Parliament passed Human Rights Ombudsman's recommendations on Thursday. Deputies recommend to all the institutions and officials to follow the 135 recommendations in the ombudsman's report for 2008.

In the Human Rights Ombudsman report for 2008, Ombudsman dr. Zdenka Cebasek - Travnik highlighted the problem of disintegration and devaluation of the authority of state institutions.

Undermining the authority of the judiciary and spreading mistrust can quickly return as a boomerang to shatter the principles of a state ruled by law, Cebasek - Travnik said.

Also worrying is the growing mistrust of the health, social and also the school system. She stressed that the economic crisis could not be an excuse to cut human rights.

The most numerous human rights violations are however overdue court backlogs, which often lead to serious violations in the field of social and health protection, spatial planning and environmental protection, she stressed.

"This presents a serious threat to the principles of a state ruled by law," she said.

Poorer people also find it harder to access information and get effective legal protection, according to Cebasek - Travnik.

She pointed to the lack of effectiveness of state inspection services and the lack of coordination between bodies within a ministry.

She also drew attention to the lack of determination and speed in addressing issues relevant especially for older people, and to the fact that Slovenia was still without a law banning corporal punishment of children.

Ombudsman's recommendations were backed by 53 votes against none. With those recomendations deputies asked the government to examine the constitutionality and lawfulness of a solution that enables a deferment of contributions for social security by employers without the worker's consent.

The National Assembly recommended to the Public Administration Ministry to look into the question of equality of all political parties and lists during election campaigning.

The deputies also asked the government to prepare a strategy of active aging.

The Ombudsman's report saw a number of obstacles in parliamentary procedure. The Commission for Petitions, Human Rights and Equal opportunities initially failed to back the draft recommendations to the report.

This was why the commission chair Eva Irgl (SDS) notified the speaker that the annual report was not fit to be discussed at the plenary. The coalition Social Democrats (SD) and Zares then urged Irgl to call a session to deal with the report again.

Since Irgl failed to do so, the session was called by vice-chair Andrej Magajna (SD) for 20 November, when coalition members of the commission passed draft proposals to the report themselves. This prompted SDS members to obstruct today's vote. They were joined by SNS deputies.