The Centre for Empowerment and Elderly Care (Ehsan) has hosted Lawyer Dr Abdullah Youssef al-Ansari in a live broadcast to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

The discussion, titled 'The Law of Elderly Rights: a Need or a Luxury?', talked about the need for establishing a law to protect elderly rights, internal legal administration, rents their collection and agencies.

The broadcast addressed the issue of elderly abuse and highlighted the absence of a law to protect the elderly and whether this is considered an insult to them. It also discussed eligibility and its consequences.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed every year on June 15.

Dr al-Ansari explained that the existing laws already include rights of the elderly, who are an integral part of society, and the general legislations preserve their rights. He added that care for the elderly is a duty and a divine command.

"I suggest that specialised centrse such as Ehsan Centre or Hamad Medical Corporation, during home visits to the elderly, should investigate cases of neglect that some elderly are subjected to, which is considered a form of abuse against them, and that these centres are given judicial rights, such as the right of investigation, inspection and access to the elderly, registration of violations and filing of complaints," he said, adding that some cases of abuse bring tears to the eyes.

He suggested creating a simple website that contains a section that allows users to submit these complaints to the authorities concerned, and adding it is necessary to benefit from the experiences of the elderly themselves in these areas.

"Some retirees are mentally and intellectually capable and have great skills that qualify them to reach the authorities concerned in the State, and some of them have great experience in different fields," he noted.

Al-Ansari concluded with a heartfelt thanks to Ehsan Centre for providing this opportunity to talk about the rights of the elderly.

For its part, Ehsan thanked all the parties and individuals co-operating with the centre in awareness-raising activities about the rights of the elderly.

The centre invites the public to view and follow up its social media accounts and awareness programmes related to the elderly.

The center also hosted a live broadcast that addressed the social aspect, presented by Maryam Ahmed al-Dossari, member of the International Coaching Federation, consultant at Nomas Cultural Centre and head of the Alumni Association of the College of Education. The lecture was titled 'As they brought me up when I was young'.

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