Protection of Ethnic Communities in the Republic of Slovenia
By Miran Komac
Institute for Ethnic Studies

Republic of Slovenia paid special attention to the protection of Italian and Hungarian minorities and there are some provisions concerning the Roma Community. The special rights of these ethnic groups are outlined in the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. For the Italian and Hungarian Minorities in the Article 64 , and for the Roma community in the Article 65.

The framework for the protection of ethnic communities in Slovenia is provided by the concepts of ethnically mixed territory and the system of collective rights which the State grants irrespective of numerical strength or proportion of members of ethnic minorities on the ethnically mixed territory. Collective rights pertain to ethnic minorities as objectively existing subjects. However, it depends on the individual members of the ethnic communities when and to what degree they will exercise their "granted" special rights.

Ethnically mixed areas comprises the territories of the settlements in the individual municipality where members of the autochthonous Italian or Hungarian ethnic communities traditionally live. The area of the ethnically mixed territory is specified in the Statutes of the individual municipalities.

Which right should be pointed out from the model of the protection of Ethnic Communities in Slovenia? Usually this honour goes to the right of members of the minorities to use their language in their private and public live freely and without any restrictions. On the ethnically mixed areas the language of minority has the status of the official language. Several laws are prescribing the use of Italian and/or Hungarian language in visible bilingualism, in the State and municipal administration, in bilingual documents and in judiciary.

Special attention is further paid to the right to education for members of the ethnic communities. Two models of education were developed: compulsory bilingual education in the ethnically mixed area in Prekmurje where the Hungarian minority resides and the monolingual schools for the Italian ethnic community in the coastal bilingual area. The education system for members of ethnic communities is a constituent part of the Slovenian national educational system. This means, among other things, that the State is obliged to ensure the preservation and development of education and their financing, with the active participation of the ethnic communities or their organisations.

Many legal provisions are covering other fields of ethnic minorities' life: information, cultural development, free contacts, the use of national symbols and economic development. And finally the system of participation of members of ethnic minorities in decision making process should be mentioned.

The 1991 Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia guarantees to the members of the Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities appropriate representation in the National Assembly and in representative bodies of local self-government In its Article 80, the Constitution defines more specifically that always "one deputy each shall be elected from the Italian and Hungarian ethnic community" into the National Assembly. More importantly, the State authorises the Self-governing ethnic communities (these institutions are the main political organisations of ethnic minorities) to compile electoral registers of Slovenia s citizens who are members of the Italian or Hungarian minority. The task is performed by a special commission of the respective Self-governing ethnic community. This electoral register is used for the election of representatives of the ethnic minorities at the local level (municipalities) and for the election of representatives in the Self-governing Ethnic communities (Minority Self-governments). It is important to add that the deputies/representatives of the Italian and Hungarian minority in the National Assembly are elected by all members of the ethnic minorities who have voting rights, irrespective of whether they live in the ethnically mixed area or elsewhere in Slovenia. In the latter cases members of the Italian or Hungarian ethnic community are placed on the electoral register of citizens members of the Italian or Hungarian community at their written request.

It is worth mentioning that members of the Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities have the right to cast two votes at the elections for deputies to the National Assembly or at the elections for local self-governing bodies (municipalities). The first vote is "used" to choose a candidate according to the ideological political affinity of members of ethnic minorities, whereas their second vote is intended to elect a special deputy of their ethnic minority.

In an analogy to solutions at the state level, the (dual) voting right of ethnic community members is also granted for elections of ethnic minority members into municipal councils.

In order to properly protect the interests of the ethnic communities and prevent representatives of the majority nation from adopting legislation in the field of "strictly" minority matters against the will of the ethnic communities, the Constitution contains a provision that these "laws cannot be adopted without the consent of ethnic minority representatives" (Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, paragraph 5 of Article 64).

The central political institutions of the ethnic communities are Self-governing ethnic communities - as enacted by the Constitution (paragraph 2 of Article 64). On the basis of that provision, the special Law on Self-governing Ethnic Communities was adopted. Of course, the formation of self-governing ethnic communities does not mean that members of ethnic communities have no opportunities for the establishment of other (political) organisations to express their political affinities and will, or to protect and promote their ethnic identity. However, if such organisations are created, they cannot replace the self-governing ethnic communities in their role. Self-governing ethnic communities remain, on the basis of the constitutional provisions and the appropriate laws, the only legal partner in the process of dialogue between the ethnic communities and the State.

The active participation of the Self-managing ethnic communities is foreseen in several laws covering different fields of ethnic minority life. The Law on the Organisation and Financing of Education stipulates that "the Self-governing ethnic communities co-establish public kindergartens and schools which are established for education in the language of an ethnic community or for bilingual education" In accordance with this provision the local (municipal) Self-managing ethnic communities are co-founders of bilingual or monolingual (in the Italian language) elementary schools, while the national Self-managing ethnic communities are co-founders of bilingual or monolingual (in the Italian language) secondary schools.

Self-managing ethnic communities play an important role in the field of information. The Italian and Hungarian minorities have their own radio and TV station, as part of the Radio Television Slovenia. It therefore seems appropriate to describe the problem of autonomy of the ethnic programmes within this very important media institution. For the ethnic programme within the framework of the Slovenian Radio and Television station there are two channels each headed by a director. The nomination proposal for the director is submitted by the programme board for the ethnic programme, and the same board also authorises the appointment of editors responsible for the ethnic minority programmes. Among the conditions listed for the position of the editor responsible for the ethnic programme is his/her active knowledge of the Italian or Hungarian language respectively.

The role of Self-governing ethnic communities is significant even in the field of economic development of ethnic minorities. The arrangement which the state of Slovenia has adopted in the area of economic development of the ethnic communities could be placed in the framework of "positive discrimination". Slovenia has bound itself, in the Law on the Use of Funds Acquired by Purchase According to the Law on the Transformation of Enterprise Ownership, to set aside part of these funds (amounting to 2.5 % of the accumulated money) exclusively for the creation of an economic foundation for the autochthonous ethnic minorities. On the basis of that law, a special ordinance was adopted defining in more detail the criteria and procedures for the allocation of funds. The right to apply for funds pertains to members of the autochthonous ethnic minorities, and legal entities that are majority owned by members of the autochthonous ethnic communities, or those whose founder is the ethnic community.

The Law on Self-governing Ethnic Communities mentioned two other important fields of activity: firstly, the right of self-governing ethnic communities to co-operate with "kin-nations and their states, with members of ethnic communities in other states and with international organisations"; and secondly, the right that "members of the Self-governing ethnic communities participate in the preparation of interstate agreements relating to the status of ethnic minorities and the protection of their rights."

General considerations

It is possible to say that we have constructed almost ideal model of relations between the ethnic minorities and the State? According to our research activities (Institute for Ethnic Studies) these kind of statements should be treated "cum grano salis". The emphasis of the newly founded Slovene state (in 1991) on the "defence" of the Slovene nation is reflected in the changed concept of the protection of classical/territorial minorities: unlike the former standpoint, which raised the Italian and Hungarian minorities to the level/status of constitutive ethnic elements of the Slovene state (republic of former Yugoslavia), the new Constitution (1991) again degrades them to the level of mere ethnic communities (minorities). Perhaps it was this very reduction of their status, along with explicit stressing of "Slovenehood", that contributed to the development of a considerable gap between the extensive legal regulations and the minority members opinions regarding their attainment. The change of political system, which announced a general increase of human rights, did not bring many positive alterations in the field of ethnic minorities protection. The results of research studies performed in 1992 and 1994, indicate that the frequently expressed conviction about the model system of minority protection in Slovenia cannot sustain empirical examination. Results of 1994 research in Slovene Istra show that most members of the Italian minority feel they have no influence in political life, that the Italians of Slovene Istra have no adequate role in the shaping of their own fate, and that the Republic of Slovenia pays more attention to Slovene minorities abroad than it does to minorities in its own national territory. It is interesting to note that even the level of positive opinions on the adequacy of legal protection of the Italian minority in much lower that might be expected with regard to the extent of the protective standards. The causes of this probably lie in a series of events and processes which turned the period following the formation of the independent Slovene state into a "period of measured insecurity" for minority members. Reduction to the status of classical minorities, explicitly stressing "Slovenehood", are important ingredients of this "insecurity period". A number of lawsuits against national minority legislation, which were taken to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia by various organisations as well, should be added to the above. These lawsuits relate to the question of the guaranteed ethnic minority mandate in the National Assembly; on the competences of the minority representative; to the issue of obligatory bilingual identity cords for all population of the ethnically mixed municipalities; to the use of national symbols of national minorities (primarily the national colours), to the sphere of obligatory bilingual education for all pupils having permanent residence on the ethnically mixed territory. In the reports of ethnic minorities organisations another very important problem is mentioned - inconsistencies in the realization of certain special rights of ethnic minorities (e.g.inadequate implementation of provisions on visible bilingualism, bilingual documents). Another proof that the legal framework is just the first step toward the construction of the society based on tolerance and mutual respect between different ethnic groups.