All News on Social Issues in Croatia
BIRN Fact-check: Has Croatian Unemployment Really Hit Historic Low?
According to official data released this month by Croatia's Bureau of Statistics, unemployment hit an historical low of 5.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2019.
Migrants in Bosnia Find Care between Cold Concrete Walls
Conditions are far from ideal, but for more than 2,000 migrants and refugees in Bosnia the cold concrete walls of a former refrigeration factory is the best they can get, biding their time to cross into Croatia.
Croatia Has Lost Half a Million Workers in Ten Years
Croatia has lost 500,000 workers over the last ten years - from 2008 to 2018. This is what Davorko Vidović claims, counselor for Labour Policy and Employment at CCE.
Human Rights Progress Faltering in South and Central Europe: HRW
The latest report from Human Rights Watch, published on Tuesday evening, says that discrimination and violence against minorities, domestic violence, pressure on media and problems with dealing with the wartime past continued to be major issues for Balkan states and Central Europe last year.
Serbia Faces Yugoslav-Era Debt Repayments for Years to Come
While Croatia and Slovenia have paid off their debts inherited from Yugoslavia, Serbia is still paying. And Belgrade's refusal to recognise Kosovo as independent has only increased its burden.
Bosnia’s Courts Convict More Migrant Smugglers
More than 90 per cent of judgments were pronounced on the basis of plea agreements. Sanctions ranged from conditional sentences to three years in prison. Ancillary penalties of several dozen thousands euros were also imposed and the proceeds of migrant smuggling worth over 10,000 euros were seized, along with several vehicles used to execute the crimes.
Week in Review: The Balkans in 2020
Playing the Identity Card
In 2020, Montenegrin voters will go to the polls to elect a new Parliament and government. Elections must be held by October. Yet they will be closely watched for a number of reasons other than their actual outcome.
Heroes of 2019: People Who Took Action for Positive Change
Adil Amanet and the Husic family. Photo: Klix.ba
In 2019, the migrant crisis hit Bosnia and Herzegovina more severely than it did four years ago when the whole of Europe was dealing with a vast number of people moving towards Western Europe along the so-called Balkan route.
Migrants wander through Bosnia in Balkan winter
Bosnia's notorious Vucjak camp may have closed down after an international outcry, but the plight of migrants stranded in the country while trying to reach Western Europe is far from over.
The tent camp near the northwestern town of Bihac stood on a former landfill and near a minefield, becoming a symbol of migrant suffering as they travel through the Balkans.
Croatia: 2019 Blighted by Anti-Serb Hatred
Hate crimes and hate speech towards Croatia's Serb minority have blighted the year in the country, and although there are no statistics available on the number of incidents, several very serious ones have been reported during 2019.
Croatia Court Rules Same-sex Couple Can Foster Children
In what campaigners call a "historic decision" for LGBT rights in Croatia, the Zagreb Administrative Court on Thursday ruled that a same-sex couple, Ivo Segota and Mladen Kozic, have the right to become foster parents.
BIRN Fact-check: What Croatia Is Not Saying About the ‘Nigerian students’ Case
The two Nigerian students who said the Croatian police expelled them to Bosnia, assuming that, as Africans, they were illegal immigrants, will soon be returned home - but the mystery around their case has not been cleared up.
Bosnia Struggling to Prosecute Migrants when Identity in Doubt
Experts who spoke to BIRN BiH say the rules must urgently be harmonised and the law updated to reflect the new challenges.
"This could be disastrous because many of them [migrants] do lack personal identification documents," said Vehid Sehic, a former judge and lawyer in Bosnia.
Higher Employment Rates for Men and Women Aged 55 to 64 Years in 2018
In 2018, employment rates for men and women aged 55 to 64 years were higher, at 65% for men and 52% for women, than the average rates for all adult men and women (60% and 48%) in the European Union (EU), Eurostat data show.
Serbia Still Putting Children with Disabilities in Institutions: Report
More than three quarters of children living in state institutions in Serbia are children with disabilities, according to the latest United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.
At 77 per cent, Serbia ranks joint third with Hungary behind Turkmenistan and China in a total of 57 countries analysed.