VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLJ #0184/01 0861539
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271539Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5664
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000184 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
EUR/NCE FOR SSADLE, EUR/PPD FOR CMUDGETT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM OEXC KWMN PINR PGOV SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: HUMPHREY ALUM BECOMES TOP GOS HUMAN 
RIGHTS WATCHDOG 
 
REF: LJUBLJANA 126 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The Government of Slovenia's new Human 
Rights Ombudsman Zdenka Cebasek-Travnik told COM the 2006 
Human Rights Report was spot on, the Roma situation (when put 
in context) is relatively positive, and estimated the number 
of "erased" without status as less than 1,000.  She said her 
agenda will be slightly different than her predecessor, 
focusing on the protection of children, the elderly, and the 
disabled, and expressed frustration with weakness of civil 
society and the media in Slovenia, citing the country's small 
size as a critical challenge.  Cebasek-Travnik, a proud 
Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship alumna, was a surprise choice 
for the position by President Drnovsek last fall and is 
clearly still getting smart on the issues and accustomed to 
her prominent position.  She indicated that she will take a 
significantly less confrontational approach with the GOS than 
her firebrand predecessor, at least at the beginning of her 
term.  For now, human rights advocates seem willing to give 
her time to prove her mettle for the position.  End Summary. 
 
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Another Exchanges Success Story: Humphrey Fellow Makes Good 
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¶2. (U) COM paid a courtesy call on the Government of 
Slovenia's new Human Rights Ombudsman Zdenka Cebasek-Travnik 
on March 26.  Cebasek-Travnik was quick to mention her 
experience in the United States through the Hubert H. 
Humphrey Fellowship program, where she spent the 1993-1994 
academic year studying and doing professional work related to 
substance abuse treatment at Johns Hopkins University.  She 
recalled that a conference speaker told her group of Humphrey 
Fellows that some day they would take over very important 
positions in their governments, and, with a laugh and a 
smile, she told COM that now she understood what he was 
talking about.  She noted that her Humphrey Fellowship year 
was "less about the educational knowledge gained" but about 
the experience, in particular seeing different points of view 
and perspectives.  Cebasek-Travnik commented that it was 
"easy" for the group to make the U.S. "our second home 
country" and vividly remembered how accepting the U.S. was of 
foreigners.  Cebasek-Travnik returned to the U.S. thanks to a 
Hubert H. Humphrey alumni program in 1997 to address that 
year's class of Humphrey Fellows at their Washington seminar 
and was featured in the 1997 Annual Report of the Institute 
for International Education. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Cebasek-Travnik also briefly mentioned her family's 
background with the U.S., noting that her mother was born in 
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where her grandfather and grandmother 
were working in a mine and a tobacco factory, respectively. 
She said that she had the opportunity to visit her mother's 
birthplace during her Humphrey Fellowship and still has 
relatives in the U.S. 
 
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Human Rights Report: Ombudsman "Agrees With All Findings" 
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¶4. (SBU) In regards to the 2006 Human Rights Report (HRR), 
Cebasek-Travnik said that she read the report and, given that 
she had been in office for just two weeks when the report was 
released, asked her professional colleagues in the 
Ombudsman's office for their impression.  She said her 
colleagues advised that they "agreed with all statements" in 
the HRR, and thus she released a brief statement to the press 
saying the Ombudsman's Office agreed with the findings of the 
report and urged political leaders to address questions it 
brought up.  She said she would be pleased to work with the 
Embassy on future Human Rights Reports. 
 
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Apolitical Past. Apolitical Present. Apolitical Future? 
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¶5. (U) Cebasek-Travnik, a Ljubljana-based and Murska 
Sobota-born and raised psychiatrist, was a virtual unknown 
when she was nominated by President Janez Drnovsek on 
November 21, 2006 from a pool of 28 candidates.  Her 
selection surprised political onlookers who predicted other, 
higher profile candidates from the Slovenian human rights 
advocacy community as favorites for the post.  Her nomination 
was confirmed by the Parliament on December 20 receiving 64 
of 90 votes (with others abstaining) and she began her 
six-year term February 21.  In contrast to most high profile 
leaders in Slovenia, Cebasek-Travnik was not politically 
active or well known previous to her nomination and 
confirmation as Human Rights Ombudsman. 
 
 
¶6. (U) COM asked Cebasek-Travnik about her priorities as 
Ombudsman, and, as she has previously indicated in brief 
statements to the press, she said that protecting children, 
the elderly, and those with disabilities would be her 
priority.  She noted that she was "not politically active 
before her appointment (as Ombudsman)" and that her interests 
differ from those of her predecessor, whose agenda was often 
dominated by hot topics in the areas of political or racial 
discrimination.  She was quick to say that she would be 
following these areas, but that at the moment, her priority 
would be focusing on those groups which she felt lacked 
advocacy in Slovenia and "suffered without recourse." 
 
¶7. (SBU) She also mentioned protecting freedom of speech and 
helping people "living in Slovenia without papers" (such 
illegal aliens and those who have overstayed visas or 
residency permits).  When COM asked if the later was a 
reference to the "erased" (see reftel for complete 
background), Cebasek-Travnik said no, that the "erased" are a 
"special category of people" whose problem "I won't be able 
to solve."  She noted that the "Constitutional Court's ruling 
must be obeyed," but that she would not weigh in on what type 
of law was used and what the specific outcome should be. 
Cebasek-Travnik told COM that she had spent considerable time 
reading and being briefed on these issues, and when COM 
inquired as to how many of the "erased" her office believed 
are still without citizenship or permanent residency, she 
said that she too has been asking this question, and that 
best estimates are somewhere between 150 and 1,000 people. 
 
¶8. (SBU) On the Roma, Cebasek-Travnik reminded COM that she 
is from the Prekmurje region (one of the regions with the 
largest number of Roma in Slovenia and the region that has 
traditionally had the most cooperation between local Slovenes 
and Roma) went to school with Roma, treated Roma during her 
time as a doctor in Murska Sobota, and knows Roma well.  She 
said the problems this past fall with the Strojan family were 
unfortunate, but that this was the exception, not the rule in 
terms of Slovenian-Roma relations.  She felt the media 
over-publicized the story, that the Strojan family was a 
"minority of a minority" with an unflattering history, and 
that the most important goal should be solving problems for 
the "majority of the minority" of Roma. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Cebasek-Travnik also talked extensively about her 
work on alcoholism in Slovenia (the chief topic of her 
Humphrey studies) and told COM about her failed efforts to 
establish a branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), 
citing the lack of a "critical mass" as the top problem for 
activists and NGOs here.  She said that strong civil society 
groups, like MADD, are critical for publicizing issues and 
pushing forward legislative changes, and expressed 
frustration at the difficulty of starting groups like this in 
Slovenia.  Cebasek-Travnik also noted this problem in the 
media, saying that resources for the media are small, and 
offering that she felt an article she had written on 
alcoholism had not been published because of the influence of 
advertisers (specifically Slovenia's two breweries Lasko and 
Union) on editorial content.  She noted that strengthening 
civil society, with MADD as an example, was one major 
opportunity for fruitful cooperation between the U.S. and 
Slovenia in the future.  Keying off Cebasek-Travnik's 
comments on protecting older people, COM also noted the 
strength of American civil society groups for the retired, 
notably AARP. 
 
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Comment 
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¶10. (SBU) Zdenka Cebasek-Travnik's appointment corresponds 
with President Drnovsek's streak of independence on high 
level nominees and is an interesting and surprising choice 
for the position given her lack of experience on the majority 
of human rights issues.  Some pundits have said her lack of 
political affiliation and interest in less prominent human 
rights concerns helped ensure that she would receive 
parliamentary approval.  Cebasek-Travnik, who apologized at 
the beginning of the meeting for her lack of protocol savvy 
and told COM that this was her first visit from an 
Ambassador, was clearly still getting used to her new 
position.  While it is uncertain how strong an advocate she 
will be as Ombudsman, it is obvious that she will be 
significantly less confrontational with the GOS than her 
predecessor, at least at the beginning of her term.  That 
said, human rights onlookers seem willing to give her a 
chance before condemning her lack of experience and 
assertiveness on the hot human rights issues in Slovenia. 
 
While Cebasek-Travnik seems less likely to be a spur in the 
GOS's side, she also seems genuinely interested in 
depoliticizing the work of the Ombudsman's Office and helping 
expand the work it does for the good of the Slovenian people. 
 
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Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman Background and 
Biographical Note 
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¶11. (U) The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman is an 
independent, constitutionally mandated office within the 
Government of Slovenia that serves as the source of final 
resort for Slovenian citizens seeking assistance in 
protecting their human rights or fundamental freedoms. 
Practically, the Slovenian Human Rights Ombudsman handles 
complaints in the areas of: constitutional rights, 
restrictions of personal liberty, access to social security, 
employment and legal rights, judicial procedures, 
environmental and space planning, commercial public services, 
housing, children's rights, and discrimination. 
Cebasek-Travnik is the third Ombudsman in the history of 
Slovenia.  She replaces most recent Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek, 
who was noted for his criticism of the government, 
particularly in the last few months of his six-year term.  He 
did not seek a second term. 
 
¶12. (U) Zdenka Cebasek-Travnik was born February 13, 1955 in 
Murska Sobota, Slovenia.  She earned a her M.D. from the 
University of Ljubljana in 1979, a Master of Medical Science 
at the University of Zagreb in 1993, and a Ph.D. in Medical 
Science at the University of Ljubljana in 1998.  She also 
earned an undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University 
in 1994 and has studied in the United Kingdom.  Prior to 
taking office as Ombudsman, Cebasek-Travnik was the Acting 
Director of the Psychiatric Clinic in Ljubljana and the 
Education Assistant to the Expert Director of the Psychiatric 
Clinic in Ljubljana from 2004 to 2007.  From 2000 to 2004 she 
was Head of the Clinical Department for Mental Health at the 
Psychiatric Clinic and from 1995 to 2000 she was Head of the 
Center for Medical Treatment of Alcoholics at the Psychiatric 
Clinic.  Prior to that she worked as a medical doctor in 
Murska Sobota and as a Psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Clinic 
in Vojnik, Slovenia.  She has authored numerous articles on 
alcoholism and domestic therapy, and is a court expert in the 
field of psychiatry.  She is not a member of any political 
party. 
ROBERTSON