refusing to pay workers for their work. And when workers wish to retire, they discover that their employer had not been paying their social security contributions. They are injured yet again in their retirement with lower pensions. The state is unquestionably responsible for the situation of many workers; as the Ombudsman, I ask all responsible parties to invest more effort in eliminating this shameful violation of human rights in the shortest time possible. The systems are in the domain of the state, and if the measures are inefficient or poor, they have to be replaced with new ones immediately. In 2015, we also dealt with the introduction of the digital radio system (GSM-R) without suitable notification of the public. In spite of responding and a readiness to cooperate, the responsible authorities do not meet the On the occasion of Human Rights Day, we prepared a round table with the Slovene Ethnographic Museum on the topic of the employment and employment relationships of young people. With representatives of many institutions and organisations, we revealed the problems of young people when venturing onto the labour market after completing their education. We mutually condemned unpaid traineeships and other forms of exploiting young people’s work, and expressed our expectation that more efficient systemic measures would be adopted to create new jobs for the young and revive traineeship and apprenticeship. We determined that, 18 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 19 1 INTRODUCTION 1 INTRODUCTION doing so, they encroach upon the reporters’ privacy, human rights and fundamental freedoms and violate the principles of confidentiality and good administration.