STA, 21 November 2018 - A Slovenian project promoting intercultural connections, integration and education of women from the Western Balkans has won the international Alpine Pluralism Award 2018. The award was conferred in Innsbruck on Tuesday to the head of the humanitarian association UP Jesenice that runs the project, Faila Pašić Bišić.

The award-winning project is entitled Hands Revealed (Razkrite roke), which is a reference to the women who conceal their faces and communicate with the world through their loving and hard-working hands.

Currently, 30 women with a migrant background participate in the project, making unique textile products, which are available for sale.

The project is run by UP Jesenice for the fourth year in cooperation with the Ljubljana-based institute for modern textile art and design OLOOP.

This year, the project has been upgraded with a web site (here), where the hand-made products combining the traditional with modern as well as the women who create them are presented.

REVEALED HANDS from Žin on Vimeo.

"We are trying to complement social cohesion with art, not just folklore and cuisine," Pašić Bišić said about the project of including women from the Western Balkans in the labour market.

By taking part in the project, the women overcome many obstacles. "With Albanian women, we first had to talk to their husbands, because these cultures are extremely patriarchal and women are pushed in a passive role," Pašić Bišić said.

But while talking to the men, Pašić Bišić was shocked to learn that they too are socially very excluded despite having a job and speaking Slovenian, which are two crucial factors for integration.

"They do not know how the local community functions, they are not active in any sports associations and they do not know their environment," she said.

These are also the problems that their project is trying to overcome.

The Alpine Pluralism Award is conferred by non-profit organisation Cipra Lab and a task force operating as part of the EU strategy for the Alpine macroregion.

The Hands Revealed project is funded by the state and the EU social fund.

STA, 19 November 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec told the National Assembly on Monday that by acceding to the UN Global Compact for Migration, Slovenia would not lose sovereignty in that field. He stressed that the document did not equalise legal and illegal migration, adding that Slovenia was successful in tackling illegal migration.

"Illegal migration is a problem and Slovenia does not support it," Šarec said in an answer to an MP question, adding that the current illegal migration faced by Slovenia was a consequence of activities of human-smuggling criminal groups.

"This is something we are fighting against every day. The Slovenian police are working responsibly on this," he told Danijel Krivic of the opposition Democrats (SDS), who originally asked about an official Slovenian translation of the UN Global Compact for Migration.

While Krivic believes that a translation could resolve dilemmas raised in the public, Šarec said that there was no translation because ratification in parliament had not been envisaged. A translation has nevertheless been commissioned and it will be published soon, he added.

UN Compact on Migration is not legally binding

But the prime minister said that this would change nothing, as the fact is that the document is not legally binding. He added that the document, which is expected to be confirmed in Morocco's Marrakesh in December, was being "hugely politicised".

Šarec believes that the countries which have announced withdrawal from the agreement did so for internal political reasons. He rejected the policy of scaremongering in a bid to score political points, including by the SDS.

He pointed out that some countries "which have much bigger problems with migration than us", like Spain, had acceded to the UN Global Compact for Migration.

The signature on the document will not have any impact on the number of migrants in Slovenia, he said, adding that it was the beginning of resolution of a common problem, like climate change or something else.

Migration an international problem

"If every government started to solve the issue on its own, and close its borders ... then we will not get far," Šarec said, adding that the EU was facing huge problems because the issue was not being tackled in unison.

"The issue of migration needs to be addressed at the source and by no means by politicking here today," he added.

The right-leaning opposition has been calling on the government to fully reject and actively oppose the adoption of the UN Global Compact for Migration.

The SDS, New Slovenia (NSi) and National Party (SNS) want the National Assembly to propose that to the government, with the session on the topic scheduled for Wednesday. The motion has already been rejected by the relevant committee.

The government meanwhile appointed last week an inter-ministerial task force to draft and implement a migration management strategy. The strategy will include economic and illegal migration, international protection and integration.

Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said on Thursday that the strategy was an obligation under the coalition agreement. The task force will be headed by Interior Ministry State Secretary Sandi Čurin, an expert in combat against human trafficking.

A number of NGOs and humanitarian and research organisations have called on the government to include at least two NGO representatives in the task force and a representative of an organisation studying migration.

By doing so, the government would draft a strategy which would be based on the latest findings, reliable and comprehensive data on the situation regarding migration, says the letter signed by a total of 23 organisations.

All our immigration stories are here

STA, 13 November 2018 - While most local races revolve around things such as traffic and the local economy, illegal migrations have featured prominently in the election campaign in the town of Črnomelj in the south east. Incumbent Mayor Mojca Čemas Stjepanovič seems to be caught between a rival calling for more anti-migration measures, and opponents of such measures.

Although four candidates are running for Črnomelj mayor, the two main protagonists are Čemas Stjepanovič, a candidate of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and the Social Democrats (SD), and Maja Kocjan, put forward by the Democrats (SDS) and supported by the New Slovenia (NSi).

Kocjan, a municipal councillor of the SDS who has been very active in an anti-immigration group called the Bela Krajina Civil Initiative, advocates a harsher approach to migrations.

Illegal immigration in Slovenia rose by 400% in first nine months of 2018

The number of illegal crossings of the Slovenian border surged by more than 400% year-on-year between January and September, to 6,667. As many as 2,050 of the crossings were recorded in the Črnomelj area and the number rose to 2,498 until 4 November.

Kocjan believes Slovenia should send a signal to migrants that the Slovenian border cannot be penetrated, so she is calling for additional fencing along the bordering Kolpa river in places where there is no fencing yet.

Čemas Stjepanovič told an election debate aired by the commercial broadcaster Kanal A at the end of last month that additional fencing was being erected in the most critical areas and that future steps would depend on the number of migrants crossing the border.

She also expressed her grievances regarding the costs of migrations that fall on the municipality. "This means that we have less money available for other purposes," she said.

Kocjan would also like soldiers to protect the border and that the state authorities were more susceptible to the safety concerns of local population, including about any plans to set up migrant centres in the region.

But while Kocjan has criticised Čemas Stjepanovič for not being determined enough in the face of migrations, the opponents of anti-migration measures claim the opposite on social media.

A Facebook group opposing the border fence in Bela Krajina is upset by Čemas Stjepanovič's collaboration with the police in the erection of additional fencing along the Kolpa.

Saying that the two parties which support her advocate a different approach to migration, the group claims Čemas Stjepanovič is taking on the same anti-migration rhetoric ahead of election as the SDS candidate, Kocjan.

"Another election this year is being marked by repressive measures and scaremongering in what is no emergency situation," the group wrote on Facebook at the beginning of the month.

Immigration not such an issue in other border areas

Interestingly, migrations have not emerged as a major topic in any of the other municipalities affected by migrations, even though it seemed they might become a prominent issue in particular for centre-right parties.

The issue has come up only in Kočevje, where the National Party (SNS) candidate, Alenka Jelenovič, one of the four candidates challenging incumbent Mayor Vladimir Prebilič, voiced opposition to the setting up of a migrant centre unperturbed by there being no such formal plans for the area.

All our local election coverage can be found here

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, November 09, 2018.

Mladina: Cerar pushing Slovenia to the right on UN Migration Agreement

STA, 9 November - The left-leaning weekly Mladina says in its latest commentary that Foreign Minister Miro Cerar is actually criticising his former self as prime minister as he is changing his mind on Slovenia's support for the UN Global Compact for Migration.

In the commentary headlined Cerar against Cerar, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž notes that Cerar had said that "Slovenia endorsed this spring the Global Compact for Migration, but that the circumstances have changed since".

"'Slovenia must make sure ... that the present way of life, the European way of life is preserved'", Repovž quotes Cerar, wondering what is the European way of life he was referring to, adding that "we are in a serious trouble".

If you take a look at the list of countries which decided not to endorse the document, which is expected to be adopted in Marrakesh in December, one can see that it is not a list of countries of the European way of life.

"Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Austria - is this the company Minister Cerar would like to push Slovenia into?", Repovž wonders.

UN document clearly separates migrants and refugees

What is funny is that Cerar speaking about "changed circumstances" reads like criticism of Miro Cerar as prime minister, who agreed with the European Commission acceding to the Global Compact for Migration.

"As long as the accession to the Marrakesh agreement was something the European Union expected us to do, this had to be done. How provincial and typical."

But immediately after the right started expressing doubt about the document, the foreign minister was quick to talk about changed circumstances.

Cerar and Prime Minister Marjan Šarec should actually defend the agreement and stand behind it, present it to the public, introduce it into public discourse as a positive shift. But Cerar is obviously not taking the document seriously.

It is actually a very though-through, relatively conservative document, which very clearly separates the issues of refugees and migrants. Politicians could use it to stand against the rightist agenda which abuses migrants for populist purposes, concludes the commentary.

Demokracija: UN Migration Declaration Will Spread “Eurabia”

STA, 8 November 2018 - The right-wing magazine Demokracija sets out its case against the UN Global Compact for Migration in its latest editorial, asserting that signing the declaration without seeking people's endorsement in a referendum first would be high treason.

Referring to the 2005 riots in France, the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and Muslim ghettoes in Europe, such as Molenbeek on the outskirts of Brussels, editor-in-chief Jože Biščak argues that European countries are losing the battle against the spread of "Eurabia".

"Pockets of little Eurabias are scattered throughout the western part of the continent. Whenever right-wing politicians try to restore state jurisdiction over their territories, violent unrest follows.

The only solution is to use “brutal power” to remove immigrants

"The planned signing in December of the Marrakesh Declaration, which is irreversibly taking away countries' sovereign right to decide on migration flows on their territories, could seal the fate of Europe as we know it. This is why signing the declaration without having asked people's opinion in referendum will be high treason."

Biščak says that the way for Europe's Islamisation was paved by the 1975 Strasbourg Resolution, backed by 200 members of parliament from West European countries.

The resolution said that Arab immigrants to Europe had a right to transfer their culture, customs, way of life and religion to Europe.

"The native population tried to preserve their customs and traditions, but the political authorities did not demand of the immigrants to integrate in the western society, but rather let the Muslim immigrants, joined by blacks from Africa, to create their territories (little Eurabias) where they live by their rules. An the Marrakesh Declaration will legalise all that."

Finally, Biščak says that the only solution is to use "brutal power" and to have the army surround these Little Eurabias and move all the immigrants out of the country.

STA, 6 November 2018 - The opposition Democrats (Slovenska demokratska stranka - SDS) have requested an extraordinary session of the National Assembly to debate the UN-sponsored global compact for migration. MP Branko Grims said Tuesday the party demands the Slovenian government reject the agreement in its entirety.

The SDS is against the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration because "it treats all migrants in the same way, and eliminates state borders in the long-term".

The party fears the agreement would present a burden for Slovenia in terms of finances and in general, and would result in a downfall of Slovenia as well as other European countries, according to Grims.

He stressed that an increasing number of countries had already withdrawn from it, including the US and three of Slovenia's four neighbours.

See our guide to Slovenia’s main political parties here

Saying that the agreement is not binding on Slovenia is misleading, according to Grims. While it is true that parties to it are not legally bound by the deal, they are bound by it politically, he stressed.

Signatures for the request of the parliamentary session were contributed by another two opposition parties, New Slovenia (NSi) and the National Party (SNS).

Jožef Horvat, who heads the NSi's deputy group, told the press the government should not support the deal because it does not address the issue of how to eliminate the causes of migrations.

The NSi would like the National Assembly to pass a resolution recommending that the government "encourage seeking within EU and UN institutions a solution to eliminate the causes of migrations in source countries".

Slovenia had endorsed the drafting of the agreement, but the Foreign Ministry stressed on Monday that it was not binding and that it gave countries' sovereignty to shape their own migration policies.

The document, the first international agreement on migration management aimed at improving cooperation on this issue, will be adopted in Marrakesh, Morocco, next month.

See all our stories on immigration in Slovenia here

STA, 1 November 2018 - There were a total of 2,070,050 residents in Slovenia at the beginning of July 2018, which is 3,170 more than at the beginning of January, but the number of Slovenian citizens living in the country was down, while the number of residents with foreign citizenship increased.

The share of foreigners in the total population was up to 6.1%, with their number standing at 126,923, the Statistics Office has reported.

In the first half of the year, the number of Slovenian citizens living in Slovenia was down by almost 1,900, while the number of foreign citizens was up by more than 5,000.

At the beginning of July, there were 1,030,234 men and 1,039,816 women living in Slovenia. The share of women, which has been very slowly decreasing for a number of years, was 51.2%.

The share of women among the foreign citizens living in Slovenia was 34.9%. The share was up by 1.8 percentage points in the last four years.

Related: The places where foreigners live in Slovenia and where they come from

A documentary, mostly in Slovene with English subtitles – although sometimes the reverse – with people who moved to Slovenia from abroad talking about their lives here, the problems they faced, how they overcame them, and the pleasures they’ve found in their new lives in Bela Krajina.

STA, 18 October 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec met French President Emmanuel Macron for about half-an-hour long bilateral meeting in Brussels on Thursday which focused on cooperation at the EU level and the fight against populism. 

STA, 15 October 2018 - Brežice, the municipality on the border with Croatia which suffered the brunt of the migration crisis in 2015 and 2016, received assurances from the interior minister on Monday that the police were coping with illegal migrations on the southern border. 

STA, 12 October 2018 - Slovenia expressed reservations Friday about EU plans to set up a permanent European Border and Coast Guard with 10,000 members, in particular about staff contributions, executive authority, financing and the time frame.