On 9 June 2023, Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina spoke to the participants of the 3rd international conference Contemporary Challenges of Working with at-Risk Youth in a video address. The conference at Zdravilišče Radenci was put together by the Jarše Youth Home.

He emphasised that children and young people are fundamentally among the most vulnerable groups in society and that it is our task to protect them, as they are the most subject to abuse and the least able to ensure their own well-being. “Children and adolescents with special needs and those who come from conditions that are unfavourable for healthy development, or who have emotional and behavioural problems, need additional attention and protection. Special attention should be paid to their inclusion in society. The family is the basic cell that must take care of the child. However, even in Slovenia, for various reasons, not all children and young people can live with their parents in their birth families, which would be able to protect their rights. Due to inadequate social, economic, or other conditions they also do not have the opportunity to develop all their abilities. Even before the outbreak of the coronavirus and the energy crisis, thousands of children lived below the poverty line, and now there are even more such children, which is very worrying,” emphasised Ombudsman Svetina in his speech.

He added that more attention must be paid to the comprehensive treatment of these children. The Ombudsman encourages various bodies and institutions to cooperate and network in their care for children. “Unfortunately, we too often find that the responsibility for the full protection of children's rights is being shifted from one to another and the institutions only correspond bureaucratically. I stress that in all decisions and measures that concern the child, our guiding principle must be the child's greatest benefit. We still see many challenges that we must face in the country, so that the rights and dignity of every child in Slovenia will be truly guaranteed and protected,” underlined the Human Rights Ombudsman.

He continued that the system that offers protection to children and young people must be clearly structured, imbued with expertise, not malnourished, but at the same time with a lot of empathy. “Caring for the wounded is huge work. We must be aware that these children and young people grow up one day, but that does not mean that they can live on their own. Therefore, there is a strong need for prolonged care of these vulnerable children and adolescents and the need for their systematic and gradual integration into society. This is especially true for those who temporarily live in institutions. At the same time, I would like to highlight the deinstitutionalisation and necessary inclusion of these children and adolescents in community care. This would enable these vulnerable groups to live a more independent and better quality life in their home environment,” clearly outlined Ombudsman Svetina.

He also added that unfortunately many children do not have adequate frameworks for development, so the state must step in to care for them and protect them. The Ombudsman also watches over this. The National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) notes, among other things, that more and more children and young people in professional centres need more and more help, i.e. more structured and intensive help, namely therapeutic treatment. Employees there often encounter various types of addictions, mental health disorders, and other more serious emotional and behavioural disorders, and are also faced with challenging situations of violence, which can be directed inwardly or outwardly. “The National Preventive Mechanism therefore welcomed the adoption of the new educational programme, adopted in March 2022, based on the Act on the Intervention for Children and Youth with Emotional and Behavioural disorders in Education, an integral part of which are the standards of behaviour of professional workers during crisis events. According to this law, these centres also have the legally regulated possibility to form intensive groups for children and adolescents who need therapeutic treatment. At the same time, the NPM called on the Ministry of Education to provide assistance to professional centres for children and adolescents in creating programmes for the treatment of children and adolescents in intensive groups, and to find, with the cooperation of professional centres, other possible solutions to the problems faced by professional centres due to the increasing number of children and young people with mental health problems placed in the facilities in question. I expect that the recommendations of the National Preventive Mechanism will be followed,” said Ombudsman Svetina.