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August 30, 2010

Abuse of the Elderly Prevention Strategies (NEPAL)

Abuse of the elderly Prevention strategies
  2010-08-26
By Chhatra Pradhan

The world celebrates June 15 as the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day every year. This is a special day for creating in the minds of the general public the awareness against the abuse of senior citizens. We would like to make a sincere appeal that the day should not be observed just as a 
formality, rather it should be the day of making promises to remove all kinds of abuses of the elderly citizens rampant in our society. The abuse of the senior citizens has gone from bad to worse, and this in the educated and conscious families is still more objectionable. 

Some of the developed countries have been running general awareness programs. China has made a law for the children to meet their parents once a year to save the senior citizens from the feeling of loneliness. Similarly, laws have been made in some countries to provide their senior citizens with the privileges of property among others. Nepal has also taken the initiative with concern for the respect and protection of its senior citizens by providing them some financial support. Still, we need strong legal initiatives to prevent abuses still meted out to the senior citizens in our society. 

Because of the lack of the awareness, we find senior citizens particularly facing abuse in the rural areas of Nepal. However, in the urban and elite class people, the senior citizens are seen to be undergoing loneliness due to the growing trend of nuclear families. Even in joint families, the senior 
citizens have been suffering due to negligence and misbehaviour from their daughter-in-laws and grandchildren. 

The identification of the nature and the kind of the abuse that the senior 
citizens face in the family and the society is a major challenge today. In cases where the senior citizens get sufficient love and care even in poor families, other difficulties and scarcities are minimized. But, the care and affection for the senior citizens in the family are limited to formality and social decency, which hides the real picture. Particularly, the lack of emotional attachments, financial and physical support including adequate food together with mistreatment, negligence etc are other problems. It is a need of the time for the government and non-government organizations working in this sector, to extend the awareness programs to the general people and monitor them. 

There are some examples, which represent the mistreatment that the senior citizens face in the society. For example, even an educated son Padma Bahadur Karki thrashed his old father Narbahadur and mother Shanta Karki (staying at Baune of Morang district), asking for his share of the property. After the death of her husband, Shanta couldn’t stay at her home, due to the hatred, mistreatment and physical assault meted out to her by her son and had to take shelter in the old home. 

Certainly, we can check and reduce such avoidable incidents of abuse the senior citizen have to suffer from with the promotion of education and awareness. For this, the need is also to carefully and patiently listen to the senior citizen and their care-givers. We should make on the spot interference, in case of any doubt of abuse of any kind and identify whether it is abuse or not. We have to carefully inform others while reporting such incidents. As a caregiver, one should be especially careful, to reduce the abuse that occurs knowingly or unknowingly, which the elders suffer from. On the part of the caretaker, fatigue, tension, irritation or even the effect of intoxication can be the cause for abuse of the senior citizen from his/her side. Therefore, the organizations established to reduce abuse of the senior citizens, should focus on the habit, behaviour, and activities of the caregiver. In this regard, the neighbors and local people in the area where the senior citizens live, should be advised, and inspired to inform the concerned authorities as soon as any abuse comes to the notice.

The abuse and mistreatment of the senior citizens due to the financial factor is found to be more in the economically backward society. We have been witnessing the suppression and cruel behaviour directed at the senior citizens through instances like snatching away the land and property, bank balance, the amount kept in person with the senior citizen, by the family members and others. The initiative from the concerned authorities and organizations is a must to prevent such incidents. This can be done while observing the food, health-care and financial section closely specially focusing on the symptoms and behaviour of the abused, the culprits mostly being family members themselves. 

The senior citizens should also be made aware about reducing the possible abuse that he/she can go through. They have to take legal support to verify their appropriate financial transactions, should inform it to their close friend and relatives, maintaining the approximation with the relatives and good-hearted ones. They should inform the concerned authority in case of abuse as soon as possible. 

Pradhan is an Executive Member of the National Senior Citizen Organizations’ Network Nepal. 


SOURCE:   The Himalayan Times
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