According to international standards, almost half of the children in Bosnia and Herzegovina live in poverty, and we can safely say that 80 percent of pensioners in the country also live in poverty, said the executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Branko Todorović, on the occasion of the celebration of October 17, the International Day of Struggle against poverty and social exclusion.
“According to the data of international organizations that deal with the issue of poverty in the world, what can worry us in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the number of children living in severe poverty, and that number is constantly increasing, as well as the number of elderly poor people. When we look at consumer baskets, the real cost of living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it will be a clear indication that we are one of the countries in Europe where the population lives the poorest,” said Todorović for Fena.
Speaking about why the number of poor people living in Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely large, he said that the reasons are bad administration and enormous corruption.
“The first reason is the catastrophic political situation in BiH, from the very top of the state to the lowest levels, a catastrophically bad administration that does not take care of the citizens and which at the same time fails to use the economic resources that BiH has, and the second reason is enormous corruption. Serious data show that the government and politicians annually in BiH steal, misuse or destroy in different ways more than three billion marks,” asserted Todorović.
He added that this is a truly terrifying amount, assessing that there would be no poor in Bosnia and Herzegovina if so many funds had not been wasted.
“You can calculate that if that money was not ruined in such a way, that is, robbed, misused, or wasted by the wrong moves of the irresponsible government, then there would be no poor in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he assessed.
Todorović emphasizes that realistically BiH cannot be compared with countries in the region and that our country completely ignores its social role.
“The standard in neighboring countries is higher, as well as social care, which is also related to poverty. States, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, have obligations towards citizens to somehow provide them with employment, income and a life worthy of a human being. If that is not possible, then they have mandatory social benefits, benefits primarily for children, or those who are infirm and unable to earn. However, our country completely ignores its social role. It has been reduced to a minimum and some benefits in the form of child allowances or various social benefits are really negligible,” said the executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Branko Todorović.
In 1993, the United Nations declared October 17 as the World Day for the Fight against Poverty and Social Exclusion. The goal of marking this day is to promote awareness of the need to reduce poverty in all countries, especially developing countries. Poverty is a global problem today and is defined as the lack of basic living conditions and basic human needs, Fena reports.
