Advocate of the Principle of Equality

Overview

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.

Brief history

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.

Governing laws and regulations

Mandate

Sectors covered

Private, Public

Legal standing before the courts

Representing victims of discrimination before the courts, Bringing proceedings in the name of the equality body [with or without an identifiable victim], 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

Functions

• Making legally binding decisions on claims of discrimination
• Making recommendations on claims of discrimination [or other decisions on the merit that are not legally binding]
• Undertaking ex-officio investigations
• Organising training, advising and capacity-building activities for particular stakeholders on meeting their obligations
• Organising awareness raising and communication activities
• Advising government on the development, adoption and amendment of law and policy
• Monitoring national law and policy from an equality perspective
• Carrying out specialist research on equality and non-discrimination
• Reporting to national and international bodies on discrimination issues
• Networking with relevant entities in the country and internationally

Fields and grounds

Other grounds

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.

Other mandates of the institution

Standalone dedicated national equality body

Institution

Management and Appointments

Management

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.

Regional or Local offices

This institution does not have regional officies.

Accountability

National Parliament