Prosecution figures consist of eight hate speech cases and two cases of bias-motivated offences involving slight bodily injury.
In 2023, an amendment to Article 49 of Slovenia's Criminal Code came into force. Paragraph 3 of Article 49 now reads as follows: […] "(3) If the inclination to commit a crime was the victim's nationality, race, religion or ethnicity, his gender, skin colour, origin, financial status, education, social position, political or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or any other personal circumstance, this is taken into account as an aggravating circumstance."
In April 2023, ODIHR and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) delivered a workshop for representatives of all key hate crime data recording institutions. The workshop aimed to raise awareness and improve understanding of hate crimes and their impact on individuals, social groups, and society as a whole, and to improve the national approach to collecting and recording data on crimes committed with a bias motive.
In 2023, the SSPO participated in a study visit to the Swedish Ministry of Justice and a joint meeting of the "Working group on hate crime reporting, recording and data collection" and "Working group on hate crime training" in Stockholm, organized by the European Commission in co-operation with FRA. In October 2023, the SSPO participated in the EJTN seminar on "Hate crime and hate speech”, which took place in Split, Croatia.
The latest meeting of the Working Group on Hate Crimes took place in October 2023. Given that the Working Group was primarily established to deal with offences under Article 297 of the Criminal Code (Public Incitement to Hatred, Violence and Intolerance), some attention was also given to this topic. Recommendations of the newly established Strategic Council for the Prevention of Hate Speech were also presented at the meeting, as well as an analysis of the prosecutorial practice in prosecuting offenders under Article 297.
In December 2023, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a Strategy on Combating Antisemitism 2023. The Strategy aims to strengthen the competencies of public officials, the police, and the judiciary in dealing with cases involving anti-Semitism and establish an interdepartmental working group to monitor the implementation of the Strategy and address challenges in the fight against anti-Semitism.
This includes the following bias motives, as applicable to the 'SOV' (hatred) flag in the internal recording system: 'Racial and ethnic intolerance', 'Hatred', and 'Religious intolerance'.
ODIHR recognizes Slovenia's efforts to introduce an aggravating circumstance provision to its legal framework to ensure that bias motivations are effectively acknowledged and appropriate penalties can be imposed on the perpetrators. However, based on the available information, ODIHR observes that Slovenia's hate crime recording and statistics do not sufficiently distinguish hate crimes from other crimes and do not record the bias motivations of hate crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Slovenia would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials to address hate crime, including on the application of the new hate crime provision.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States agreed to a definition of hate crime shared by all OSCE participating States and to collect reliable data and statistics on hate crimes. To that end, hate crimes need to be distinguished throughout the recording and data collection process from other types of crimes. Further, law enforcement must as a first step record the bias motivation of hate crimes. . Participating States also committed to introduce or further develop professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes.
ODIHR stands ready to support Slovenia in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through its resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.