European Court of Human Rights

Open Society Justice Initiative/ Slovenia

Government Erases Citizens from Records

When Yugoslavia broke apart, people in Slovenia were given six months to apply for citizenship. In February 1992 the government erased the names of over 18,000 individuals from the civil register on the basis that they had not applied for citizenship, making these individuals effectively stateless. The Constitutional Court held that this action was illegal, but the government ignored this decision. (Keywords: Discrimination - Statelessness)

Facts

On June 25, 1991 Slovenia declared independence as a successor state of Yugoslavia. Until that time, Slovenia was one of six republics within the federation of Yugoslavia, and nationals enjoyed "dual citizenship" for internal purposes, meaning that they were citizens both of the federation and of one of the six republics. They had freedom of movement within Yugoslavia and could acquire permanent residence in any of the six republics. According to transitional laws at independence, citizens of other Yugoslav republics who were not citizens of Slovenia could acquire citizenship from the newly independent sovereign state of Slovenia if they met three requirements: (1) they had acquired permanent resident status in Slovenia by December 23, 1990; (2) they were actually residing in Slovenia; and (3) they applied for citizenship within six months after the Citizenship Act entered into force (i.e., from June 25, 1991).

On February 26, 1992, the Slovenian government "erased" from the civil registry the names of at least 18,305 and perhaps as many as 25,671 citizens of the former Yugoslavia who were legally residing in Slovenia, thereby withdrawing their legal resident status and placing them on a register of foreigners illegally residing in Slovenia. Several legal challenges to this action were brought before the Slovene courts. Although the Slovene Constitutional Court declared the erasure illegal, the Slovenian government has failed to adopt legislative measures to restore legal residence status to the individuals whose names were erased.

Eleven applicants who are victims of the erasure filed a complaint before the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 claiming that the erasure and the consequences they are suffering violates various provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Open Society Justice Initiative Involvement

The Open Society Justice Initiative filed written comments as a third party in the case.

Arguments

Arbitrary Deprivation of Citizenship. The way in which the Slovenian Government arbitrarily deprived the applicants of their citizenship breaches the right to private life protected in Article 8 ECHR.

Right to Citizenship. The Court should consider recent developments in international law that protect the right to nationality, in order that the Convention should be seen as a living instrument that is practical and effective.

Timeline

June 25, 1991. Slovenia declares independence.

February 26, 1992. Government "erases" over 18,000 citizens from its registry.

November 14, 2002. The government amends the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act, providing a one-year-long window for the erased to apply for citizenship, under strict conditions.

April 3, 2003. Constitutional Court of Slovenia declares the laws to be partially unconstitutional.

July 4, 2006. Applicants file case to the European Court of Human Rights.

May 31, 2007. European Court issues a partial decision as to the admissibility of the application and communicates the case to the Slovene government on a number of issues.

October 15, 2007. Third party intervention filed by the Justice Initiative to the European Court of Human Rights.

Finding

The case is currently being considered by the European Court of Human Rights.