On 23 January 2025, the Ombudswoman, Tena Šimonović Einwalter, participated in the thematic session of the Committee on Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities titled “Poverty and Human Rights,” which addressed the negative impact of poverty on the exercise of human rights.
Opening the session, Committee Chair Milorad Pupovac emphasized that poverty is not merely a statistical figure, but a story of individuals’ daily struggle to meet basic needs, access education, healthcare, and employment. Citing data from the Ombudswoman’s Annual Report, he highlighted that one in five people in Croatia is at risk of poverty, including nearly one in three people over the age of 65.
The Link Between Poverty and Human Rights
Explaining the connection between poverty and human rights, the Ombudswoman pointed out that poverty affects access to various human rights – civil, political, and especially economic, social, and cultural rights. It is not only an economic issue, but also a matter of social exclusion, discrimination, and access to rights, which requires a cross-sectoral focus and cooperation.
She particularly stressed the importance of raising awareness of the link between poverty and human rights, as their protection and fulfilment are the responsibility of the state. Croatia, through its Constitution, is defined as a social state. Addressing poverty in the context of human rights means shifting from a charity-based approach to a vision grounded in obligations and responsibilities for action or inaction, at national, regional, and local levels. She noted that this thematic session was an opportunity to discuss the situation of homeless persons and others living in extreme poverty and material and social deprivation, which affects 2.8% of the population in Croatia, as well as the broader 22% of citizens struggling to make ends meet.
Key Issues Related to Poverty
In her presentation, the Ombudswoman outlined ten key areas and rights that need to be addressed in relation to poverty, which she had previously highlighted. These include: the right to social security, the right to housing and adequate accommodation, the right to food and essential goods, the right to health, the right to work and decent working conditions, the right to education, access to justice, the so-called criminalization of poverty, social marginalization, stigmatization and discrimination, and the impact of one’s place of residence, i.e. regional disparities and the need for greater focus on rural areas and islands.
Regarding discrimination, she clarified that poverty can itself be a ground for discrimination, particularly on the basis of property status. It often intersects with other personal characteristics such as age, health status, disability, ethnicity, and marital or family status, and it also has a gender dimension. Poverty should be considered within the context of specific social groups such as older persons, Roma, persons with disabilities, etc., and their exposure to poverty and multiple discrimination.
Recommendations for Addressing the Issues
The Ombudswoman briefly reiterated the recommendations aimed at addressing these challenges, including: the urgent need to increase both the amount and coverage of social benefits, raise pensions and revise the pension calculation formula, ensure better access to healthcare services and essential medicines within the public health system, adopt a homelessness strategy, increase the capacity and availability of social housing and better define the roles of local and national authorities, improve the free legal aid system by increasing capacity, nationwide coverage, and regular funding, prevent discrimination, develop necessary infrastructure in rural areas, and implement more effective public policies and interdepartmental cooperation through better coordination of activities by the relevant ministries and institutions involved in combating poverty.
In addition to the Committee Chair, Members of Parliament, and the Ombudswoman, the session also featured contributions by: State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Marija Pletikosa; Disability Ombudsperson Darijo Jurišić; Deputy Ombudsperson for Children Tatjana Holjevac; Deputy Ombudsperson for Gender Equality Kristijan Kevešević; as well as representatives of local government, civil society organisations, and academia.
First-Hand Experiences
A particularly valuable aspect of this thematic session was that representatives of civil society had the opportunity to present concrete problems and first-hand experiences related to the negative impact of poverty on the enjoyment of human rights in the Croatian Parliament.
Zvonko Mlinar from the Croatian Homeless Network spoke about numerous and serious problems faced by homeless individuals, stressing that society harbors deep-rooted prejudice against them. He noted the increasing number of elderly and persons with mental health conditions among the homeless, as well as young people who exit institutional care upon reaching adulthood. He pointed out that homelessness is not recognized as a vulnerability in overarching strategies targeting poverty and social exclusion, and that social benefits are insufficient. He emphasized the key issue that many homeless people, due to unregistered residence, lack personal identification cards, which are a prerequisite for accessing basic rights such as healthcare, social welfare, or employment.
Vanja Bastiančić from the Institute Pula also highlighted the problem of lacking ID cards as a fundamental barrier to accessing rights for the homeless. She noted that the declining number of social benefit recipients is also due to the increasing number of people without identification, while in reality the number of those in need of help with even the most basic needs such as food and housing is unfortunately on the rise.
Sandra Grozdanov from the Centre for the Culture of Dialogue in Rijeka presented a programme focused on supporting children and parents at risk of poverty. Tanja Radović from the Centre for Peace Studies drew attention to the issue of mandatory community service (unpaid work for the public good) imposed on recipients of the guaranteed minimum benefit. She emphasized that instead of being penalized by losing this benefit for six months if they refuse such work, recipients should be empowered and supported in their efforts to enter the labour market, which is the standard approach in most EU member states.
Olja Družić Ljubotina from the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, addressed some of these issues, emphasizing that allowances for homeless persons in shelters are inadequate and highlighted the need for a national homelessness strategy. Regarding unpaid community service, she stated that such a practice is problematic and that the Constitutional Court is currently reviewing this measure. She also pointed out issues with ensuring children’s right to food, especially for those in secondary school, and more broadly, poverty in the education system, which remains unrecognized. She stressed the need to employ social workers in schools to help prevent the effects of poverty faced by children from socially disadvantaged families.
In the context of poverty among older persons, Slavica Marčeta from the NGO ADRA emphasized the lack of access to hot meals for people living in remote rural areas. She stated that beneficiaries of the “Zaželi” programme, which is considered a social service, are not entitled to the social service of hot meals, even though their low income qualifies them for this right. In practice, individuals in remote areas often lack the means to purchase food, local shops are absent, and public transport is unavailable, leading to food insecurity, especially during the winter months.
In closing, Ombudswoman Šimonović Einwalter stated that the upcoming amendments to the Social Welfare Act offer an opportunity for a significant step forward in addressing the problems faced by socially vulnerable individuals. She concluded that combating poverty requires stronger and coordinated efforts from multiple ministries and cooperation among all stakeholders, to ensure that everyone truly has equal opportunities for a dignified life in Croatia.
A recording of the thematic session is available here.