It all started in May 2003. Only a month before the Slovenian government was to send its 2^nd state report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, it  “remembered” to ask national NGOs for their comments on the report.

 

Of course, it was very clear that, as they sent this “request” to the Slovenian branch of SEECRAN (Children’s Rights Action Network for SE Europe) such a short time before submitting the report to Geneva, they actually do not want any serious comments.

 

Despite the unreasonably short time available SEECRAN did their best by sending e-mails to all national NGOs they knew to be dealing with children, and asking them to submit their comments on the very superficially written governmental report.  Fourteen organisations replied, EIP Slovenia - School for Peace included, with serious, expert based comments.

 

For us at EIP Slovenia it was not difficult. When I read the state report I noticed that HRE or children’s rights education was not mentioned in it at all! There were only a few sentences on disseminating knowledge of the CRC among children, no concrete data, nothing. Nothing about in-service teacher training on HRE, nothing about projects done by NGOs in that field over the past years.  And, of course, nothing about the problematic areas, such as pre- and in- service HRE teacher training, the lack of state support for such NGO activities, HRE with vulnerable groups of children etc.

 

Over the last two years EIP Slovenia has been an initiator, leader and co-ordinator of several HRE projects on the national level, and at that time we were co-ordinating a NGO coalition of 10 organisations (including the ombudsman’s office) for a national CRC dissemination and education project “My Rights”.  As a result, we had in our hands a good deal of data on CRC knowledge and implementation in the formal educational system, obtained from surveys we had conducted among school children and teachers. We also had a lot of information and feedback from the 87 schools and 1.200 teachers participating in our projects, about their problems and lack of basic HRE knowledge and skills. As there are also absolutely no HRE issues taught during the obligatory 5 years of University pre-service teacher training, and no state programs for CRC dissemination or education, we were in a position to say a lot about what should be done.

 

 

GETTING ORGANISED

 

Immediately after sending our comments to SEECRAN it became clear to all 14 NGOs involved that there were too many problems we wanted to speak about to make just a page or two of “comments” to the state report. Instead we agreed that it would be much smarter to compile our comments into a separate, alternative report and send it to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

 

During the summer months the editing process and translation was done and the report sent to the UN with the help of an NGO-group in Geneva that offers help and advice to national NGOs working with children.

 

The national NGO coalition gathered for this task informed the Government in a professional manner about the work being done. We also made public both the state and the alternative NGO report on our websites (EIP Slovenia in our virtual HRE Library on http://www.eip-ass.si).

 

 

PRESENTATION IN GENEVA OF ALTERNATIVE NGO REPORT ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

 

In September 2003 the UN Committee officially invited the NGO representatives to attend the pre-hearing meeting at the Palais Wilson in Geneva. The NGO-group on CRC from Geneva offered financial support for one representative (travel, accommodation) and all advice needed. They also sent instructions on how to prepare for the meeting, what the procedure would be like etc.

 

On the national level the NGOs involved decided to send two delegates - a representative from SEECRAN who would cover the social and legal problems of our children and an expert on Roma children from the Peace Institute. As we at EIP Slovenia had strong reason to believe that there should also be someone to present the HRE problems and also because through EIP we can enjoy consultative status with OHCHR, EIP International agreed to give us support.

 

In October 2003 all three Slovenian NGO representatives arrived in Geneva and after getting our passes to Palais Wilson we were met by representatives of the NGO-group on CRC who immediately briefed us on what we should know, expect and do at the pre-hearing session with the Committee.

 

Because representatives of international NGOs and inter-governmental organisations (such as UNESCO or UNICEF) are allowed to be present and speak at such sessions I asked Ms Monique Prindezis, EIP Secretary General, to be there with me. It is also important to know that state representatives are not allowed to be present at the pre-hearing in order to enable NGOs to speak up without fear of being endangered at home.

 

The next morning we returned to the Palais loaded with our materials, documents and data on the situation of children in Slovenia and prepared to speak about what is really going on in our country, which many believe is not facing any serious problems. We were a bit nervous, but determined to use those three hours of the meeting as well as possible for the benefit of our children.

 

The Committee of 18 members from all over the world started their session in a very Swiss manner - exactly on time. After the president’s introduction we were given exactly 15 minutes to speak about the main problems of Slovenian children concerning the implementation of the CRC. After that the Committee members asked questions, starting with the special rapporteur for Slovenia. We received over 60 precise questions and were given a short break in order to group them and decide who would answer what. Of course, there were also questions nobody felt expert enough to tackle, but we were encouraged by the Committee president to concentrate on those we felt we could answer.

 

After the coffee break the discussion started. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly and open manner in which the Committee related to us. They were really interested in the issues and wanted us to help them create a picture of what is actually going on inside the country, why there are problems and how these problems could be solved, and whether our society perceives the child: as an individual, capable of speaking its mind, or as a subject to be taken care of, but without rights.

 

The intensive interaction was going on and three hours were not enough to explain everything they wanted to know. As before and after the pre-hearing session there was also some time available to speak informally with the Committee members and NGO-group representatives, the whole event was a unique occasion to exchange first hand information, lobby and network.

   

OBSERVATION AT THE HEARING OF THE GOVERNMENTAL DELEGATION

 

A week after our meeting with it, the Committee decided to ask the Slovenian Government for more information and clarification.  One reason was that the state report covered only the period to 1999, when Slovenia was due to submit its report, which because of the backlog was heard only in 2004, and was missing all data for 2000-2002. The other reason was that the Committee wanted to know more about some of the issues presented by the NGOs.

 

In January 2004 the Slovenian delegation was scheduled for the hearing. As I was extremely interested in what they would say I arranged (again using the consultative status of EIP International) to be present at the state hearing, this time only as an observer. The hearing of the state party is usually longer - it lasts eight hours and sometimes more than one day, if needed. The Committee decided that 8 hours would do for Slovenia.

 

At home it was virtually impossible for me to find out who would represent the state in Geneva. No one seemed to know who would represent us there. In the Palais I also discovered that a representative of Slovenian UNICEF had arrived as an observer - she had decided to come just a day before. All this was not a surprise for me, as in my country (although small) the lack of communication between government and NGO sector is something normal, even on such important international occasions.

 

When our delegation arrived, four experts from four different ministries (education, social affairs, health and interior affairs) escorted by the Slovenian ambassador and member of our Permanent mission at UN, I saw their faces for the first time. To the surprise of all present at the hearing, including myself, it soon became obvious that the delegated “experts” had problems, which were not only linguistic.

 

The Committee was this time more formal. After the formal introductions the special rapporteur for Slovenia, Ms Nevena Vuckovic Sahovic, was given time to present her report on the state of children in Slovenia and presented the first questions to the delegation. After that Committee members were allowed to raise questions and soon there was a pile of open issues on the table. The delegates tried to answer and unfortunately (fortunately for us!) in many cases admitted the problems and even told more about them than we did in our alternative report! This was also due to their lack of expert knowledge and diplomatic skills. Later I have found out that all four were “apparently” appointed at the last minute (why?), did not know the state report well (who prepared it then??), and were not aware that there would be 8 hours of such hearing (why did not they ask???). So the government’s performance turned out to be a winning situation for NGOs and the children of Slovenia!

 

From everything seen and heard it was very obvious that the Slovenian government hadn’t taken this report, procedure and everything connected to the CRC seriously enough. Usually countries send excellently trained delegates, lawyers and diplomats to such hearings.  I am very happy that I was able to witness this, as otherwise probably nobody outside those four walls in Geneva (especially no one in Slovenia!) would ever have known about what happened.

ACTIVISM ON NATIONAL LEVEL

 

So what to do next? Civil society has the right to be informed, but I had to decide which strategy to use to achieve the maximum impact of the expected UN observations and recommendations. What could help us establish the missing dialogue and cooperation between Government and NGOs to resolve children’s problems?

After returning home I decided to start by writing an observer report on the hearing and to send it to all involved NGOs, EIP members and other people on my mailing list interested in children’s human rights. The first reactions from the government soon followed: a few (not very happy) phone calls from state secretaries, some mails asking for more information and then silence.

 

I have to admit that for some weeks I was not feeling at ease. Finally, I am employed as a teacher and I cannot afford, for example, to lose my job because of an angry Minister (fortunately in Slovenia I do not have to fear for my life!).

 

Very soon after the state hearing, at the end of January 2004, the Committee published the document  “Concluding observations” in which there are 34 strong recommendations about what Slovenia must improve in order to fulfil the demands of the CRC. It is available in different languages at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/crc/doc/co/Slovenia%20CO2.pdf, where you can also find what YOUR country has to do, when it is due to report etc.!). The NGO-Group immediately sent us the above-mentioned links. As one of the state obligations is to make this document public and available (which was not done after the first report) the EIP executive board decided to start activities to make it public. The more people who knew about it, the more that could be done!

 

When staying in Geneva I had already invited Ms Vuckovic Sahovic, the special rapporteur for Slovenia, to visit us, so now I contacted her again and she agreed to be a speaker at a public event in Slovenia. We started to prepare for a public round table discussion on the brand new UN observations we had received. As we at EIP Slovenia are all volunteers and work with a very limited budget, I invited three more NGOs to be co-organisers. We shared the work and costs, translated the document and on 19^th April 2004 organised a public round table discussion on the document.

 

Apart from our special guest from the UN, Ms Vuckovic Sahovic,  six state secretaries from various Ministries attended the discussion as speakers. The ombudsman’s representative for children and over 100 interested experts, NGO activists and students were also in the audience. A lively discussion ensued, the media covered the event and as a result many people in Slovenia today know about the document - it cannot be hidden any more, and the same goes for the problems.

 

At EIP Slovenia we are now very proud to be, as Ms Vuckovic Sahovic pointed out, the country that has reacted the most quickly to Committee’s observations!

 

TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

 

When looking into the future, the first very important thing we have to do at EIP Slovenia is to continue to strengthen the established links and cooperation among NGOs as well as among NGOs and government. But we have to stay realistic. There are many good ideas and programs in the civil sector and now maybe also the government will not ignore (all) of them as before. There might be more such round-table discussions organised on specific problem issues (Roma children, ethnic minorities, adoption, foster care, social care, HRE etc.). Also some important structures such as The National Children’s Rights Committee have to be empowered and The National Action Plan for Implementation of CRC developed as soon as possible.

 

At EIP we will certainly continue to be active in children’s rights issues, also because at the moment we are already preparing a new national HRE project for post-secondary schools called “Democracy in schools”, we will offer HRE modules to the Faculty of Education and try to put up a National Centre for Citizenship Education in the (we hope) not too distant future. All this is now also in accordance with the UN observations and we will not let our government forget that fact!

 

EIP Slovenia - School for Peace leaders and activists now have more hope to be heard and their volunteer HRE work appreciated by the state, as it already is by the teachers, youth and children with whom we work. Personally I hope we have shown new ways of approaching problem issues that will hopefully bring results. Soon. As the children cannot wait!

 

Alenka Bregant

Founder and president of EIP Slovenia - School for Peace