President Nataša Pirc Musar presented state decorations to several individuals and institutions for accomplishments related to fostering Slovenian language and culture abroad, and for promotion of bilateral ties, as well as for humanitarian work on 17 December.

Recipients of the Order of Merit include Ladislav Jirásko, a Czech national who has promoted Slovenian mountaineering in Czechia since the 1960, and Ljudmila Nott, a Slovenian who married future UK Secretary of Defence Sir John Nott in 1959 and helped in efforts for Slovenia's international recognition.

The Smrtnik Brothers Quintet were decorated for preserving Slovenian music in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the Slovenian Research Institute (SLORI) in Trieste for promoting the development of Slovenian language and education in Italy, and the Slovenian Mountaineering Association in Trieste for being a pillar of Slovenian identity in Italy for 120 years.

The Order of Merit is given out for accomplishments benefiting Slovenia in fields other than the civil, diplomatic, international, military or security spheres.

Evris Alexandrou, Slovenia's honorary consul in Cyprus since 1995, and Nicholas Albino Baldacchino, honorary consul in Malta since 1993, both received Medals of Merit for deepening ties between their native countries and Slovenia.

Austrian translator Erwin Köstler, who has been translating Slovenian works into German since the 1990s, has been honoured with the same decoration for his contribution to the promotion of Slovenian culture in German-speaking countries.

Roman Verdel, a member of the Slovenian minority in Austria best known as the leader of several choirs in Carinthia, received the Medal of Merit for his dedicated work for the Slovenian community there and for efforts to preserve Slovenian language and culture in Carinthia.

The Medal of Merit honours remarkable achievements and results that constitute an important contribution to the development and international standing of Slovenia.

Meanwhile, Sandi Curk, the head of the regional civil protection headquarters for the Notranjska region, and Anica Mikuš Kos, a paediatrician, psychiatrist, and humanitarian, were honoured with the Golden Order of Merit.

The decoration recognises exceptional merits accomplished for Slovenia in the civil, diplomatic and international and military or security fields.

Curk was honoured for his outstanding contributions "in the fields of humanitarian aid and civil protection, which are manifested above all in the promotion of humanitarianism, solidarity, voluntarism and in helping fellow human beings in need".

Mikuš Kos, the president of the Slovenian Philanthropy, a charity, was honoured for her "outstanding services to humanitarianism and mental health and to the cause of peace and a better society".

Long retired, Mikuš Kos is a former head of the Department of Child Psychiatry at the Ljubljana Paediatric Clinic and a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Ljubljana. She also led the Counselling Centre for Children, Adolescents, and Parents in Ljubljana.

A tireless advocate for children affected by war, trauma, and natural disasters, she has implemented psychosocial programmes worldwide and helped establish and lead the Slovenian Philanthropy for over 30 years.

Unlike her predecessors who honoured such accomplishments several times during the year, Pirc Musar gives out state decorations once a year, ahead Independence and Unity Day on 26 December.