On 15 June 2020, the Dominica Council on Ageing (DCOA) joins organisations, Government agencies, professional community groups and institutions around the world to observe World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD).
In 2006, the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) designated June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), to raise awareness of elder abuse and highlight ways to challenge such abuse.
WEAAD was recognised as a United Nations Day by the General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/66/127 adopted in 2011.
“Several senior citizens are abused by people who are close to them, relatives, caregivers,” said Ophelia Marie, president of the DCOA. “Abuse is in the form of neglect and it could be financial, emotional, physical, psychological and other types of abuse.”
Although there is no data on levels of elder abuse in Dominica, Ms. Marie said the World Health organisation (WHO) has estimated that one in six people 60 years and older have experienced some form of abuse in the community setting during the past years.
Declaring elder abuse a serious public health issue, the United Nations has acknowledged that it is “deeply concerned” about the situation affecting older persons around the world especially since levels of elder abuse will increase as the population of older persons rises.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to practice social distancing and other protocols, in its observance of WEAAD-2020, the DCOA will focus on the media.
One of the main highlights of the day will be a radio address on Monday 15 June by Honourable Dr. Addis King, Minister of Youth Development and Empowerment, Youth at Risk, Gender Affairs, Seniors’ Security, and Dominicans with Disabilities.
In its observance of WEAAD, the DCOA has planned other radio addresses and programmes as well as newspaper articles highlighting the theme of WEAAD-2020 which is “Lifting up Voices”.
“We are also using the day to draw attention to the situation of the older persons: how recognised are they; how included are they in the social fabric of society; what happens to them in any special way because they are senior citizens; how much are they included in decision making, or expressing their views on national issues,” said Ms. Marie. “We really need to look at the way we treat our seniors.”
Madam President, you need to make your organization more visible. Not only highlight these very important people once a year by doing the media rounds but get them out there in the public.
Arrange with the Ministry of Education for these people to go into the classroom and impart first hand knowledge about history and culture to the youth. Arrange for them to pass on the skills of basket weaving, pottery, the making of local drinks and cuisines and others. Let them teach the young some of our traditional games that hardly exist today. Let them relate local stories that they were told by their parents. Let them do this in the classrooms, on radio and television.
Please make full use of this precious human resource. They have so much to offer our community but are very much underutilized.
Many of our people will ignore this article. Too many of them, our senior citizens, are regarded like old derelict vehicles. They have served their usefulness so let’s just ‘park’ them up or dispose of them.
Our elderly persons should be cherished and held in high esteem. They have gone into the wilderness and paved the road for us to travel and excel. They can be of great assistance to the young and the country, at large, as they are human encyclopedias. They have a colossal wealth of first hand knowledge about our history; our culture; our bush medicines; our indigenous fauna and flora; our ancestry.
Let’s engage them more so that we can become the beneficiaries of their enormous reservoir of knowledge. Let’s treat them with the utmost respect and kindness that they have so rightfully earned and deserved.
Let us learn all we can from the elderly folks. They’ve been down the road we MUST travel.
BIG UP TO OUR ELDERLY❗❗