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Tomanova: 10.9 Percent of Slovaks Live in Poverty
Tuesday 20 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 20 (TASR) - Almost 11 percent of Slovaks live below the poverty line in Slovakia, with the Roma community and families with multiple children being the most threatened social groups, Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Viera Tomanova (Smer-SD) said Tuesday.
Speaking at the resocialisation centre RESOTA on the occasion of the Fight Against Poverty week in Slovakia, Tomanova said that along with Iceland and Norway, EU countries are focusing on this sphere in 2010 – and not just poverty per se but also social exclusion. Each week a different country is taking the lead and this week it's Slovakia's turn to take up the "torch" passed on by the Czech Republic.
There are a number of national 'ambassadors' in Slovakia who are co-ordinating the fight against poverty. Among them are people who help the homeless, impoverished or socially excluded, while others came from the streets themselves. Slovak ambassador Lubica Chlpikova, for instance, went through hell and came back. She wound up on the street with a one-year-old child to take care of. Acquaintances were kind enough to provide her with shelter in an old house, and she was selling Nota Bene magazine to make ends meet. "I'm so grateful to this day to everyone who bought Nota Bene from me," she said.
There are more than 80 million impoverished people in Europe.
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