MoRH, British Council & Help Age Int'l Launched Report On Aged Persons In Pakistan

The Ministry of Human Rights in collaboration with the British Council and Help Age International launched a unique and comprehensive report on the status of aged persons in Pakistan on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jun, 2019 ) :The Ministry of Human Rights in collaboration with the British Council and Help Age International launched a unique and comprehensive report on the status of aged persons in Pakistan on Tuesday.

The report, Moving from the Margins: Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Older Person in Pakistan had been commissioned by the British Council and authored by Professor Asghar Zaidi, Senior Fellow at the University of Oxford and Professor of Social Gerontology at Seoul National University in Korea.

The report delves deep into the current state of human rights of the elderly people in Pakistan. It discussed the possible drivers that affect the subgroups of Pakistani elderly, the policies and programmes that Pakistan needed to consider and interventions required.

This is the first study on the state of older women and men in Pakistan using a human rights lens.

Key policy recommendations for the protection of rights of older persons included in the study highlight the need to improving access to economic opportunities, facilitating access to health, expanding and simplifying pension provisions and establishing leadership for ageing.

With 12.5 million older men and women, Pakistan was one of the 15 countries in the world with an old person population of over ten million, projected to rise to 44 million by 2050.

There was an urgent need in Pakistan for socio-economic policies, legislations and programs that safeguard the rights of older people in Pakistan.

Secretary, Ministry of Human Rights, Rabiya Javeri Agha said Pakistan's culture and religion gave deference to the elderly; changing demographics, industrialisation, rising inflation, urban-rural migration, are seeing a shift to more independent ways of living, shrinking family structures and a slow deterioration of inter-generational ties and thus the treatment of elderly.

"We have already drafted a bill at Federal level which was currently under review and would be introducing it very soon. This research and its findings had been truly valuable and would continue to be so when designing policies and programme initiatives at both the federal and provincial level."Speaking on the occasion, Rosemary Hilhorst Country Director British Council said, "We need to create an age friendly environment and we need to address this issue by working together in order to improve access to economic opportunities for all, regardless of age."Andrew Zerzen Lead Partner and Director education, British Council said "the youth of today would be a part of the older persons population and we need to act now to protect their rights".