TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

members are women, five percent of mayors are women and 36 municipalitiesare without any women representatives . The situation is not much better at anational level .There are moves to introduce quotas for local and state elections . Somepolitical parties already have their own internal rules for quotas . The electionsfor the European Union did have did have quotas for women .At the last local elections, so called "foreigners" were given a chance toparticipate . Romany people have a dedicated representative in areas wherethey are an established minority . The Constitution only recognises Italian andHungarian minorities, so whilst Romanies do not have constitutionalrecognition, they have certain recognised rights such as the dedicatedrepresentation as mentioned above . The Roma councillors caucus regularlyto exchange information . The Government also funds education and trainingfor them through the Department of Ethnicities as some of them are illiteratewhich causes some problems .There is a long tradition of Italian and Hungarian minority rights in Slovenia .In parts of the country they are established to such an extent that they havedual signage . The education system is designed to accommodate theirneeds . Both groups have one dedicated representative each in the SlovenianParliament .Travel Report, Hon. Michael Atkinson, MP. and Ms. Vini Ciccarello MP., August, 2004 28