DOC-B-12-11-11 REV

COMMEMORATING THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR

THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

VIOLENCE AGAINST OLDER

WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES

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Today, 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, during the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, the European Disability Forum (EDF) joins the struggle against all forms of violence, to which thousands of women in the European Union and worldwide fall victim.

Furthermore, we draw attention to the discrimination and lack of care for older women with disabilities who are victims of violence and excluded from policies, programmes and measures designed to prevent and eliminate violence against women.

Recalling General Recommendation No. 27 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in which it is recognized that age, sex and disability make older women with disabilities particularly vulnerable to violence;

Considering Article 16 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on Protection against exploitation, violence and abuse, which states that measures should be taken by States parties to address this situation, including their gender-based aspects;

Taking into consideration the latest UN thematic study on the issue of violence against women and girls with disability, which points out that disability is a factor that increases the risk of abuse on older women as they tend to live longer and are statistically more likely to acquire an age-related disability and to be institutionalized;

The European Disability Forum calls for an end to violence against older women with disabilities and demands appropriate measures are put in place to combat and eliminate such violence.

It is important to point out that two thirds of all women with disabilities are over 60 years old, and that many of them live in closed and segregated environments - mostly nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals - with no decision-making say over basic issues related to their daily lives such as, among others, who they wish to live with and how they want to live, and how they wish to spend their time and take part in community activities.

Furthermore, older women with disabilities are poorer due to benefits systems which fail to consider the lifelong structural barriers preventing them from gaining access to employment, meaning they have to get by on paltry basic retirement pensions and making them more vulnerable to violence and abuse.

Violence against older women with disabilities may also take the shape of physical, sexual and psychological abuse or occur through economic exploitation and neglect; in many cases the perpetrators are relatives and other caregivers.

Particular attention should be paid to women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, as well as those who develop an age-related cognitive disability or other type of disability, as they face a greater risk of violence. The vast majority, in fact, are subject to legal incapacitation and thus unable to access judicial systems to report abuse. In the few cases reported, statements by older women with disabilities are often not believed and the victims are not offered specific support in police and judicial proceedings.

In view of the above, EDF calls for the following:

  1. Appropriate measures to be taken to avoid all types of exploitation, violence and abuse against older women with disabilities through the provision of suitable community-based assistance and support taking into consideration their specific needs, including assistive devices, to avoid isolation and confinement in the home. All such services and programmes should be closely monitored by independent authorities.
  1. Older women with disabilities, their families and those closest to them should be trained in ways to prevent, recognise and report cases involving exploitation, violence and abuse, including and in order to prevent such practises easy-to-understand information on existing support services and legal measures in accessible formats.
  1. Staff and practitioners working in protection services to be given training in the specificities and concrete needs of older women with disabilities, based on human rights and guaranteeing self-determination in decision-making, in order to combat the violence and abuse they suffer.
  1. Early detection systems must be put in place to identify situations in which violence against older women with disabilities who are institutionalised or in closed or segregated settings may occur. Protocols aimed at professionals and effective safeguards for older women with disabilities must be established.
  1. The adoption of effective legislation and policies, including those focusing on older women, to ensure that cases of exploitation, violence and abuse against women with disabilities are detected, investigated and, when appropriate, prosecuted.

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