Violence

VIn the field of violence, the Ombudsman considered more complaints this year than in the years before, i.e. 16 cases were considered, while three cases less were considered in 2018, which shows an increase in the amount of all types of violence.

Most complaints in 2019 referred to violence between former or current partners, and unfortunately, a few cases of violence by adult children against elderly and helpless parents. Slovenian society is still consumed with such tolerance of vi- olence and numerous gender-based prejudices that victims are frequently mis- understood and unsupported in their decision to leave violence behind. Another Slovenian phenomenon is that individuals do not want to meddle in the partner- ships of other people who they know (neighbours or acquaintances in their social network) despite hearing loud quarrels and witnessing various types of violence.

Principally, the Slovenian legislation on domestic violence and violence against women is well regulated. However, legislation alone does not suffice to reduce the occurrence of violence; highly qualified personnel in various institutions are required to integrate legislation in daily life and reduce tolerance towards vio- lence. The complaints of people who contact the Ombudsman show that citizens do not receive the same quality of institutional services everywhere in Slovenia although they should. One of the most acute problems is that most programmes for both victims and perpetrators of violence are held in Ljubljana, while other areas lack such services.

Slovenia has signed almost all the important declarations, conventions and agreements dealing with domestic violence and violence against women. In

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2014, Slovenia ratified a very important document, i.e. the Council of Europe Con- vention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic vi- olence (the so-called Istanbul Convention). The main goal of the Convention is to create a Europe without violence against women and domestic violence. This strategic document is the basis for various measures that legally and actually in- tegrate domestic violence and violence against women in the wider framework of combating discrimination against women and achieving gender equality. The sig- natories are obliged to comprehensively approach the consideration of violence, including the prevention of violence, protection and support for victims, the pros- ecution of perpetrators, and comprehensive and coordinated actions. The recent study conducted by the European Institute for Gender Equality, entitled Estimating the costs of gender-based violence in the European Union, has also proven that the adoption of the Convention was a necessary step towards a more comprehen- sive and effective consideration of domestic violence. The study has shown that such violence particularly affects women’s human rights and the basic purpose of the measures is to prevent further violations of these rights, as such violations have harmful consequences for vulnerable groups, especially women.

In 2014, Slovenia commenced the implementation of the ratified Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the so-called Lanzarote Convention), which is an important protection mechanism for children but only if expert workers are familiar with the content of the Convention and aware of the obligations it imposes on them.⁷¹

The Ombudsman also deals with violence against the elderly. Such a form of do- mestic violence is specific, as violence against helpless parents (neglect, extortion, threats) is more difficult to detect and the elderly are ashamed of reporting vio- lence perpetrated against them by their own children. However, the elderly have a limited social network and only the health visiting service, among the expert services that work in the field, has access to them.

Attention must also be paid to forced marriages of Roma girls and boys. The con- sequences of child marriage are similar for all children regardless of whether the marriages are forced or not. A girl can become pregnant soon after the wedding and drops out of school, and only rarely is a girl included in the labour market.

Uneducated women whose main concern is to care for their children are restrict- ed to only their private life. A woman excluded from society, however, can easily fall victim to violence at home as, due to a lack of other options, she can become resigned to her situation, thus repeating the patriarchal pattern of society in the future. Roma women are not only held back by norms and values characteristic of the Roma culture, but also by prejudice, discrimination and the stereotypical mindset of the majority of society. The issue of forced marriages should be re- solved with a wider and more comprehensive regulation of the living conditions of Roma in terms of education, health care, housing policy, employment, etc.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) proposes that forced marriages be criminalised on the basis of the Istanbul Convention. Slovenian leg-

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71 Regarding this, see chapter “Children”, sub-chapter “Realisation of the Ombudsman’s past recommendations”.

islation does not define forced marriage as a type of violence, but applicable leg- islative provisions contain individual elements (for example trafficking in human beings, sexual assault against persons under 15, child neglect and maltreatment, using coercion against underage girls, violation of personal dignity and safety).

Most European countries that decided to criminalise forced marriage regulated this field in the national criminal code.

The Ombudsman has for years been finding inconsistencies among various au- thorities when implementing measures to protect the victims and perpetrators of violence. Unfortunately, there are still cases when a person accompanying a victim to a social work centre is not allowed to be present at an interview with the victim at the social work centre, despite the act being adopted in 2008 and amended six years later. The Ombudsman points out that the competent authorities must constantly ensure that their expert workers (social work centres, educational institutions, health care, justice, the police) receive regular training; we must be aware of the importance of coordinated action, otherwise neither the victim not the perpetrators of violence will receive the help they need.

We should also highlight that we also have to work with perpetrators of vio- lence; frequently, these grow up in families consumed with violence, leading them to adopt violent behaviour as something natural and socially acceptable. At the same time, we must point out the role of secondary socialisation; a child who experiences domestic violence will continue with such behaviour regardless of gender if they are not informed at school about human rights, respect for others and nonviolent communication. The purpose of schools is not only to educate but to bring up. This part of prevention is systemically ignored too frequently despite its high importance.

Children are born into families consumed with violence through no fault of their own, so they must be given an opportunity to learn to live without violence, in the harmony of diversity and respect for others, as this is the only way to create a so- ciety that has zero tolerance of violence in the long term.

Recommendation no. 118: The Ombudsman recommends that the com- petent authorities (social work centres, educational institutions, health care, justice, the police) constantly provide training in violence to their ex- pert workers (ongoing task).

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2.17.2. Realisation of the Ombudsman’s past recommendations

The Ombudsman’s past recommendations that remain partially realised or fully unrealised are highlighted below. In the online edition of the annual report avail- able on the Ombudsman’s website, we provide additional substantive explana- tions regarding the (non)realisation of past recommendations.