COLLECTIVE COMPLAINT: FEANTSA VS SLOVENIA
FEANTSA lodged a collective complaint against Slovenia for non compliance with Article 31,16 and E of the revised European Social Charter, which are respectively devoted to the right to housing, to the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection and to non-discrimination (for more details, please visit the Council of Europe web page devoted to the Social Charter).
The complaint concerns the situation of tenants living in so-called restituted (denationalised) flats, who are treated differently from other tenants of former publicly owned housing, and whose rights have been undermined by a series of measures taken by the national authorities since 1991, thus increasing their vulnerability to housing exclusion (for more details, please read our background information brief).
The situation faced by Slovenian tenants of restituted dwellings and its social consequences are of great concern to FEANTSA, which argues in the complaint that the Republic of Slovenia has failed in complying with the provisions of the revised European Social Charter (RESC) with regard to this specific group of tenants.
Despite several calls for a solution, the situation has not changed so far. FEANTSA hopes that the collective complaint will encourage the Slovenian authorities to take action as to solve the problem of sitting tenants for the benefit of the Slovenian society as a whole.
The Council of Europe European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) has declared the complaint admissible in December 2008.
Regarding the merits of the complaint, the ECSR found in a decision which became public on 1 February 2010 that reforms of the Slovenian Government in the field of housing have placed tenants in dwellings that were restituted to their former private owners in a precarious situation in breach of Article 31 of the Revised Charter. See FEANTSA's press release in this context.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is expected to adopt a resolution in the coming weeks, thus closing the procedure.
USEFUL DOCUMENTS
The full text of the complaint no. 53/2008, the ECSR decision on the merits (and summary) as well as other relevant documents are available from the Council of Europe web site, in the section devoted to "Collective complaints and state of procedure".
An analysis of the ECSR decision by Marc Uhry and Tanja Šarec is available.
CONTACT DETAILS
- FEANTSA Secretariat: information@feantsa.org
- FEANTSA Member Association of Tenants of Slovenia: Tanja Šarec, President, e-mail: info@zdruzenje-najemnikov.si
