RPO asks about the rights of the elderly. He is turning to Minister Marzena Okla-Drewnowicz on the issue

Marcin Wiącek forwarded Marzena Okle-Drewnowicz's comments, which were presented earlier to the ministers responsible for family and social policy. He asks to adopt the conclusions and recommendations contained in them. The ROP pays special attention to selected fundamental challenges and the need for a holistic approach to senior citizenship and aging policy in Poland. This is because he continues to observe the persistence of an approach limited to looking at the rights of the elderly exclusively in the context of social assistance, and even a disturbing deepening of this.

The Ombudsman sees an urgent need for a senior citizen policy that does not differentiate between the elderly on the basis of their economic situation by stigmatizing its beneficiaries, and comprehensively responds to their various needs, ensuring that the elderly can exercise their full civil rights.

The failure to distinguish between anti-poverty efforts and those aimed at the elderly in general can be perceived as the result of negative stereotypes, associating old age with poverty, frailty and support needs. These stereotypes are part of the phenomenon of ageism - discrimination and unfounded views and prejudices about individuals or entire social groups based on their age.

Countering this phenomenon should be based on a well-considered strategy and, first and foremost, on eliminating ageism from government documents, laws, public office structures, as well as from the language of public debate. This means eradicating phrases and expressions that often seem familiar to the general public and within the accepted norms, so this task requires exceptional sensitivity and consistency.

Examples of the use of language that reinforces negative stereotypes can also be found in the government's "Information on the Situation of the Elderly in Poland in 2022," which provides data from Polish statistics and copies the language of concepts used in this field. There are such statements: "The decrease in the total population and the increase in the senior population results in an increase in the old-age dependency ratio - the number of people aged 65 and over per 100 people aged 15 to 64. This ratio formed in 2022 at 29.9 percent."

The phrase "old-age dependency ratio" in this context suggests that a person becomes a burden on society as he or she reaches the age of 65. This is highly depreciating and does not reflect the actual reality that many people over 65 are still in the labor force (about 13 percent in 2022, a number that continues to grow) or support their families financially, including with unpaid work, including caregiving.

In the ROP's assessment, an adequate response to the challenges identified includes the following:

• Separate a department in the state budget and allocate separate funds for the implementation of senior policy, for example, in the form of a senior subvention.
• Amending the Law on the Elderly to allow for efficient evaluation and coordination of activities.
• An audit of the implementation of the Social Policy Assumptions for the Elderly 2030.
• Reviewing existing public policies for institutional ageism.
• Start of work on the next edition of the senior policy
• Active involvement of Poland at the UN in the work for the Convention on the Rights of the Elderly.