President Nataša Pirc Musar urged the government to fully tackle the worst human rights violation in Slovenia’s history as she honoured the erased, the thousands of people descending from other parts of the former Yugoslavia who were removed from Slovenia’s register of permanent residents in 1992.
The erased have been forced to become human rights advocates, having to resort to all domestic and international mechanisms in the fight for the respect of human rights, the president said as she presented them with the award she introduced last year to acknowledge work for human rights.
The award recognises that their fight has also been “a fight for a state governed by the rule of law where the rights of all residents are respected”, her office said prior to the ceremony at the Presidential Palace on Human Rights Day.
In her address, the president was critical of how the erased have been treated. On behalf of several NGOs, she proposed a bill a year ago to help several dozen people still suffering from the erasure. She cannot understand why the government or the Interior Ministry have failed to respond.
Just recently, the president intervened to help a frail homeless man who was left without papers due to the erasure to be granted permanent residence and health insurance number so he could be moved to a care home after being stranded for almost two years at the UKC Maribor hospital.
Pirc Musar pledged to do the same for “everyone who will find themselves on the street, without rights”.
“I did not present this award in some hope that something might change soon, unfortunately I have to tell you that I have lost that hope and I feel bad,” she said, adding the award was another attempt to urge the government to “finally deal with this big black spot”.
Accepting the award, Irfan Beširević, the head of the Civil Initiative of Erased Activists, said it was not only a recognition for all the erased, but also for all those who supported them during the long years of their struggle.
He said the award was an incentive to continue the fight for the rights of the erased to be fully recognised by law, noting that there are still some of them who do not have any status in Slovenia. He thanked the president for proposing the bill on the erased, and urged the government to adopt it to “end this calvary”.
