December 27, 2025 07:12 am (IST)
Follow us:
Ban urges laws to ensure dignity for elderly persons
New York, Jun 16 (IBNS): Warning that elderly people in all societies can be vulnerable to physical, psychological and financial abuse, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday appealed to the international community to adopt measures to address all aspects of this routinely under-acknowledged public health, social and human rights issue.
Ban made this call on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which aims annually to spotlight the global social issues affecting elderly people. The commemoration also brings the attention of the international community on the safeguarding of older human beings from mistreatment and suffering.
In his message on the Day, the UN chief emphasized the particularly high vulnerability of elderly women to widespread discriminatory attitudes and practices.
In countries which are witnessing a long-term process of aging, the mistreatment towards older people is likely to rise further. Those abuses towards the elderly could generate physical injuries and long-lasting psychological consequences.
Ill-treatment is likely to occur with little recognition and could often be identified as private matters by many societies across the world.
It is estimated that between four and six percent of older persons worldwide have suffered from some forms of abuse. However, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested that there is often a lack of acknowledgment regarding the abuses and violence that many older persons suffer on a daily basis.
“I call on Member States to enact and enforce stronger laws and strategies to address all aspects of this under-acknowledged social, public health and human rights issue” the Secretary-General said, underlining also how all human beings are all born with the right to age with dignity, without being victim of any violence, nor abuse.
(Elderly woman refugee. Photo: UNCHR)
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida as US-led peace talks with Russia enter critical phase
Fri, Dec 26 2025
Israeli reservist soldier dismissed after ramming ATV into praying Palestinian in West Bank
Fri, Dec 26 2025
Zelensky’s Christmas message blends a call for peace in Ukraine with dark wish for Putin
Thu, Dec 25 2025
Telegram founder Pavel Durov — with 100 children already — offers to fund IVF for women using his sperm
Thu, Dec 25 2025
Zelenskyy’s demilitarised zone gambit: Ukraine’s 20-point peace plan puts Donbas, NATO-style guarantees at centre stage
Wed, Dec 24 2025
Conspiracy clouds Libyan army chief’s death: Plane crash in Turkey follows Asim Munir's meeting with rebel Khalifa Haftar
Wed, Dec 24 2025