Ombudswoman Lora Vidović has submitted to the Croatian Parliament her annual report for the year 2020 containing an analysis of the issues faced by the citizens in the exercise of their human rights and incidences of discrimination. Its value lies especially in its 142 recommendations, mostly issued to the competent state administration bodies and aimed at achieving stronger human rights protection in virtually all areas of life.

As the report shows, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the earthquakes that struck Croatia in 2020, additionally exposed the deficiencies in various sectors already pointed to in the Ombudswoman’s previous reports, such as the necessity of establishing robust and efficient public health and social protection systems and of strengthening workers’ rights. Thus, we repeat these recommendations in our latest report, with the goal of building a stronger society, more resilient in the face of any future crises.

Most Common Types of Complaints and Resulting Recommendations

In 2020 the largest number of the citizens’ complaints related to the area of health: not being able to get in touch with their physicians or acquire the medication they needed, as well as the postponed appointments and medical procedures, which made the already long waiting periods even longer. These are followed by complaints related to employment, labour and civil service, submitted mostly by the citizens who lost their jobs or were required to work from home, but did not have the necessary conditions to do so. Third most common group of complains are those related to discrimination, most commonly in the areas of labour and employment and on the grounds of nationality, ethnicity, health and property status and age, reflecting the trends from the previous years.

The upgrade of the Public Health Network, introducing a limit to consecutive fixed-term employment contracts and stepping up education on equality and combating discrimination are some of the 142 recommendations featured in this report, whereas others stress the need for stronger protection of whistleblowers, populations of rural areas, the youth, national minorities, persons deprived of their liberty and many others.

Most Vulnerable in Need of Stronger Support; Poverty Among the Elderly on the Rise

The 2020 Report points to the deficiencies in the social protection system, worsened by the long-term delays in the adoption of new Social Protection Act, which leaves the most vulnerable citizens without adequate protection. The growing poverty rate among the older persons is worrying as well. During the pandemic they were one of the hardest hit groups, both because they were more likely to be affected by the more serious forms of the disease, as well as due to the effects of the measures introduced to curb the pandemic on their lives. The recommendations targeted at them call for the decentralisation and efficient monitoring of the homes for the elderly, introduction of a registry of the “for-life” and “until-death” maintenance contracts, as well as a lower census for the access to the assistance-at-home social service.

 

An Overview of the Mandate: 2013-2021

This annual report is the last published in the eight-year mandate of Ombudswoman Lora Vidović. During this period more than 40 000 citizens contacted the Office and over 25 000 cases were opened. Numerous recommendations issued – the reports themselves contain more than 1 000 – contributed to concrete social change, as well as the change in the lives of individuals and various social groups. You can explore these data in more detail here.

 

The 2020 Annual Report can be accessed here (Croatian language version).

Within the investigation instigated on the grounds of the violation of rights and interests of a child in certain media reports, the Protector of Citizens established that the Ministry of Culture and Information filed a request for launching a misdemeanor offence proceedings against the editor-in-chief of the internet portal www.novosti.rs Mr. Milorad Vučelić because he made the identity of minors identifiable in published media content.

On 4 February 2021, the Protector of Citizens initiated own-initiative investigation to control work legality and regularity of the Ministry of Culture and Information from which it requested to launch applicable procedures to ascertain whether certain media outlets have violated the rights and interests of two children by reporting on the abuse of the children in the vicinity of Kovin, and to take the necessary measures within its remit.

The statement that the Ministry submitted to the Protector of Citizens reads that, in the procedure of monitoring the implementation of the Law on Public Information and Media, the Ministry determined that the editor-in-chief of the internet portal www.novosti.rs made the identity of a minor recognizable in the information that might harm his right or interest in the media content that was published on the website of the newspapers on 3 February 2021, which was not compliant with the provisions of Article 80, paragraph 2 of the Law.

The Ministry of Culture and Information further stated that it had filed a motion for initiating misdemeanor proceedings against the editor of the internet portal www.novosti.rs Mr. Milorad Vučelić, the Protector of Citizens determined.

In the same control investigation, the Protector of Citizens requested the statement from the Kovin Social Welfare Center which notified the Institution that the children’s family has been on the Center’s record as a beneficiary of social allowances, as well as that it had no knowledge that the violence existed or that it was reported.

The Center’s statement reads that two children were placed in a foster family immediately upon learning that the father abused them, whereas the other children were urgently removed to a relative's family, which reported the accident, and they were subsequently provided with foster care.

Petitionen/Ausschuss Der Petitionsausschuss empfiehlt die Material-Überweisung einer Petition an die Regierung, damit die Eingabe in die anstehende Evaluation des Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetzes einbezogen werden kann.

Petitionen/Ausschuss Forderungen nach verbesserten Arbeitsbedingungen für Pflegekräfte standen im Mittelpunkt einer öffentlichen Sitzung des Petitionsausschusses am Montagnachmittag.

"Plus personne ne l'attendait... Le Médiateur l'a fait !"
Le Médiateur, Marc BERTRAND, a remis officiellement le rapport annuel 2019 de l'Institution aux Présidents des Parlements.

02-03-2021