To mark the 15 June, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day the Red Cross of Serbia and the Commissioner for Protection of Equality organised a conference „Elder abuse – how to proceed, how to prevent it?“ This event is a part of the activities through which the Red Cross of Serbia has over the past eleven years marked this date by raising awareness of the public of this taboo topic and bringing together experts, decision makers, civil sector and representatives of older women and men to discuss its most important aspects and to send a joint message on the importance of prevention and providing supported to those affected by the abuse. As a member of the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse, the Red Cross of Serbia was the initiator of establishing World Elder Abuse Awareness Day events in Serbia and more than a decade later, many partners from different levels are involved.

The speakers at this year’s conference were: Dragan Radovanovic, MD, President of the Red Cross of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Meho Mahmutovic, MD, State Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Tatjana Jokanovic, Acting Assistant to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality and Vladana Jovic, Deputy Protector of Citizens. On behalf of International organisations working with the Red Cross of Serbia on this and other topics, present were Marija Rakovic of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Zsofia Pusztai, MD, head of the World Health Organisation office in Serbia. The experts speaking at the conference included Natasa Todorovic of the Red Cross of Serbia, Snezana Pavlekic, MD, of the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the University of Belgrade Medical School, Gordana Kovic of the Republic Institute for Social protection and Jasmina Tanasic of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.

The representatives of ministries and the independent bodies expressed their satisfaction with the long term working relationship they have with the Red Cross of Serbia on this difficult topic, but underlined that this work goes beyond an event once per year when everybody talks to the public together. The representatives of both ministries spoke of continued activities related to prevention of elder abuse, empowering older people but also informing the public in order to stop elder abuse from being a taboo subject, hidden inside families, and turn it into a problem public is aware of and tackled through joint, continuing action. The ministers as well as the representatives of independent bodies highlighted the importance of further research into the phenomenon of elder abuse pointing out how little reliable data is available at the moment as well as the significance of the research so far in which the red Cross of Serbia played an important role. Minister Vulin underlined that the results of the work so far can be noticed with the frequency of reporting domestic abuse rising by 149 percent over the past five years and the frequency of reporting domestic abuse of older people increasing by 153 percent in the same period.

The UNFPA representative also spoke of the importance of research and the continuing work alongside the Red Cross of Serbia on providing essential information related to older people, pointing out this year’s research in which the UNFPA will be supporting the Red Cross of Serbia and Commissioner for Protection of Equality in analysing the status and life of older women and men living in urban areas – a follow up of sorts to the last year’s research into the lives of older people in urban areas.

Zsofia Pusztai, MD, Head of the World health Organisation office in Serbia delivered a lecture on health aspects of elder abuse and spoke about the global prevention activities from the World health Organisation’s point of view. She also underlined the importance of new research about the phenomenon still considered to be a taboo.

The expert part of the conference was opened by Natasa Todorovic of the Red Cross of Serbia who presented the newest data on elder abuse collected through a Red Cross of Serbia research that explored the correlation between social exclusion and elder abuse and concluded that social isolation increases the risk of abuse. The research involved 616 persons over the age of 60 and 13.1% reported being affected by neglect. Persons with lower levels of social inclusion, persons with lower education level, persons with functional disabilities and those with pension income lower than 10,000 Serbian dinars per month were found to be at a higher risk of neglect as well as other forms of abuse. The risk of financial abuse is high: 19.2% of the interviewees reported that they do not independently decide on their own finances.

Snezana Pavlekic, MD, of the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the University of Belgrade Medical School used her lecture to underline the importance of continued education for professionals especially those working in primary healthcare in order to ensure that small signs of physical elder abuse are recognised early so that it is prevented from escalating and that the affected person can be provided with timely and adequate support.

Gordana Kovic of the Republic Institute for Social protection discussed elder abuse in residential care institutions in Serbia and the need to have better monitoring of their work but also to work with these institutions on ensuring the abuse is identified and addressed, rather than having it remain hidden.

The expert part of the conference was bookended by a talk by Jasmina Tanasic of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities who emphasised the importance of advocacy work at all levels of administration so that the real local situation can be used as a foundation for national strategic plans, but also so that strategic plans created at central level are implemented with dedication, consistency and effectiveness at local level.