On 4 January, in Warsaw there was a meeting of the non-governmental organizations with dr Jan Kochanowski, the Ombudsman. The participants were mainly representatives of the Warsaw organizations; our Society was represented by Waldemar Pawlak, Member of the Management Board and Halina Mucha, Chairwoman of the Warsaw Circle.

The meeting was a summary of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2007, held under the honorary patronage of the Ombudsman. 

Detailed issues concerning supporting the homeless and the poor in Warsaw were raised. These were: difficult co-operation between organizations and self-government officials, closing down the free bath house and public toilets.

Other issues raised were:

• providing health care to homeless people, particularly those not staying at hostels;
• facilitating small organizations to gain the status of a Public Benefit Organization or to make use of the 1% tax return without such status;
• planning to use specified sums of money from the budget for supporting the homeless, and their earlier use (before December).

The Ombudsman suggested that health care provided to the homeless should be discussed at the next, suitably prepared meeting.