Afra Nawar Rahman, Youth Coordinator, YPSA Center for Youth and Development (YPSA-CYD) has delivered her speech as a young speaker at the Multi-stakeholder Meeting on the Human Rights of Older Persons of UN, Geneva.
Afra Nawar Rahman attended the virtual zoom meeting of United Nations (UN) on 30 August 2022. The Multi-stakeholder Meeting was moderated by Ms. Silvia Perel-Levin, Chair, Subcommittee on the Human Rights of Older Persons of the NGO Committee on Ageing in Geneva. And the other speakers were Ms. Claire Sookhyun Oh, Assistant Director, National Human Rights Commission of Korea; Ms. Alana Officer, Unit Head, Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing, World Health Organization; Dr. Matthias von Schwanenflügel, Head of Directorate-General on Demographic Change, Senior Citizens, Social Welfare, Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Germany.
Afra shared the challenges of older people in Bangladesh that includes intergenerational gap, lack of financial freedom and job opportunities of aged people, and uncertain future of aged Rohingya people who were also victimized of forced migration from their country. Moreover, she shared the instruments of national and international level to mitigate the problems such as Welfare of Older Foundation Rules 2018 and older people were brought under a social safety net program which provides funds for repair of disaster-damaged housing, allowance for widow and distressed, freedom fighter honorarium and funds for vulnerable group feeding (VGF), Parents maintenance act, 2013. All these laws and programs are working to protect the rights and dignity of the elderly people in Bangladesh.
Besides, she focused some recommendations such as promoting older people’s care-giver roles across younger generations, the development of programs to promote intergenerational cohesion and acceptance of difference in mindset and opinion, the Number of old Age Allowance receivers should be maximized and National Laws should preserve special provision for marginalized groups, Create a distinct “Aging Affairs” department within the Ministry of Social Welfare or new Individual Ministry, and a nationwide monitoring and care system for all social security programs, establish free shelter houses and senior rehabilitation facilities for the low-income, and older disabled groups in each sub-district, as well as providing home caregiving facilities, establishing Geriatric Medicine Department in all public and private Hospitals and establishing easily accessible recreational centers for older people. After the discussion a question and answer session was held.
