Slovenia

People

Slovenia is primarily a destination and transit point, and to a lesser extent, a source country for human trafficking. Victims are subjected to sex trafficking, forced labour and begging. Human trafficking for forced labour, especially in the construction sector, is on the rise. Additionally, the number of identified victims is steadily rising, but it is not clear whether this is due to an actual rise in human trafficking or whether strategies of identifying human trafficking have become more effective. Known origin countries for labour trafficking are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine, while origin countries for sex trafficking victims are Slovenia, other Eastern European and Western Balkan countries, in addition to the Dominican Republic. Within Slovenia, ethnic Roma are particularly vulnerable to labour exploitation. Foreign criminal actors are responsible for the majority of human trafficking activity in the country. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Slovenia experienced a shortage of foreign workers, which may have resulted in an increase in human trafficking for forced labour.

Situated on the Balkan route, and a member of the EU, Slovenia is ideally placed as a transit country to smuggle people to Western European countries. Smuggled individuals originate primarily from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Eritrea and Afghanistan. The actors involved are foreign criminal networks, as well as Slovenian citizens. In terms of transit, smuggled persons are typically moved in the back of a van, truck or car. The COVID-19 pandemic does not appear to have impacted human smuggling much, as smugglers largely tend to avoid legal routes.

Trade

Slovenia is primarily a transit country for arms trafficking, whereby weapons are trafficked to and from the Balkans via Slovenia to Austria and Germany, or via Slovenia to Italy and other Western European countries. More recently, the port of Koper was the location of several seizures that revealed shipments of different weapons originating from outside of Europe. In recent years, firearms are also sold on the darknet. Those involved in the arms trafficking market are foreign criminal actors working in a transnational criminal network and criminal actors from Slovenia. These actors are also often involved in drug trafficking. Large quantities of the trafficked arms are destined for criminal networks from the Western Balkans in other EU countries, who are engage in robberies, murder and extortion. However, most of the arms-related violence does not take place within Slovenia.

Environment

The criminal market for flora crimes in Slovenia is very limited. While official data shows that Slovenia does not have any problems with illegal logging, there are growing concerns in the Slovenian territory about illegal logging conducted both by residents in need of firewood and organized actors using sophisticated equipment. With regards to fauna crimes, Slovenia is a key transit country for birds caught in Eastern and Southern Europe and smuggled to Western Europe. Additionally, Slovenia is a source country for native wildlife, which is poached and smuggled abroad. There is also a growing market for exotic pets in Slovenia. The actors involved in this criminal market are believed to be largely foreign actors, including those associated with organized crime groups. In terms of non-renewable resources crimes, Slovenia is likely a transit country for illegally traded minerals that are trafficked to Europe. Moreover, with the presence of a large shadow economy, there are several cases of transforming lubricating oil into diesel for petrol stations across Slovenia. Slovenian groups also smuggle fuel outside of the country.

Drugs

As with other criminal markets in Slovenia, the fact that the country is situated on the Balkan route and is a part of the EU, as well as the Schengen zone, makes it an attractive drug market. Slovenian authorities believe that most drug trafficking in the country involves either criminal networks operating solely within Slovenia or foreign actors operating as international criminal networks. Cannabis is one of the largest illicit drug markets in Slovenia, which is primarily a source and transit country for the illegal cannabis trade. The local produce is sufficient to meet domestic demand, and a portion of the production is intended for neighbouring markets. Overall, attitudes towards cannabis are relaxing both in government and the wider society, and it is the most socially accepted illicit drug in Slovenia. Meanwhile, Slovenia is primarily a transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for heroin originating from Central Asia or Turkey, which reaches Slovenia through Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Serbia. Compared to other countries in the region, heroin usage is lower in Slovenia.

With regards to the cocaine trade, Slovenia is a transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination country. The majority of the cocaine that reaches Slovenia is destined for other countries. Foreign authorities have said that Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro are hubs for cocaine trafficking to Western Europe. As for synthetic drugs, the market is believed to be relatively small. Slovenia is one of the countries with the lowest percentage of lifetime usage of MDMA and amphetamine; however, this is said to be increasing dramatically. There is also a market for new psychoactive substances (NPS), which were especially popular among the youth. However, since many NPSs were declared illegal in 2018, the market has changed, with many substances disappearing and new ones appearing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been a marked increase in the use of organized home delivery and the darknet to acquire synthetic drugs.

Cyber Crimes

*This indicator was first included in the 2023 iteration of the tool

Financial Crimes

*This indicator was first included in the 2023 iteration of the tool

Criminal Actors

Loose, domestic criminal networks do operate in Slovenia, albeit to a limited extent, and are often involved in firearms trafficking, human trafficking and human smuggling. There is some suspicion that to some extent the media is controlled by white-collar criminals with links to organized crime networks. Most of these networks collaborate and overlap structurally with foreign criminal actors, and many of them are presumably sub-contracted by larger transnational networks. Foreign actors, usually in collaboration with Slovenian accomplices and with the support of rackets from Slovenia's neighbouring countries, are particularly active in the human trafficking, human smuggling and arms trafficking markets along the Balkan route. Many of these foreign actors have also become Slovenian citizens, while maintaining contacts and criminal operations abroad. Foreign criminal actors also dominate the drug trafficking market. There is evidence of interaction along the Balkan route between gangs and individuals from Slovenia with foreign criminal actors from the Balkans and Southern Europe. Overall, given the strong presence of foreign criminal actors, there has not been any space for actual Slovenian mafia-style groups to develop at any point.

There is evidence of systemic corruption in Slovenia and a considerable degree of state capture. State-embedded actors are believed to be involved in money laundering, corruption and the influence of informal networks. In many cases of public–private partnerships, complicated schemes are used to cover up corruption, especially in the healthcare sector. Public construction projects are also routinely overpriced and subject to numerous delays, indicating embezzlement. Government-related fraud and corruption scandals were also reported in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and the acquisition of protective equipment.

Leadership and governance

The Slovenian government regularly issues statements in support of initiatives to combat organized crime. Slovenia also has one of the more effective government responses to organized crime compared to its neighbours along the Balkan route. However, while the government is doing well in tackling the standard forms of organized crime, especially drug trafficking and tobacco smuggling, it is ill-equipped for handling future challenges posed by hybrid crime, such as sophisticated white-collar organized crime and large-scale fraud. While Slovenia is perceived as doing well in terms of democratic governance, corruption scandals related to government contracts have harmed the public's perceptions of transparency and accountability.

On the international level, Slovenia is part of international organizations and cooperation agreements related to security and law enforcement. The country is also a signatory, with reservations, of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. On the national level, Slovenian law has several provisions against organized crime, including the criminalization of participation in an organized crime group. However, the penal code has not kept up with recent developments and has not been extended to cover new types of organized crime.

Criminal justice and security

Slovenia has a judicial system in place to tackle organized crime cases, including criminal offences committed by state officials. However, several problems exist relating to the judicial system and detention, such as the lack of incentives for groups who denounce their bosses and that the maximum amount of detention is two years, which is often not enough to conclude very complex investigations. In terms of prisons, supervision is lax, and many prisoners can easily hide mobile phones and continue to conduct their businesses from within the prisons. As for law enforcement, the country has a special law enforcement division dedicated to tackling organized crime, subdivided into an illicit drugs section, a counterterrorism and extreme violence section, and a criminal groups section. However, frequent changes in the government and underfunding have contributed to concerns about the effectiveness of the national police. At the same time, the government has responded with an effective increase in police wages, signalling its commitment to countering corruption vulnerabilities.

With regards to territorial integrity, despite being a popular transit country due to its location at the European entry on the Balkans route, Slovenian territory is very small and easy to protect. The police and the army work with each other and international groups to ensure state border security. Nevertheless, the country’s borders are still somewhat porous due to its many mountains and forests.

Economic and financial environment

Overall, Slovenia has been praised for its strong international cooperation in terms of its economic regulatory capacity and transparency. Furthermore, the country’s economic regulatory environment is considered to be conducive to doing business. Slovenia has extremely robust laws to combat anti-money laundering in comparison to other European states, but the country lacks effective implementation. The country also has legislation on the forfeiture of assets of illegal origin, but this legislation is considered problematic due to the dispersion of related provisions across both substantive and procedural law, and because of difficulties in applying certain provisions.

Civil society and social protection

The government has a fairly robust framework in place to provide support to victims to exit modern slavery. Slovenian civil society actors also work on victim support and awareness, largely with the backing of the government’s working group on human trafficking. The country also recently participated in a crime prevention campaign and offers annual training for officials on trafficking indicators among asylum applicants. Meanwhile, there is no overarching general national framework or action plan against transnational organized crime. There are, however, specifically devised action plans by the government's working group on human trafficking, including provisions of health insurance for victims, an increased focus on the vulnerability of the Roma community, and an emphasis on safeguarding the legal status of non-EU and non-Slovenian victims regardless of their cooperation in criminal investigations. Regarding the illicit drugs, the Slovenian government has issued a national programme that specifies the basic principles for drug prevention, focusing on drug use among young people.

While Slovenia does make significant efforts in having productive relationships with NGOs and civil society actors, the relationship between civil society actors, government actors and the media is sometimes unstable, especially in light of cases in which NGOs were discredited or pressured by local government officials or the media. As for the media landscape, the media is partially controlled by influential businesses and individuals involved in white collar crimes with links to organized crime. This makes the independence of the Slovenian media vulnerable, particularly concerning the reporting of organized crime.