World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024: An Initiative to Make Life Better for the Elders

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024 is being observed on 15 June 2024. The main objective to observe this day is to provide an opportunity for communities around the world to promote a better understanding of the neglect and abuse of older people. To achieve this objective awareness is raised against elder abuse caused due to social, cultural, economic and demographic practices. Both developing and developed countries face the issue of elder abuse but most cases remain under-reported globally.

According to United Nations World Health Organization, elder abuse is defined as “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship, where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.” Elder abuse can be in different forms like physical, financial or emotional. Whether intentional or unintentional, elder abuse is an issue of concern that needs to be tackled immediately. Let us learn a little more in detail about elder abuse and its awareness.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024 Date

Below mentioned are the upcoming dates for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day for the upcoming years.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024 Overview

Significance

WEAAD serves as a call to action for individuals, organizations, and communities to raise awareness against elder abuse. According to a report by United Nations, the number of elders in the world (people over 60 years of age) will see a growth of 38% and reach from 1 billion to 1.4 billion by 2030. This means, by 2030, the elders will outnumber youths which calls for an urgent need to look more closely into the problem of elder abuse. With this fact in mind, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed every year on June 15. Other than this, WEAAD is also in conjunction with the United Nations International Plan of Action which recognizes the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue.

Check other special Days in June

History

The observation of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day was initiated by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) in 2006. The day was also adopted by the United Nations Day General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/66/127 in 2011. The resolution invites all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, international organizations, civil society, non-governmental organizations and individuals to observe this day.

Observation

On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, different organizations, government as well as non-government, across the globe come together to organize events in awareness of elder abuse. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization United Nations encourages organizations to celebrate the positive contributions of older people in our communities. Many organizations supporting the rights of the elder people offer information, support, advice and education to help prevent elder abuse and safeguard their rights, dignity and independence.

As an individual, you can enhance your knowledge on elder abuse and look out for signs around you to make sure no elder in your community is being abused, either by their family or caretakers. If you do notice any signs of abuse, you can reach out to any nearby organization supporting their rights and report the abuse. You can also raise awareness of this problem via social media and educate others as well.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024 Theme

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is celebrated every year with a specific theme decided by the USC Center on Elder Mistreatment. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Closing the Circle: Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Older Age Policy, Law and Evidence-based Responses”. You can check out the WEAAD theme for the past 5 years given below:

• 2022: Combating Elder Abuse
• 2021: Access to Justice
• 2020: Lifting up voices
• 2019: Access to Justice: Legal, Social and Economic Services for Older Victims of Sexual, Physical and Financial Crimes
• 2018: Moving from Awareness to Action through a Human Rights based approach

Frequently Asked Questions