Stanko Baluh was born on 30 October 1968 in Celje. He completed his primary education in Polzela and graduated from the general upper secondary school Gimnazija Poljane. After secondary school graduation, he attended language training in Dublin, Ireland, and in Perugia, Italy, and enrolled in university study programmes in philosophy and pedagogy. He completed his studies in the United States and obtained his master’s degree in philosophical sciences in theology and pedagogy.

When studying in the United States, he also worked on various projects, including Ethics and Society, Organisation of Public Institutions and Movement for Life.

After his return to Slovenia in 1998, he was involved in diverse educational projects and lectured at various international conferences and symposia in Rome, Tinje, Trieste and Brussels. He actively participated in and was a co-founder of several international organisations.

In 2000, he was employed at the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for National Minorities as adviser to the director, taking responsibility for the Italian national community and the Roma ethnic community and for European affairs.

Between July 2006 and July 2012, he was the director of the Office for National Minorities. In 2013, he was appointed Head of the Service for National Communities at the Ministry of the Interior and later Secretary at the Office for National Minorities. In March 2015, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia reappointed him director of the Office and in 2021, it reconfirmed his term of office.

Currently, he is an active member of various commissions and committees at the national and international levels related to the Office’s area of work. He is also active in other social fields, mainly as a lecturer, focusing on work with young people, the socially disadvantaged and the most vulnerable groups in society.