A bill to safeguard elderly people could reach Parliament as early as this summer, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey said as he unveiled a draft of the bill on Wednesday, making clear that the time for action is now amid a series of brutal assaults on pensioners.
“I am hoping to have this bill in Parliament in July [or] August this year, depending on how soon we are able to get through this last part of the consultation,” he told a national consultation on the draft Protection of the Rights of Elderly Persons Bill.
Humphrey stressed the importance of stakeholder engagement in shaping what he described as a long-overdue, all-encompassing legal framework.
“This is the consultation process,” he said. “What we’re doing here now is furthering that consultation before we actually bring this draft legislation into Parliament.”
Barbados currently has no specific law safeguarding older people. To date, incidents of assault, abuse and neglect have been addressed piecemeal, using existing laws not tailored to the unique risks faced by an ageing population, the minister noted.
“We felt that we would have an omnibus piece of legislation that allows us to address these wide areas that affect older persons in one place,” Humphrey explained. “And I think that there could be no more timely an event than this one.”
Barbados is nearing super-aged society status, where more than 20 per cent of the population is over 65, a development with “tremendous implications not only economic . . . but sociocultural,” he said, requiring robust protection mechanisms.
Of particular concern to Humphrey is a rising trend of violent crime against older people.
“Something that is now creeping into our society that is very concerning to me is what I can only conclude, based on what the evidence seems to suggest, is these targeted attacks on older persons,” he said. “It is a repugnant component of something that’s now happening in our society, and we condemn it.”
He referenced a string of recent incidents, including a senior who was attacked during a robbery in Belmont Road and a decorated athlete from the National Senior Games who was left unable to compete after being “brutally attacked . . . the person chopping her foot . . . separating her from the thing that perhaps she loves the most”.
“These things have to stop,” he declared. “And I think the legislation would allow us to deal with the persons who bring these attacks on older persons, this abuse and so on.”
In addition to tackling physical violence, the draft law also aims to confront “quieter” forms of mistreatment, such as emotional abuse and neglect. The minister stressed that penalties must be meaningful.
“We wanted to link the fines to the same level of the fines that we have in the Child Protection Bill . . . $100 000 for those offences,” he said, indicating that the government intends to treat elder abuse with the same seriousness as harm against children.
Humphrey also hinted at future amendments to ensure international alignment, particularly around definitions. “There are some other definitions in the bill that we have to be able to fine-tune and synchronise with international understanding and international thinking.”
Effective implementation of the new would be vital, he stressed.
“I think people think legislation is just talk,” he said. “When these bills come into proper effect . . . it is my intention, where it happens, to enforce it—and enforce it in the strongest possible way.”
Humphrey tied the draft legislation to broader administrative reform, noting that older persons—like children and people with disabilities—have long suffered under fragmented legal and policy structures.
“There is a growing disregard for our most vulnerable that we cannot allow to continue,” he said. “That’s why we did the legislation in child protection. The legislation in some cases was 100 years old. For persons with disabilities, no specific legislation. For older persons, no specific legislation. And the whole administrative arrangement was flawed.”
The government is also developing the Social Empowerment Agency — an IMF-inspired merger of the government’s social welfare agencies — to support implementation and service delivery under the bill. (SZB)
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