Vidovic organised the conference ahead of International Human Rights Day, December 10, to encourage a public discussion about the human rights of elderly people who need or use long-term care.
As part of a project by the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), which also involved Vidovic's office, visits were made to homes for elderly people to determine the state of their human rights and give recommendations regarding long-term institutional care for that social group.
Long waiting times, non-transparent criteria, high prices, inadequate health care
"A number of things should be improved, primarily regarding admission to homes for the elderly, long waiting times, non-transparent admission criteria, high prices of private homes that are not generally affordable, and inadequate health care," said Vidovic.
She noted that 17,000 persons are waiting to be admitted to homes, with waiting times ranging between four and eight years. On the other hand, private homes, which are more expensive, continually have ten percent of unoccupied places.
All homes for the elderly lack staff, which is some situations can be life-threatening, for example when one nurse cares for 75 people, said Vidovic.
Inspections of homes for the elderly, both private and state-owned, are inadequate. In Croatia there are only five inspectors for almost 4,700 institutions in the social welfare system, stressed Vidovic.
Inspections have not identified conduct that could be described as torture, but they have identified actions that could be described as humiliating such as lack of privacy in taking care of one's hygiene.
Vidovic said that a lot more effort should be invested in educating employees in homes for the elderly about human rights and expressed hope that Croatia would join countries advocating the adoption of a new convention on the rights of elderly people to promote the relevant standards in a comprehensive way.
Elderly account for 17% of Croatia's population, their share to rise to more than 22% by 2030
Elderly people make up 17% of Croatia's population and demographic indicators show that, given the fast ageing of the population, more than 22% of the population will be elderly people by 2030, said Vidovic.
In terms of the quality of life of elderly people, Croatia is only 61st on a global ranking, and in the EU it is the fourth ranked country in terms of poverty.
A state secretary at the Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, Margareta Madjeric, recalled that the government in September adopted a strategy for elderly people for the period until 2020, focusing on three main goals - amending the relevant laws to improve the standard of living and quality of life of elderly people, informing elderly people about their rights, notably human rights, and de-institutionalisation.