Matic Zupan

Matic Zupan is the Program Director at Regional Dialogue, where he is responsible for overseeing and guiding the implementation of the program focused on the Rule of Law and justice system reforms in Uzbekistan. He has in-depth knowledge of the Rule of Law, justice and legal sectors, politics, and human rights protection. Additionally, he serves as a subject matter expert on the topics of the criminal justice system and human rights protection. In his career he held various positions in public administration, serving both as the Head of the Cabinet of the Minister of Justice (2014-2018) and the Minister of Public Administration (2021-2022). From 2020 to 2021 he served as the Deputy Minister of Justice, covering the penal law and human rights area. His biggest achievement in this capacity was implementing the Barnahus concept in the Slovene criminal justice system. Barnahus is a leading European model for a child-friendly multidisciplinary and interagency response to child sexual abuse and the first Barnahus (Children’s House) of Slovenia for child victims of sexual abuse was launched in Ljubljana in 2021. As a Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Justice, he was a member of several working groups, both on the amendments to the Slovenian Constitution (the role and position of the Constitutional Court) and on the whistleblower’s protection act (adopted in 2022). As a project manager, he successfully completed the implementation of a new Criminal Records System (in 2023).