The Ombudswoman, Tena Šimonović Einwalter, presented the Ombudswoman’s Annual Report for 2025, an assessment of the human rights situation in Croatia in the past year, which also contains 181 recommendations to the competent authorities.
Similar long-term and systemic problems affecting citizens persist year after year. These include difficulties in everyday interactions with various institutions, which leave citizens feeling powerless in the face of the system, as well as insufficiently transparent and participatory processes that deepen distrust in institutions. When adopting legislation and policies, the impact on the most vulnerable is too often overlooked, while the realization of rights in practice often depends on where and in which part of Croatia a person lives. Many do not receive the necessary care, public services, or timely responses from authorities, while employees in the healthcare, social welfare, and other systems are overburdened.
Last year, the Ombudswoman received the highest number of complaints in more than 30 years of the institution’s existence: 4.491 new cases were opened, based on complaints or ex officio, 21% more than the year before, which had also recorded the highest number up to that point. A record number of complaints was also received in a single area, namely related to the right to health (525).
Overall, human rights in Croatia largely stagnated in 2025; in some areas there was regression, and threats to the rule of law were also recorded.
Access to healthcare was insufficient: citizens continued to wait a long time for examinations, while oncology and palliative patients were in a particularly difficult position. Shortcomings in the functioning of the welfare state were evident, while the number of older persons at risk of poverty continued to rise. Intolerance towards minority groups—particularly the Serbian and Roma national minorities, as well as foreign workers and other migrants—were more frequent and more direct. Hate speech was widespread, especially online, while disinformation and fake news were also spreading. The space for critical voices continued to narrow, primarily affecting journalists and media freedom, civil society organizations, and independent institutions. In the area of the right to public assembly, issues arose concerning the requirement for prior notification of assemblies, the suitability of venues where they take place, and the messages conveyed on such occasions. Prisons remain overcrowded, resulting in inadequate accommodation conditions, as well as inadequate healthcare for prisoners.
In 2025, there were also some positive developments. These include the implementation of the first strategic document on affordable housing, changes to the pension indexation model, the systematic publication of court judgments, and the expansion of protection for whistleblowers also when they report directly to the police and the State Attorney’s Office, as well as the start of work on some of the necessary strategic documents. For some citizens, the obligation to report in person to the Croatian Health Insurance Fund every three months in order not to lose mandatory health insurance was also abolished.
At the same time, the Ombudswoman also presented a special report, “The Rights of Older Persons in Croatia”, with 32 recommendations, aimed at placing greater focus on the rights of older persons. The special report provides a comprehensive overview of the various problems faced by older persons and also brings some new insights. For example, for the first time it provides more detailed coverage of the challenges faced by persons living with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. In Croatia, no anti-dementia medicines are included on the Basic List of Medicines of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund and all must be co-paid, while social welfare institutions have capacity for only 1.3%—namely 659 out of 48,842 persons living with dementia. In almost half of the counties, such accommodation is not available at all.
The Ombudswoman’s reports to the Croatian Parliament are primarily based on the handling of complaints received from citizens, but also on a large number of other sources of information, including those provided by competent authorities and civil society organizations, statistical indicators, research, academic work, and case law of national courts, the Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as many other sources.
It should be noted that the Croatian Parliament has still not discussed the Ombudswoman’s Annual Reports for 2023 and 2024, nor the special report “The Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Human Rights and Equality – Recommendations for the Strengthening of Resilience to Future Crises”, submitted four years ago.
Accordingly, three annual and two special reports of the Ombudswoman are currently awaiting parliamentary discussion. By postponing these discussions, opportunities are missed to give attention to the problems raised by citizens, to use the reports while the data remain current, and to enable parliamentary debate on their underlying causes—stemming from the work of various authorities—which is important for the protection of human rights and the rule of law in Croatia.
