Slovenia's Human Rights Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek said Wednesday [25 February] that he expects political parties to do everything in their power to stop discrimination. Pointing to debates on the construction of a mosque on the outskirts of Ljubljana, Hanzek said that there was no doubt that a referendum on the mosque is a form of discrimination.

"The onus is on state bodies, especially the legislative and executive branches of power, to uphold human rights and the rule of law," Hanzek wrote in his press release, adding that Slovenia's Constitution and legislation, as well as international agreements, oblige them to do so.

The ombudsman reminded that Slovenia has vowed to ban direct and indirect forms of discrimination. European legislation stipulates that this includes "supposedly neutral provisions... which would put people of a particular race or ethnicity in a position that is worse off compared to others".

"One does not need to know much about statistics to figure out that Muslims are being discriminated against, considering that there are a little less than 3,000 Catholic churches in Slovenia, while there are 60,000 Muslims in Slovenia without a mosque," Hanzek stressed.

Moreover, he said the claim that the referendum is only an attempt to prevent a mosque being built on the selected location - on the outskirts of SW Ljubljana - "is not valid either, given that six locations have already been ruled out for one administrative reason or another," Hanzek said.

"And if one remembers that the collection of referendum signatures saw signs calling on people to sign a petition against the mosque, there is no doubt that this is pure discrimination."

Hanzek also made a special mention of the European Commission's fifth recommendation for fighting racism and intolerance that calls on the EU member states to do all in their power to prevent discrimination of Muslims.

 
SOURCE: VČP RS, 26. 1. 2004