Meho Omerovic, Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, opened the public hearing on aging, stressing that many avoid questions concerning the oldest portion of the population who are, after the Roma and persons with disabilities, the most discriminated people in the society. The Committee Chairman hopes that today’s public hearing will provide some answers to the burning issues concerning the elderly and initiate changes to the legislation which could improve the social status of the elderly. “If we have a person above 65 years of age, living in a rural area, alone and ill, with no money for medicines, that is a social problem. Today’s question for us all is how we face and see these problems and whether we have the mechanisms, capacities or instruments to help the underprivileged and prevent discrimination”, said Omerovic.

Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic said that Serbia has one of the oldest populations not only in Europe but in the world. “On one hand, living to an old age is a success and source of joy, but unfortunately age often becomes a form of discrimination. Preliminary research shows that 19.7% of the population falling into the elderly category suffer some form of violence, emotional or other”.

Natasa Todorovic from Red Cross Serbia said that many old people do not even know their rights or the benefits they might be entitled to, adding that old age also has many negative sides such as social isolation and poverty. Todorovic spoke about the global age index which represents 91% of people aged 60 or older, which is approximately 901 million people, and measures their wellbeing in four key areas: income security, health, personal capability and an enabling environment. This year, Serbia ranked 66th, last year it was in 78th place, and in 2013 when it was first included in the research it came in 64th. “The main reason why Serbia ranks so high is the high unemployment rate among older workers which is a form of age discrimination”, said Todorovic.

Srecko Mihailovic, sociologist and public opinion researcher, said that youth should not be separated from old age and vice versa, because young people should help the elderly who should in turn help the youth. The participants of the public hearing also spoke about the need to include the civil sector in the making of policies concerning the protection of the elderly. Nadezda Sataric of the socio-humanitarian organisation Amity spoke of the role of civil society, saying that the key point of their efforts is to effect a more efficient development of services at the local and national level.

The detailed analyses were followed by a discussion, after which Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic thanked the participants saying that the fight against age discrimination will continue with more force, that the general attitude to the issue needs to be changed and the state institutions should dedicate more of their efforts to the problem.