Parliamentary Watch: Acknowledging the situation of the fundamental rights of older persons in the EU

Each year, the European Commission publishes a report on the Application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. MEPs then work on the EC report and adopt a common position on the report’s outcomes, recalling their priorities and suggestions areas of action, for example in the field of freedom, security, justice, citizenship, equality and non-discrimination (Roma, LGBTI, women, persons with disabilities, etc.). MEPs just adopted their opinion on the EC report for the years 2013-2014.

What is there for older persons?

In its report, the Parliament calls on the European Union and Member States to step up their efforts to combat discrimination and protect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, and to promote measures to enhance gender equality, the rights of the child, the rights of older persons, the rights of persons with disabilities, and the rights of LGBTI persons and persons belonging to national minorities.

Moreover, MEPs dedicated a whole section of the report on age discrimination. The Parliament deplores there the fact that many older people face discrimination and violations of their fundamental rights every day, in particular in access to adequate income, employment and healthcare and to necessary goods and services, and calls on the Commission to develop a Strategy on Demographic Change to put into effect Article 25 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The EP report also tackles the issue of elder abuse, recognising that maltreatment, neglect and abuse of older people is widespread in the Member States, and underlines the greater risk of poverty older persons face, in particular among older women.

Last but not least, the Parliament calls on the Commission to adopt in the near future and in close cooperation with the other institutions and civil society organisations an internal strategy on fundamental rights to properly enforce the EU Charter.

To read the full report, click here.

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