Drzavljan A.T. (2010)

The case of the Erased People of Slovenia is the biggest systematic policy of violence against human rights in the history of the European Union: in 1992. the Slovenian government removed 25,671 people from the official records, among them 6,000 children. In this way these citizens, the Erased, lost all their civil rights. Their only "crime" was their ethnic origin. The fight to restore civil rights to these Erased Citizens ensued for the following 17 years. Leading this fight was Aleksandar Todorovic who, once the Erased Citizens won the legal battle for the restoration of their rights in 2009, attempted suicide, which suggests the full consequence of this struggle has yet to play out. It also asks the question: Who will pay the price for this democratic victory? Will it only be the weakest individuals, families left destitute, and children now lost? The Slovenian politicians who endorsed this xenophobic brand of politics for the past 17 years were amongst the highest ranking leaders of the European Union in 2008.