The Experiences and Challenges for Adjudication on Refugee Law in Slovenia

Abstract

As a border country within the European Union, Slovenia will probably need to manage a considerable burden of refugee law cases in the future. In addition to the goal of managing those cases promptly, judicial review will continue to play a crucial role in building the integrity of procedural and material law on the protection of refugees. The article first focuses, in section 2, on several refugee law issues from national legislation, supported by case law, with special attention to a comparison of national legislation with the corresponding EU legal sources in their respective fields and other international law standards. On the basis of a qualitative assessment of judgements, in section 3 the author provides an evaluation of the experiences and effects of the Administrative Court, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court in the construction of (case) law on refugees. Findings in section 3 lead the author to the basic thesis, in section 4, that the major challenge for adjudication on refugee law, which is an example of a very complex legal discipline, established within the multi-level constitutionalism, is to improve the institutional quality of the judiciary. In this regard the author selects six priorities for building on the managerial capacities of the judiciary that are necessary mechanisms for dealing with the increasing number of important international refugee law issues in the future, so that the integrity of asylum law, the harmonisation of EU law and the protective character of international refugee law in Slovenia is guaranteed. In the conclusion of the paper, the author selects the particular legal challenges for judges in the future process of adjudication on refugee law.