As many as one in five Croatian citizens are living at risk of poverty, warned Human Rights Ombudswoman, Lora Vidović, in her 2017 report submitted to parliament.

As many as one in five Croatian citizens are living at risk of poverty, warned Human Rights Ombudswoman, Lora Vidović, in her 2017 report submitted to parliament.

Along with the analysis and the assessment of the state of human rights in the country, her office has made 231 recommendations to systematically eradicate problems in that regard.

Welfare benefits are insufficient for basic life needs, and the most vulnerable are the elderly who continue to live in exceptionally difficult conditions, the report notes.

The report identified improvements in the area of protection against domestic violence and economic exploitation, as well as the government’s announcement of the introduction of social pensions.

There are numerous situations with unequal access to rights, particularly for impoverished citizens, especially when it comes to the judiciary, and increasingly long waiting lists in health care.

For the first time, complaints about workers’ rights accounted for the largest portion of complaints.

“Similarly to previous years, regardless of what area, the most represented complaints of discrimination were founded on ethnicity, particularly regarding the Roma and Serb ethnic minorities as well as asylum seekers,” the report said.

Legally mandated representation of ethnic minorities in the government and the judiciary is the least respected human right and their representation continues to be below their share in Croatia’s population which is 7.7 percent.

Intolerance to different groups and opinions, unfortunately, remains dominant in the public sphere.

Last year the ombudswoman’s office unexpectedly visited several elderly citizens’ homes and determined that they lacked qualified staff, which impacts the quality of life for beneficiaries.