‘Old age is seen as a disease,' say rights groups

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The Pensioners Solidarity Union and the Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch held a press conference yesterday (March 24) to mark the March 18-24 Week of Older Persons. They urged the authorities to "recognize the rights of the elderly and put them into practice".

The statement for the press read out by the organizations requested that discrimination against older people, or ageism, be prevented.

"Even though there is a desire to not admit it, we are a swiftly aging society", the statement said, explaining that "10 out of every 100 people in the population are over the age of 65 and there is at least one older person in 6 million of the 24 million households" across the country.

Noting that the world population is also swiftly aging, the rights groups recalled that the pursuits for finding a solution to protect the rights of older people and ensure their active participation in social life are still underway. Accordingly, they noted that in 1990, March 18-24 was declared the "International Week of Older Persons" with the aim of "protecting and strengthening the position of older people in society and within the family".

The statement raised concerns that despite the years that have passed, "adequate steps have not been taken to put elderly rights into practice even though there have been talks about them". It added:

"As a matter of fact, forced by the growing problems, a report was submitted to the United Nations (UN) session in September 2020; it was emphasized that "older persons are facing particular old age discrimination, stressing the urgent need for a holistic human rights approach for older persons that ensures equal realization of all their rights, including access to health care".

Age discrimination during the pandemic

Referring to COVID-19 and "official political attitudes and practices" during this period, the rights groups raised concerns that they "led gerontophobia, which means a phobia or hate and fear of getting old, to become more widespread and nurtured the fears of age-related impairment and death, age discrimination (ageism) and disregard of human rights in old age".

"Even though the pandemic is not an age problem, but a global public health problem, scientific facts were disregarded under the pretext of protecting the elderly", the statement read further, noting that "discriminatory practices are reportedly still in place in elderly care homes".

Further in the statement, the rights organizations noted that "the definition of 'need for care in old age' is not taken into account" in Turkey and "old age is seen as a disease". Accordingly, they stressed that "gerontology must be taken into consideration, aging must be accepted as a societal phenomenon and old age must be accepted as a social phenomenon".

The statement also made a request for forming units for older people under the roof of central and local administrations and the works and activities of these units should be undertaken by trained personnel.

Referring to the replacement of the Social Insurance system by "social aid" and 'social service system", they raised concerns that "the lives of pensioners and older people have been abandoned to the wild market conditions under local administrations and aid institutions".

Accordingly, they called on the central and local governments "to see that the problems of older people and pensioners cannot be solved with an attitude of saving the day and to stop managing poverty".

They urged the state authorities to "recognize the rights of the elderly and to put them into practice" and the democratic mass organizations, unions, professional organizations, foundations, political parties and all segments of society "to stand up against disregard of older people and age discrimination and to be sensitive about the resolution of the problems". (AÖ/SD)