ZAGREB, December 10, 2018 – Twenty percent of the population in Croatia is at risk of poverty, of which 28% is senior population, public ombudswoman Laura Vidović said on Monday on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
Poverty is a great enemy of human rights and it is a partner to discrimination because it means life in social isolation and it can have numerous consequences to health, education or access to the labour market, Vidović said, adding that it could lead to homelessness.
The economy is growing but the risk of poverty indicators are growing too, the ombudswoman said, adding that citizens often are not acquainted with their rights and they don’t know who to turn to. Even when they know who to turn to, they rarely opt for that as they neither have the will nor the strength to do that, the Ombudswoman said.
More than seven percent of the population cannot afford adequate heating in the coldest months of the year, Vidović said. Her proposal to reduce VAT on heating wood, heat energy and gas has been rejected with the explanation that this would create additional negative influence on budget revenues.
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.
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