World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Among all the global annual events, the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day holds great importance for the people of all the generations. It is a yearly celebration to be held on the 15th of June. The reason behind observing World Elder Abuse Awareness Day can be easily understood through its name. It is a day to raise voice against elder abuse and their exploitation. Since the issue persists in the entire world, the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is celebrated in almost every country.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2020

Like other years, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day this year was celebrated on the 15th of June, which was Monday. Since there was a global impact of pandemic ‘CORONA Virus’, the celebration of the event became lighter than the previous years. There is a theme set for the annual celebration of the occasion; the theme for the year 2020 was ‘Lifting Up Voices’.

History

The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is a global event, for the celebration of which, a resolution was passed in the United Nations General Assembly in 2011. It was the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) under the guidance of which the resolution was passed. The INPEA had already started the celebration of the event from 2006.

Activities Performed by People

The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed to raise voice against the ill-treatment with the elderly people in our society. Among the major celebrations of the event, there are some social media campaigns launched many days before the celebration. Some examples of these campaigns are #supportyourelders and #loveandcareforparents.

Also, some stories, articles, and reports are published in various newspapers and magazines regarding the condition of elder people in our society and how they should be treated by us. There are done mainly to make people aware of the behavior of the present generation and the improvement it needs.

Recently it has come in trend on the occasion of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day that people visit different old age homes and spend some time with elder people living there. They also help the organization financially to make the life of people living there better than before.

There are many Indian families where it is custom to spend the whole day in the service of the elderly people of the family. They are also given many gifts and are taken together to enjoy outside the house.

There are many other methods of celebrating the occasion as there is no fixed custom and tradition for it.

Objectives and Significance

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is celebrated every year to raise voice for the elderly who suffer from abuse, exploitation, and domestic violence. The day is observed by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations on a grand level. According to the current situation, there is a long generation gap in our families. This gap creates misunderstandings among the family members and causes domestic violence. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is to work on preventing these kinds of misbehaves with the elder people in our families.

As the primary objective, the day is to establish a strong relationship among people of two generations so that they can understand and co-operate with each other in every situation. Through celebrating the day, we can make the world focus on such a major problem of the current society. The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day also gives us a chance to reduce the cases of domestic violence and make the life of elder people better.

Themes of the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is a global event to be observed with a different theme each year. The themes are set to work on removing the problem from a different perspective with a new spirit. The themes for some of the previous years are as follows:

  • Theme of 2020 -“Lifting Up Voices”
  • Theme of 2019 – “Access to Justice: Legal, Social and Economic Services for Older Victims of Sexual, Physical and Financial Crimes”
  • Theme of 2018 – “Moving from Awareness to Action through a Human Rights based approach”
  • Theme of 2017 – “Understand and End Financial Abuse of Older People: A Human Rights Issue”

What is Elder Abuse?

Elder Abuse is a very general term usually referred to misbehave done repeatedly with the elderly people and senior citizens of our family society and the nation. The elder abuse, also known as senior abuse or elder mistreatment, may lead to a major physical and mental disorder, resulting in a pathetic death. Since the elder abuse is a global problem and not good from any perspective, so the entire world is working on removing it completely through the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

Elder abuse includes any kind of physical, mental, emotional, and financial or any other kind of abuse, including ignorance. Despite these, leaving your parents in such an age when they need you also fall under elder abuse.

Consequences of Elder Abuse

Elder Abuse is a reflection of the inhuman treatment done to the elders of the society. Such cruelty has a very terrible impact on our elders through which they have to go at such an age when they need our support. The consequences of elder abuse are more horrifying that is why the world is working on preventing the global through the World Adult Abuse Awareness Day.

There are some obvious signs of elder abuse including physical and mental disorders. There may also be depression, marks of the wound, declining health and decreasing body weight, etc. The heinous act of elder abuse is generally practiced by a family member or a close relative in order to receive some physical or financial benefit. As a result of elder abuse, the people who face it become mentally depressed and isolated. Neither are they left to receive public attention nor medical assistance. In fact, it is found in many cases that such kind of inhumane activity creates a phobia among them.

Some Data and Key Facts

The problem of elder abuse does not exist in one or two countries but the entire world. Developing countries, as well as developed countries both, have a significant number of cases of adult abuse in the present time.

According to research conducted by the World Health Organization, more than 60% of the global adult population is suffering from any kind of abuse by his family members. These are only those cases that are identified. The number of unidentified cases may be bigger than it. Around 60% of adults are thrown to survive in some old age homes by the current generation. The cases of adult abuse are high in also these old age homes where adults are forced to suffer social, sexual, and other kinds of exploitation.

With the increasing medical facilities and advancement of the world in the field of medical science, the number of adults is increasing rapidly and is expected to rise by about two billion in the next 30 years. The increment in the population of adults will surely bring a sudden rise in cases of the adult population.

Conclusion

Our elders are the foundation of our society. They have supported us in our childhood, made us fit to stand on our feet, and taught us to distinguish right from wrong. Only we can become their support in their old age. Therefore, we should never support adult abuse and immediately inform the police wherever we see it happening.