The Erased People in Slovenia

1
The Erased People in Slovenia

• The Discriminative Practices Accompanying the
  Creation of a Nation State

2
Historical Context

• Yugoslavia a federation of 6 republics
• Slovenias Independence - 25th June 1991
• By creating a nation state a once ethnic
  community became a state-constituting nation
• Emergence of a need to define the body of
  Slovenian nationals

3

• Status of the Erased before 1991
• Citizenship
• 1) Yugoslavian
• 2) Citizenship of one of the (republics) but
  Slovenia
• Permanent Residency In Slovenia (outside the
  republic of persons citizenship)
• Rights They enjoyed the same rights as Slovenian
  citizens

4
The right to acquire citizenship after the
independence

• Art. 40 of Citizenship Act the right of
  nationals of other republics with permanent
  residence in the Republic of Slovenia to acquire
  Slovenian citizenship
• Strict Conditions citizenship was not granted
  to those who committed crimes and those who
  represented a threat to public order
• Condition to apply for citizenship within 6
  months from entry into force of the Citizenship
  Act
• Deadline 26th December 1991

5
Becoming Illegal

• Those who did not apply for citizenship (or were
  refused it) fell under the jurisdiction of the
  Aliens Act
• BUT Art. 81/2 of the Aliens Act said that the
  provision of this act shall apply two months
  after the expiry of the deadline from Citizenship
  Act 26 February 1992
• No act regulated the transitory period between 26
  December 1991 and 26 February 1992
• Therefore those who did not become citizens,
  became de facto foreigners illegally residing in
  Slovenia
• In some cases the already obtained Slovenian
  citizenship was subsequently revoked

6
Erasure

• 26th February 1992 the records of people who
  did not apply for citizenship (or were not
  granted it) were ex officio
• transferred
• from the register of permanent residents to a
  register of foreigners
• With the transfer they lost their habitual
  residence statuses
• They were never notified on this move in any way

7
Statistics

• 171.000 people acquired Slovenian citizenship ex
  lege, 2.500 were denied their applications
• 29.000 permanent residents were transferred from
  one register to another
• 9.500 people voluntary unregistered before the
  erasure had taken place
• 1.200 people voluntarily unregistered after the
  erasure without knowing about it
• Final number 18.300 unlawfully erased people (or
  almost 1 of the population)

8
Coincidence? Mistake?

• The erasure was not an accident, it was a
  systematic state action
• Some politicians were aware of the dangerousness
  of such measures
• 1991 There was an initiative to temporarily
  regulate legal status of SFRJ nationals who did
  not apply for citizenship that was rejected
  (justification such matter must be regulated
  with inter-state agreement)
• 1991 National Assembly rejected an amendment to
  Aliens Act that proposed issuing permanent
  residence permits to those who did not apply for
  citizenship

9
Grounds for Erasure

• No legal basis, only an Internal decision of the
  Ministry of Internal Affairs
• According to the 1999 Constitutional Court
  Decision, the erasure was unlawful and
  unconstitutional

10
Political Context

• Favoring maximum restrictions in granting
  Slovenian citizenship to applicants of
  non-Slovenian ethnic origin
• (e.g. initiative for referendum to revoke
  citizenship granted according to Art. 40 of
  Citizenship Act)
• Right wing deputies demanded that the
  citizenships granted on the basis of Art. 40 of
  citizenship act be revoked.
• Resentment towards former common federation,
  especially towards Yugoslav Peoples Army that
  carried out a 10-day aggression on Slovenia after
  the independence

11
1999 Settling of the Status of Other SFRY
Successor States in the Republic of Slovenia Act

• Gave an option to apply for permanent residence
  permits (that were once already taken away from
  them)
• The first opportunity to retrieve lost statuses
  ex nunc (not ex tunc as required by the
  Constitutional Court)
• The deadline to apply was only 3 months from
  entry into force of the Act

12
2002 Amendments of Citizenship Act

• After the campaign to reinstate the rights of the
  erased, the 2002 amendments to Citizenship Act
  were adopted giving the erased another
  opportunity to apply for citizenship.
• The law was an attempt to eliminate injustice.
• The conditions were less strict however, the
  citizenship would be granted ex nunc, NOT ex tunc.

13
Constitutional Court Decisions

• February 1999 Unconstitutionality of Citizenship
  Act referring the erased under the jurisdiction
  of Aliens Act
• July 1999 Complainants should be deemed
  permanent residents of Slovenia retroactively,
  from 26 February 1992
• 2003 The entire Settling of the Status of Other
  SFRY Successor States Act is declared
  unconstitutional since it did not recognize
  permanent residence of citizens of other SFRY
  successor states from February 26, 1992
• Const. Court advised the legislator to recognize
  permanent statuses retroactively from 26 February
  1992 (ergo, to regulate statuses ex tunc)

14
Implementation of the Constitutional Court
Decision

• Disagreements on whether the Const. Court can
  create law according to Slovenian legal system.
• A technical law for the implementation of the
  Const. Court decision was adopted, but also
  annulled with a referendum
• Ministry of Internal Affairs began recognizing
  statuses retroactively directly on the grounds
  of the Const. Court decision.
• Statistics 4.093 statuses recognized, 8.470
  cases still need to be considered (the remaining
  5.800 out of 18.300 managed to regulate their
  statuses).

15
Civil Society Developments

• Association of the Erased Residents of Slovenia
  (since February 2002)
• Mobilization of the civil society
• Mixed impressions whether the increased
  discussion made firmer ground for dealing with
  the situation or increased intolerance

16
New Political Environment (2005)

• In December 2004 a new center-right government
  was elected
• Members of the government parties were
  historically against resolving the situation of
  the erased in accordance with the Constitutional
  Court decisions
• Some of them were actively participating in it
• Their plan is to adopt a constitutional law that
  would regulate their statuses
• Pretext to overrule the Constitutional Court
  decision

17
E-mail

• neza.kogovsek_at_mail.mirovni-institut.si