By Loree Cook-Daniels

In preparation for the second session of the World Assembly on Aging, held February 25 to March 1, 2002, the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council issued a Report of the Secretary-General entitled, “Abuse of older persons: recognizing and responding to abuse of older persons in a global context.”

After an introduction to United Nations’ actions concerning the rights of older people, the report reviews definitions and typologies. Most of these would be familiar to anyone working in the U.S. elder abuse field. Some, however, point out how much social conditions can influence a problem like elder abuse. For instance, one specific form of abuse discussed is “scapegoating,” which “describes instances where older people (usually women) are identified and blamed for ills befalling the community, including drought, flood or epidemic deaths. Incidents have been reported where women have been ostracized, tortured, maimed or even killed if they fail to flee the community.” “HIV/ AIDS-related violence” is another type, which “can occur in countries affected by the pandemic, where older women are commonly burdened with caregiving responsibilities for dying relatives as well as orphaned children. The stigma associated with HIV/ AIDS can socially isolate members of affected households.”

The section on victims and perpetrators also highlights cultural influences. Among the factors increasing the vulnerability of older persons in specific situations is “witchcraft practices.” The report also notes that the “migration of adult children to cities increases the vulnerability to abuse and neglect of older persons who remain in rural areas in settings where family support is paramount to their well-being.”

The section on responding to the problem covers familiar ground: awareness and education; legislation, protective mechanisms and legal intervention; intervention and prevention programs; violence and rights-based intervention; and international and national non-governmental organizations. The only surprise here is the discussion of literacy programs for older persons, which “have been shown to reduce vulnerability to exploitation and to strengthen knowledge of rights, access to entitlements and services and capacity to overcome discrimination and resist violence.”

As might be expected, the report’s authors were frustrated with the relative lack of prevalence data (although some is given), research on causes, and evaluations of interventions. Thus, one of the recommendations in the “conclusions and policy implications” section is “a better knowledge base is needed to inform national and local policy as well as the development of global guidelines for strategies and programmes for intervention and prevention.” The authors also conclude that “[a]busive behavior and practices towards older persons may be viewed as a violation of their fundamental rights as guaranteed in international covenants and embodied in the United Nations Principles for Older Persons.”

The report is available for downloading at www.un.org/ageing/ecn52002pc2eng.pdf. It is also available by sending a check made for $2.20 made out to CANE-UD (order File No. N4749-11) from the Clearinghouse on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly (CANE):
CANE
Department of Consumer Studies
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
(302) 831-3525
CANE-UD@udel.edu

Also in conjunction with the World Assembly on Aging, HelpAge International, “a global network of not-for-profit organizations with a mission to work with and for disadvantaged older people worldwide to achieve a lasting improvement in the quality of their lives,” issued “State of the World’s Older People 2002.”

The report covers two-thirds of all the world’s elders, those living in the developing world and what the report calls “countries in transition” (eastern and central Europe).

One section of the report focuses on the state of older persons by region. In introducing the section on “abuse and rights issues” in Africa, the report writers begin: “Awareness of abuse, neglect and violation of the rights of older people has been slow to emerge throughout the world. Older people’s rights are violated socially, politically, economically and psycho-logically.”

The Africa section continues, “Older people, particularly older women, are vulnerable to accusations of everything from witchcraft to preventing or causing too much rain – for this they are at risk of psychological and physical abuse. In Ghana, older women accused of being witches are sent away by the chief of the village to an isolated place called Tendang, where they live for the rest of their lives. In rural Tanzania, economic problems and land shortages have led to increasing instances of older women being accused of witchcraft as grounds for evicting them from their homes and even killing them for the property.”

The document also says of Africa, “Reports of sexual abuse have increased in some communities where the myth has apparently arisen that sex with older people can cure HIV/AIDS.”

The section on Latin America notes that “Older people in Bolivia feel that the most humiliating form of abuse is economic abuse by the state in its failure to provide minimum income security for those who have spent their youth and energy supporting the development of the country.”

A recent pilot study of older women in one community in Chile found that 34.2% of the women interviewed were abused. Psychological abuse was present in 75.6% of these cases, and physical abuse was present 31.7% of the time. In 80% of the cases, the aggressors were family members, and 61% of the victims did not seek any type of help.

The theft of agricultural products and livestock was identified as a type of abuse to which older Caribbeans are frequently exposed. Elder Caribbeans who live alone in some rural areas may be unable to fetch clean water themselves or to pay others to do this chore, a fact HelpAge classified under the subtitle, “Hostile environments.”

An important if too-brief section of the report summarizes the 29 out of 79 countries for which data was available that had a national policy on older people, plus 16 that were in the process of developing such a policy. Because of the brevity of these descriptions, it’s impossible to know for sure how many of these policies explicitly address elder abuse. However, several clearly do:

• Argentina has undertaken a project to create a center for the prevention of domestic violence against older persons;

• India’s National Policy on Older Persons says the State will provide protection against abuse and exploitation;

• Indonesia’s National Plan of Action for Elderly Welfare covers neglected older persons at risk;

• Mozambique has drafted a policy that addresses abuse and witchcraft accusations; and

• South Africa’s policy not only explicitly addresses elder abuse but “In 2000 the government produced the National Guideline on prevention, early detection/ identification and intervention of physical abuse of older persons.”

The complete document (which includes some wonderful photographs) can be downloaded from www.helpage.org/dev/images/pdfs/SOTWOPeng.pdf.