The Red Cross marked the 15 June – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day with an event in its conference hall. A round table panel discussion entitled “Don’t close your eyes: Stop elder abuse” was organised in cooperation with the Commissioner for protection of Equality and supported by the United nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

This year’s round table panel focused on sensitising the public and professionals on discrimination and elder abuse while emphasising the promotion of the new UN convention on the rights of older people. There 77 participants on the panel representing public and civil sector, as well as several media houses.

Ms. Vesna Milenović the Red Cross of Serbia Secretary General opened the panel talking of the now a decade long tradition of marking this day in the red Cross of Serbia whose initiative lead to the date being included in the Serbian calendar of public events. In her speech she divulged the data on elder abuse in Serbia, mostly gathered and processed thanks to the continuing cooperation between the Red Cross of Serbia and the Commissioner for Protection of Equality and their jointly organise researches that yielded reports that are still the most relevant published data on different forms of elder abuse in Serbia. The newest of those, a study entitled “Well kept Family Secret” that included 800 older persons showed that 19.8% of all older people in Serbia have experienced some form of abuse in their older age, 11% in the last year and 5.5% have been subjected to a combination of several forms of abuse.

Mister Aleksandar Vulin, the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs in the Government of Serbia confirmed the dedication of this ministry to further work on combating and preventing elder abuse, putting special emphasis on the need to have the government work closely with the civil sector and communities on not only articulating a strategic approach to the issue at hand but also on opening the families to the community in order to have that best kept secret form of elder abuse – domestic abuse of older people – addressed through joint efforts. The Minister announced a new strategic paper that will be presented to the government of Serbia once it is formed as well as a suggestion to announce 2017 as the year of inter-generational solidarity.

Ms. Emila Spasojević, speaking on behalf of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality talked of legal aspects of protection of older people from abuse and reaffirmed the dedication of this independent body to solving this issue and providing support to those whose rights are jeopardised.

Ms. Marija Raković of the UNFPA talked about the years of successful cooperation with the Red Cross of Serbia on topics concerning ageing and older people and stressed that Serbia is the leading country in the region in some aspects of protection of older people’s rights and providing support to this population.

Dr Elisabeth Pitterman from the Austrian pensioner Association presented Austrian experiences of combating elder abuse and spoke of violence and abuse in institutional context but in family context too and discussed the legal and operational means through which this issue is addressed in Austria.

Ms. Nataša Tordorović of the Red Cross of Serbia presented the proposal of the new convention of the United Nations on the rights of older people formulated by HelpAge International detailing all forms of protection of different rights of older people and harmonisation of this protection with what is guaranteed to each and every individual through national legislation and ratified international treaties.

Dr Slavica Golubović for the Gerontological Centre Belgrade presented the data related to discrimination and abuse of older people living with dementia and institutional as well as social aspects of prevention and protection from these forms of abuse.

In the ensuing discussion the representatives of public and civil sector spoke of further strategic priorities as well as operational forms of joint and complementary work in addressing the problem that is still seldom and reluctantly discussed in the Serbian society.