Older women around the world face violence, exploitation and neglect, yet remain largely invisible in the laws, policies, data and services designed to protect women overall, a UN independent human rights expert said on Thursday.
Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on the causes and consequences of violence against women and girls, called for urgent action by States to ensure that a woman’s right to live free from violence does not diminish with age.
“Women should not lose their right to live free from violence because they grow older,” Ms. Alsalem said in her latest report to the General Assembly.
“Too often, ageism and sexism combine to make violence against older women invisible, tolerated or treated as an inevitable part of ageing.”
She said older women are rights holders, knowledge bearers and active members of society, adding that their age “must never be used to diminish their dignity, autonomy or protection”.
Latest findings
The report identifies physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence as well as coercive control, neglect, abandonment and technology-facilitated violence.
It also outlines that older women may face exploitation when it comes to their pensions and property, digital exclusion, denial of healthcare or assistive devices and barriers to reporting and justice.
She said violence can occur in homes, communities, care institutions, prisons and crisis and conflict settings.
In addition, the report emphasises that older women may be excluded from services and data, while sexual violence against them remains under-recognised.
Respect your elders
Ms. Alsalem found that widows, migrant and stateless women, rural women, women with disabilities, women in institutional care and women affected by conflict and humanitarian crises are particularly at risk.
“Where an older woman is living with poverty, disability, isolation or dependence on others for care, we must be attentive to the pressures that can shape the choices available to her,” she said.
“No woman should be made to feel that her continued life is a burden simply because she has reached an advanced age or requires support.”
Ms. Alsalem urged States to:
- Explicitly recognise and address violence against older women in laws, national strategies and violence prevention and response programmes
- Collect age and sex-disaggregated data
- Strengthen accessible reporting, protection, justice and redress
- Ensure training for law enforcement, judicial, health and social service professionals
