Peace Institute Annual Report 2024: Focus on human rights, critical thinking, and advocacy
14. 7. 2025 | Gender, Human Rights and Minorities, Media, Politics
In 2024, the Peace Institute strengthened human rights, social justice, democratic participation, media freedom, and gender equality through its research and advocacy work. We addressed some of the most important challenges of our time, including militarization, the rise of populism, the integration of migrants, and the precarious situation of the elderly.
The Peace Institute’s 2024 Annual Report summarizes the rich array of research, educational, and advocacy activities undertaken over the past year. It offers a comprehensive insight into our work in four key thematic areas: human rights and minorities, politics, media, and gender. We are proud of the recognition received by researcher Majda Hrženjak from the Slovenian Sociological Association for her outstanding contribution, as well as the doctorate awarded to our colleague Mojca Frelih.
One of the main highlights of the report is the publication (In)Equality in Times of Crisis and the Rise of Authoritarianism, in which our researchers use interdisciplinary analysis of current social processes to reveal the deepening of social inequalities and the erosion of democratic institutions. In his introduction, Director Iztok Šori also emphasized that we are living in a time of profound social change, marked by a series of interrelated crises: climate, migration, health, economic, security, and democratic crises.
“We find ourselves in this situation after decades of neoliberal dominance that systematically weakened the public good and dismantled social protection systems, thereby reducing citizens’ trust in institutions and in the future. Authoritarian leaders, who rule not with love but with the stick, exploit this resulting uncertainty.”
In the field of human rights and minorities, our institute has conducted research and advocacy activities related to the fight against discrimination, hate speech, racism, and violations of the rights of migrants, erased persons, LGBTQI+ persons, and other vulnerable groups. We have carried out several monitoring activities (including participation in reports by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights), training courses, and awareness-raising campaigns, and we have also participated in the development of the Human Rights Guide, which received the Erasmus+ Quality Award. In several projects, we analyzed migrants’ access to adequate housing in the EU, advocated for inclusive local integration, emphasized the importance of a two-way integration process, and worked to increase the visibility of migrant voices in the public sphere. In the field of politics, we placed a special emphasis on peace initiatives – we launched a series of letters entitled “Living Peace,” which reveal the thoughts on peace of people whose lives have been disrupted by war. We supported student protests in Serbia and actively participated in European research networks. We addressed topics such as populism, labor migration, the platform economy, sustainable development, civic engagement, and the challenges of an aging society. We emphasized the importance of demilitarization, supported peace and democratic initiatives at home and around the world, and publicly advocated for the right to free Slovenian language education and the free use of languages.
In the field of media, we addressed issues of media integrity, journalistic professionalism, and the influence of authoritarian populism on the media landscape. We placed special emphasis on emotions in journalism, analyzing how emotions affect the quality of media content. In our advocacy work, we drew attention to unethical reporting on Roma people in the Tarča program and filed a complaint with RTV Slovenia. We also contributed to the Rule of Law Report 2024, where we highlighted the problems with public media funding and the lack of systemic measures to protect journalists and the media space in Slovenia.
An important part of the report is also devoted to gender, where we focused on issues related to gender equality, sexual and care work, masculinity, and the reconciliation of private and professional life. We have highlighted research on the everyday lives of older people living in poverty and on the transnationalisation of care for older people, which reveals structural inequalities in the care sector. Among our achievements, we would also like to highlight internationally recognized publications on long-term care policy and criticism of legislative changes in this area.
In 2024, the Institute launched several new projects, such as ENACT, FAIR, CitiDem, and PROSECO, which address the topics of local integration of migrants, promotion of fundamental rights, and strengthening of civil society. As part of their research activities, they also actively participated in the preparation of reports on the state of the rule of law in the EU.
The 2024 Annual Report is not just a review of achievements, but a document that confirms the central role of the Peace Institute in Slovenia in building a just, democratic, and thoughtful society.
The full report is available on the Peace Institute website.
