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Zagreb - The new Law on Humanitarian Aid strengthens the mechanisms of control over the collection of humanitarian aid and increases fines in order to prevent abuses, Social Policy Ministry State Secretary, Marija Pletikosa, told the parliament on Wednesday.
"After the end of the humanitarian fundraisers, there are frequent arguments through the media that leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those who responded with a pure heart, and the rows are about who has the right to use unspent financial resources from the humanitarian fundraisers or who determines who will receive aid," the state secretary said during the presentation of the bill in the Croatian Parliament.
The new law, she pointed out, beefs up control over the implementation of actions and the disposal of collected funds, with an emphasis on the obligations of the organisers of humanitarian drives in relation to the handling of the collected aid, the deadlines for granting aid to beneficiaries, and the handling of financial resources and material goods remaining after the the humanitarian fundraiser ends.
An exception is introduced, which puts under the jurisdiction of the ministry the handling of unspent financial resources and unallocated material goods from the implemented humanitarian action and their direction in favor of a certain approved humanitarian action whose purpose is to protect people's lives and health, for example treatment of children, procurement of medical devices and equipment, assistance in post-disaster situations , etc.
"We saw from the media that we had two major abuses and it was about sick children, so we don't want something like that to happen and that's why we prevent potential abuses," Pletikosa emphasised.
From 2015, when the current Law on Humanitarian Aid came into force, until 2022, 2,400 humanitarian campaigns were recorded, in which around €196 million of aid was collected for 5 million direct beneficiaries.
In the same period, 215 permanent collectors of humanitarian aid were registered.
The state secretary points out that the law proposed by the ministry offers incentives for organising new actions. "A wider time frame is given that allows the duration of humanitarian actions to be extended from 90 days by another 90 days if special circumstances require it."
MPs support stronger supervision over the collection and provision of humanitarian aid in order to prevent misuse, but some raise the issue of paying VAT on funds raised in humanitarian actions.