ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - On the occasion of Human Rights Day, NGOs warned of a low level of social and economic rights in Croatia and called for the improvement of public services and for reconstruction of earthquake-struck areas to be accelerated.

"Healthcare, social welfare, housing and education have to be accessible to everyone. Public services need reliable support which inevitably includes long-term public investments and progressive taxation so as not to deepen the social inequality," the NGOs said in a press release.

The associations particularly highlighted the absence of strategic documents for marginalised groups such as the homeless or refugees.

Workers' rights deteriorated, inaccessible and inadequate healthcare

They warned that for years labour rights have deteriorated, and of inaccessible and inadequate healthcare, a poor social welfare system, absence of policies to enable secure housing and to remove inequality in access to education.

The corona crisis made all these problems more pronounced, they said.

Labour conditions in many sectors have been worsened and jobs are insecure while the health system could not care simultaneously both for COVID patients and other patients, which jeopardised the right to health, they added.

The social welfare system does not have enough capacities to resolve burning issues and to ensure protection for the most vulnerable groups.

Gov't inept for earthquake reconstruction

Another acute problem is the "terribly slowness, incapability and unwillingness of government to start rebuilding in earthquake-hit areas."

Most people have been left to their own devices, particularly in central Croatia and they will be spending at least one more winter in inadequate conditions.

They noted the importance of the Future is Public manifest, which has been signed by 200 organisations around the world seeking public services that will meet individual and collective needs and reduce inequality and will protect the dignity of all members of society.

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ZAGREB, 7 May, 2021 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who is taking part in the Social Summit in Porto, said on Friday that his government would continue with its active policy towards workers because it considered workers to be important.

"After four years we are again focusing on social rights, workers' protection, social inclusion and dialogue, equal opportunities, the possibility to help our workers across the EU through the principle of European solidarity and to save jobs through cooperation," Plenković told reporters upon arrival in Porto, Portugal, where the summit is taking place.

Portugal, which has been chairing the EU since January, is hosting the summit at which the leaders of the EU's 27 member states will try to put into practice a document called "The European Pillar of Social Rights", agreed to four years ago.

Among the 20 principles stated in the document, are training and lifelong learning, gender equality, fair pay and workers' participation in talks on forms and conditions of work.

"In that regard, Croatia has done quite a lot in the past 15 months," said Plenković.

"We have saved jobs, supported workers, as well as employers. Numbers speak for themselves, today we have more insurees than we had last year, and what is more important, we have more than we did in 2019," he said.

"We have invested more than €10 billion in workers' wages, secured funds for those who had to work shorter hours, as well as for fixed costs, making it possible for more than 120,000 employers to keep their workers and pay wages," he said.

Croatians, just like citizens of other EU countries, have felt the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis. Thousands of workers have lost jobs and many fear poverty.

According to figures form the Croatian Employment Service, the unemployment rate in Croatia is 9.3%.

"The state has exempted many from paying both taxes and contributions. We will continue with an active employment policy," Plenković said.

Portugal's Socialist government in January set strengthening social rights in Europe as on of its priorities during its EU presidency, which ends in June.

The European Commission in March presented a plan under which the number of poor people in the EU would be reduced by 15 million by the end of 2030.

The forum in Porto focuses on that plan and PM Plenković is expected to participate in a panel discussion on that topic later in the day.

The Porto summit is taking place one week after International Workers' Day, when workers across Europe once again pointed out their difficult situation.

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