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Workshops “Human rights of older people and activism” in Zvezdara municipality


28/01/2019

Volunteer Service of Zvezdara, a HumanaS Network friend, in cooperation with the Red Cross of Serbia organised a series of workshops for older people on topic “Human rights of older people and activism”, as part of the project “Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People”, coordinated in five countries of the Western Balkans by the Red Cross of Serbia. These workshops, organised on 22, 23 and 24 January 2019 aimed to improve the awareness and practice related to human rights of older population as an important element of social inclusion. The workshops were attended by the representatives of the pensioner associations and citizens of Zvezdara Municipality, local older people and volunteers.

Miroslav Marinovic, member of the Zvezdara Municipality’s Council responsible for social protection opened the first of the workshops underlining that the Municipal Administration strives to provide help and support programmes that activate older people in their retirement, which is very important for their overall health.

Radmila Urosevic, the educator at the workshops and Head of the Social Protection Department as well as the Coordinator of the Volunteer Service Zvezdara spoke about the principles of human rights, prejudice and discrimination targeting older generations, the legal framework and – especially, instructions for practical activism of older people as the optimal model of activating them in their older age and contributing to improved quality of their lives and improved quality of life in the community.

Through interactive exchange of opinions and ideas it was agreed that older people are not sufficiently informed and that, in addition to better information on accessible social and other rights and free of charge programmes for activation, they need assistance and support in exercising their rights, as well as support and motivation to change their passive lifestyles, which is all directly related to respect for human rights.

The project “Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People” is being implemented with support provided by European Union, Austrian Development Agency and Austrian Red Cross.