Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament's Human Rights and Ethnic Minorities Committee on Thursday unanimously endorsed the report for 2018 by Public Ombudswoman Lora Vidović, who cited racial and ethnic discrimination, a rise in the poverty risk rate for senior citizens, growing mistrust in state institutions and emigration as the biggest challenges.
Vidović informed the Committee that the systematic problems in 2018 were the same as in the previous years.
She notably commented on a concerning social situation of the elderly, saying that the poverty risk rate for those above 65 was 29.6% and that every second single-member household in that age cohort is at the risk of poverty.
Two years ago, the Office of the Public Ombudswoman received 317 complaints about discrimination on the labour market and employment.
The report underscores concerning trends in hate speech, uneven court practice, and failure by the police to provide data on their treatment of migrants at the border.
As for the migration, we do not have access to the Interior Ministry's information system. Our female colleagues who monitor the police treatment of migrants on the ground are exposed to sexist comments and derision, Vidović told the Committee.
In 2018, Vidović sent 209 recommendations to the government to step up human rights protection, and the government responded to only 50% of them.
The report in the parliamentary procedure: https://www.sabor.hr/izvjesce-pucke-pravobraniteljice-za-2018-godinu-podnositeljica-pucka-pravobraniteljica?t=114219&tid=208442 (in Croatian)