Advocate of the Principle of Equality
Zagovornik načela enakosti
Železna cesta 16 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia
gp@zagovornik-rs.si
+386 1 4735 531
Slovenian, English, French, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian
field_email
The Advocate of the Principle of Equality is an independent and autonomous state institution, which provides assistance and support to persons subjected to discrimination when enforcing their rights regarding protection against discrimination in the form of counselling and legal assistance in administrative and judicial proceedings related to discrimination. The Advocate is also mandated to conduct a supervisory inspection and has the power to submit a request for a review of constitutionality or legality of a regulation or general legal act issued to execute public authorisations.
The tasks of the Advocate of the Principle of Equality are also raising awareness among the general public about discrimination and measures for its prevention, and monitoring the general situation on the national level in the field of protection against discrimination. The Advocate of the Principle of Equality conducts independent research on the position of people with certain personal grounds, publishes independent reports and makes recommendations to state authorities, local communities, holders of public authorisations, employers, business entities and other bodies regarding the established situation of people in certain personal circumstances, i.e. relating to preventing or eliminating discrimination and adopting special and other measures to eliminate discrimination.
The Advocate of the Principle of Equality was established as an independent and autonomous national equality body in 2016 with the Protection against Discrimination Act (PADA).
Prior to the establishment of the Advocate, the protection against discrimination in Slovenia was ensured on the basis of the Implementation of the Principle of Equal Treatment Act (IPETA), but the regulation did not meet the requirements of the European equality directives.
The legal basis for the establishment of the Advocate is the Protection against Discrimination Act (PADA), which has been in force since 24 May 2016 and sets out in detail the powers and tasks of the body. The Head of the Institution, the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, is elected by the National Assembly based on a proposal by the President of the Republic of Slovenia; the term of office of the Head is five years. Miha Lobnik is the Head of the independent state body.
Private, Public
Representing victims of discrimination before the courts, Bringing proceedings in the name of the equality body [with or without an identifiable victim] but on behalf of one or more individual person(s) who consents to this., Intervention in support of a party, Defending own legally binding decision before the courts, Requests for constitutional review of discriminatory regulations before the Constitutional Court
Fields | Grounds |
---|---|
Education | Age, Disability, Family Status, Gender Identity, Gender, Health Status, Other Grounds, Race and Ethnic Origin, Sexual Orientation, Religion or Belief, Social or Socio-economic Status |
Employment | Age, Disability, Family Status, Gender Identity, Gender, Health Status, Other Grounds, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Sexual Orientation, Social or Socio-economic Status |
Social Protection & Healthcare | Age, Disability, Family Status, Gender, Gender Identity, Health Status, Other Grounds, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Sexual Orientation, Social or Socio-economic Status |
Goods and Services | Age, Disability, Family Status, Gender, Gender Identity, Health Status, Other Grounds, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Sexual Orientation, Social or Socio-economic Status |
Other | Age, Disability, Family Status, Gender, Gender Identity, Health Status, Other Grounds, Race and Ethnic Origin, Religion or Belief, Sexual Orientation, Social or Socio-economic Status |
The Protection Against Discrimination Act (PADA) includes an open-ended definition of protected grounds by using the wording "or any other personal ground". The Advocate thus covers all protected grounds listed in the table above in all fields of life. However, above-listed grounds of age (specifically related to children), family status and health status are treated as 'other grounds' as they are not explicitly listed in PADA. On the other hand, PADA explicitly lists other protected grounds not included in the table above, namely, language, gender expression and education.
Standalone dedicated national equality body
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of cases handled | 149 | 158 | 253 | ||||
Number of inquiries | 68 | 79 | 93 | 200 | 319 | ||
Number of litigation cases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Single headed equality body (led by director or ombudsman/commissioner)
The head of the independent state body is Miha Lobnik. The Advocate employs 20 members of staff.
This institution does not have regional officies.
National Parliament
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of staff members working on equality | 23 |
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Operating budget in euros [ACTUAL] | 250000 | 335000 | 1100000 | 1141890 | |||
Operating budget in euros [ALLOCATED] | 200000 | 300000 | 1100000 | 1141890 | |||
Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions) [ACTUAL] | |||||||
Operating budget in euros for the parts of the organisation dealing with equality issues (all types of functions) [ALLOCATED] |