It was Friday morning, March 14 2008. At nine o’clock a thirteen-year-old was standing by the kitchen window when she saw a paddy wagon pull into the yard. She shouted,” Mum! Mum! They are coming to get me again!” Soon afterwards another one arrived, followed by an ambulance and other police vehicles. Out came some 20 people.

“They cut the lock and broke into. As I opened the door to the hall, in came the so-called “executor”, followed by criminologists, police and other people. They pushed me in the corner. My daughter was clinging to me crying, “Mum! Mum! I’m not going anywhere!” They surrounded us both and tore us apart. I was pushed to the fireplace when my sister entered. My daughter ran towards her, embraced her begging,” Auntie, don’t let them take me! I’m not going anywhere!”

The police separated the aunt and niece, grabbed the girl by the wrists, and carried her out of the house on a stretcher by force. The “taming of the shrew” was done in the presence of the father, who held her down, a doctor and the police. The brutal scenes were film-like; 15 policemen and criminologists assisted the medical staff in escorting the girl into the ambulance. She resisted ferociously but was subdued. From a fair distance the whole incident was being watched by the Social Service Centre solicitor Liljana Ovsenjak from Murska Sobota and a social worker and the whole neighbourhood who could not understand why a 13-year-old ninth grade straight A student from Murska Sobota primary school was being treated like a criminal.

The mother said, “In the meantime I was held down with my head to the floor. After the things had simmered down, the “executor “approached and handed me a document on “confiscation” to sign. When I told him about breaking the law by holding the girl against her will, he gave me a piercing look and left.

“Once my daughter was in the ambulance, they sent for me to accompany her. She was still in her pyjamas. One of her trousers got ripped during the struggle. She cried all the way in the car. On the way into the unknown the doctor made several calls to the Maribor and Ljubljana pediatric clinic but both refused to admit her. On arrival in Ljubljana, the doctor disappeared for a while and when she returned we were allowed to leave the car, which my daughter resisted. One of the nurses held her hand encouraging her, “Come along now! You’ll be all right!” She wouldn’t let go of me. We walked across the yard, accompanied by the police, my daughter only in her socks and pyjamas. “ (Miha Šoštarič, Dnevnik Večer)

The horrifying scenes of the execution are not from 60 years ago when Nazis tore Slovenian children from their mothers. This is Slovenia now and today.

Seven years ago Sekolovnik family from Satahovci near Murska Sobota (Northeast Slovenia) made it to the news because there was a serious dispute between the parents over the custody of the children. Just over half a year ago Slovenian public was shocked and outraged once again by the very same story and over a month ago the story nearly got its epilogue, but not quite.

After the parents’ divorce in 2001, mother Lidija was awarded the custody of both children twice, but due to the father’s appeals the court order was reversed by the High Court in Maribor and by the Slovenian Supreme Court of Justice. After the case had been tried again by the very same judge in August 2007, the custody was awarded to father Jože without any kind of explanation on what grounds. By the court order, the mother should have handed over the girl to the father at the end of 2007, but didn’t because the daughter threatened to kill herself if forced to live with the father. After the interview with one of the psychologists from the Maribor hospital psychiatric ward it was decided on 14 February 2008 that the girl be kept there, so she stayed for 3 weeks until March 7 when she was allowed to return to her mother. Only a week later, on 14 March, the family was paid another visit by the police. Nothing better illustrates the bizarre pointlessness of the police persecution than the sight of dozens of police marching a 14-year-old to the ambulance. After a spectacular intervention, she was whizzed to the Psychology Department of the Pediatrics in Ljubljana where she remained until 12 July 2008 despite her pleas to let her return home. The court and the medical staff justified their decision by referring to her vulnerability and distress.

In the meantime there were letters addressed to the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and to the government from several political parties, urging them to solve the case in favour of the girl. The leader of LIPA Parliamentary Party Barbara Žgajner Tavš severely reprimanded the Ombudsman. In her open letter to the Ministry and the Government she criticized the courts and social services centre for letting the parents juggle with the thirteen-year-old. She said, “As one of the signees of the International Convention on Children’s Rights, we are constantly forgetting about the children’s rights to express their wish about who they want to live with, a fact ignored by the courts. I must urge the human rights Ombudsman to immediately act in the interest of a child who is being held prisoner at the psychiatric ward just because her parents will not agree on the custody and the courts are cooperating with their hostility.“ (www.slovenskalipa.si)

At the same time the press and the public put a lot of pressure on the pediatrics in Ljubljana. All these activities finally bore fruit and on 12 July 2008 the girl was transferred to the Centre for Child Diseases in Šentvid near Stična, a more appropriate place to stay.

Sadly, none of the religious institutions lifted a finger to help. They refrained from giving any kind of opinion, but I guess they had much nobler causes to fight for such as exercising their religious and political power, fighting for their property and against the erection of the mosque in Ljubljana.

There are a great many questions nobody has yet bothered to address. We all have problems grasping the work of the court, judges and medical staff. Who is responsible? Why is the girl fighting her father tooth and nail, refusing to be in his custody? There had been allegations made by her about the father being a child molester, which nobody bothered to examine, including the Ombudsman, the story namely corroborated by her brother of age, who told the media, “My father is a very possessive and vindictive man. I had to go through the same ordeal, but on a much smaller scale. I fear that because he is an employee at the Court of Justice in Murska Sobota he can use his influence, which will only bring more grief to my sister and the consequences will be irremediable.”

If the courts are really tossing the girl back and forth just because they are siding with one of the parents, this is a disgrace for the whole legal system.

The Slovenian human rights Ombudsman claims that all the allegations coming from both children hold no water since they are the work of the manipulative mother who would not stop to do aynthing just to vex her husband, who for the time being has resorted to silence to protect the girl. Yet when asked to elaborate, she says she cannot account for the father’s silence nor can she release any kind of information on the girl’s state in order to protect her from media exposure. While it is true that both the Ombudsman and the father tried to convince the public of their good deeds, nothing they did or said can make us believe they acted in the interest of the child especially since we know that her name has been dragged through the papers for the past two years.

Finally, after the mother’s solicitor Franci Matoz had made appeal once again, both parties met in court in December 2008. This time a different judge Marija Stojko Tretnjak awarded the custody to the mother and ordered the father to pay monthly child maintenance in the sum of €280. At the same time the court issued a restraining order against the father, but the mother’s motion for the daughter’s return home was denied. The girl is to remain in Stična until the decision is effective. With the help of the solicitor the girl came home for Christmas, but returned to Stična after the holidays where she is now awaiting the court decision to be finalized. In the meantime Mr Matoz is going to file a lawsuit against the medical institutions demanding € 50,000 from them for mishandling the case and keeping the 14-year-old away from her mother against her will, depriving her of happy childhood and causing her intolerable grief.

In any other democratic country this kind of incident would bring down the Justice Minister, Minister for Home Affairs, Health Minister and many other civil servants in high positions, but not in Slovenia. So, this is an appeal to all the Slovenian people, a plea to muster enough courage and do whatever it takes, even if that meant turning the courts of justice, social services and medical institutions upside down to set the fourteen-year-old free and once and for good return her to the safety of her home, the one she chooses to go to.

As a child I used to spend summers at my grandparents where water wasn’t exactly abundant. Somewhere below the farm there used to be a small well where they went to collect water with a tub tied to a long wooden pole. You needed to be strong to do it, so I wasn’t allowed to play around for fear of falling in. But the well was ever so mysterious and the villagers spoke of it with awe, saying that there lived some kind of Triton. I can still recall the color and taste of the water despite the scientific claims about it being colorless and odorless – the gentle mellow velvety emerald color as it was splashing from side to side of the bucket carried by my grandmother. When I dived my brown eyes in it, I could see far beyond, where little blue water sprites danced around the big fountain. And the taste, that refreshing, soothing taste, quenching my thirst, was peculiar only to that water – I had never ever tasted it before, or later.

Twenty years on, water is still as precious as it used to be back then. Just over a year ago my mother’s water supply suddenly ran dry. It turned her life into a living hell and mine into constant worry about how to solve the problem. First we thought it was only the winter and the pipes froze, but spring came and the pipes refused to cooperate. I’m not sure if anyone can possibly imagine how frustrating it is when you want to wash hands, or pour yourself a glass, and you open the tap which remains silent, not releasing even a gargling sound that normally follows the dry spells. She had to have water delivered by the fire brigade so she could cook, and I took care of her laundry. What a nightmare! So for the next six months she had to make do without, and our lives revolved around it until finally after all our nagging the water authority sorted out her problem with the help of a local patron who literally had to pull a few strings to get things started. What a relief! Our lives were back to normal.

She is extremely fortunate to be living in an urban area whereas there are a great many people buried deep in the Slovenian mountains or living in the middle of nowhere still relying solely on wells for their water supply. In Slovenia one thousand water systems supply over 90% of population. One of the special features is a large number of small wells and waterworks supplying just a small percentage of population. The systems have a lot of drawbacks which affect the quality of drinking water.

According to the statistics, Slovenia is one of the European countries with the richest water sources – 97% of underground water sources cater for all the users, and the remaining 3% come from surface water. There are 10,000 drinking water sources with the quality of water which can be compared to that in the developed countries. We are one of the very few to be able to drink water from the tap therefore we should consider ourselves lucky. All in all, we have nothing to fear. For now! But how long will the stores last? It has been forecast that by 2025 two thirds of world population will be facing water shortages, and as we all know, a man can live one month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water. Is this going to be the end of us?

As far as the water consumption is concerned, fifty-five liters of water are used per person a day in Slovenia to meet various different needs from washing up, laundering, bathing to showering, which is far more than the UN minimum per person – 20 liters a day, and in urban areas the figures soar from approximately 150 liters a day to 250 or 300 liters. And I thought that the British were rather unsparing with 150 liters per person a day, seeing their houses equipped with bathtubs rather than showers, which have been a standard practice in Slovenia for years. In comparison with other European countries we do not lag behind – Spain with 265 liters per person a day is in the lead while Lithuania with only 85 liters per person a day comes last (Source: ARSO).

No matter how rich the country might be with water sources, there are about 400 ecological disasters in Slovenia annually. In most cases the reason for this is the spill of dangerous chemicals that trickle into the underground water, contaminating drinking water. According to some prognostic services, Slovenia is heading for water disaster.

Anton Kamat, an independent researcher, said “Slovenia is about to encounter a serious water stress. Water safety is in great danger and that poses a threat to the national security since it is not possible to imagine normal life and safe future without water. The worst possible scenario: water source Hrastje near the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, supplying 85 thousand inhabitants, might as well be forgotten not only for a while, but for good. The residue left by the solvents is non-degradable.”

Naturally, health inspectors try to reassure everybody, saying that water in the wider Ljubljana area is suitable for drinking, pointing at Prekmurje in the northeastern Slovenia, where apparently water is most contaminated due to intensive farming. Of course, the state is trying to convince the skeptics with promises of solid plans to eliminate the causes of contamination, but people will not be fooled.

According to Anton Kamat, we are handling water as a company in liquidation, and the dispersed competence, typical of this domain is telling us that the decision-making aptitude of the government and politics is questionable. The Ministry of the Environment is, of course, denying everything claiming that most of its time is dedicated to water.

A spokesperson for the Slovenian Consumer Society, Jana Peterman, corroborated Mr. Kamat’s findings, saying ”It is true that it was found with the monitoring in 2003 that 43% of Slovenian population is supplied with water from unsuitable water sources which need to be sanitized, so the government is trying to have us think they really know what they’re doing.” But for every positive response there’s a negative one. So who to believe?

The provision regulating the quality of drinking water in Slovenia is the Drinking Water Regulations which is in compliance with the European Union Directive. In 2000 the European Union adopted the directive which gives member states legal and professional starting points for common approach to managing water. The main objective of the “water directive” is achieving good chemical and ecological state of water by 2015, a state without any adverse effects on humans. In article 8, this directive calls for a program of monitoring of surface and underground water sources, one of the key assignments of Slovenian Agency for the Environment. In Slovenia monitoring has a long tradition, but in 2007 it was carried out for the first time in accordance with the requirements of the “water directive”. The first results of evaluation will be issued in 2009, by which time one third of the population might have been affected by poor or contaminated drinking water. Fortunately, the Slovenes are not great drinkers of water – they drink beer and wine to quench their thirst, so perhaps they are in less danger of contamination.

How can we solve the problem of water consumption in Slovenia? The answer is rainwater – food for thought for future generations. If we start using it, it is possible to supply 50% of clean drinking water in households (45 liters excluding bathing, washing up and drinking). I believe that Slovenian people in general are still unaware of how serious the situation is since in the constant quest for money, it is far more important to be well provided with consumer goods. Still, people do believe that the secret of youth can be theirs, not with the help of plastic surgery, but by drinking water, so the awareness that has been raised about the issue in the past few years has finally borne fruit – people are prepared to contribute their share to water preservation.