NPC WEBINAR – 11am, THURSDAY, 3RD DECEMBER 2020
Is ageism behind breaches of human rights and the growth of hate crime against older people?
A National Pensioners’ Convention webinar will ask if endemic ageism is behind a rise in human rights breaches and hate crimes against older people.
2020 has been a terrible year for us all, but most particularly for our oldest and most vulnerable. Not only were they at the greatest risk of losing their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, many also faced shocking and unprecedented breaches of their human rights.
Amnesty International UK’s shock report ‘As If Expendable: The UK Government’s Failure to Protect Older People in Care Homes during the COVID-19 Pandemic,’ is among several produced recently that have laid bare how older people were often pushed to the back of the queue as authorities worked to deal with the pandemic.
On Thursday, 3rd December 2020 (from 11am), experts will discuss the evidence in an NPC webinar on Ageism, Older People’s Human Rights & Hate Crime.
A distinguished panel, chaired by NPC General Secretary Jan Shortt will look at what went wrong during the pandemic, and ask if it is symptomatic of a wider problem with ageism in the UK - and what can we do to put it right?
Guest speakers will include: Eddie Lynch, the Older People’s Commissioner for Northern Ireland; Jackie Killeen, Director of Compliance, the Equality and Human Rights Commission; Holly Harrison-Mullane, Community Organiser, Amnesty International UK; Louise Ansari, Director of Communications, Centre for Ageing Better; and Dr Hannah Bows*, Associate Professor of Criminal Law, Durham University (*Dr Bows produced a report on the viability of legislating on hate crime against older people for the Scottish Parliament).
Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary said: “The human rights of older people sadly played very little part in the first lockdown. As we move into winter where cold-related deaths are monitored, we must also ensure the tragedies of the first lockdown are not repeated – and look to a future where older people are not ‘expendable’ but properly protected and valued.”
Older people have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic. Care home residents have accounted for more than 40% of the UK’s 50,000 plus Covid-19 deaths, with reports of major failures in treatment regimens as hard-working but unprepared staff and residents tried to cope in the chaos of the first lockdown.
Evidence has emerged of elderly patients being discharged from hospitals to care homes without virus testing; ‘Do Not Attempt to Resuscitate’ signs (DNARs) being issued for some older patients without consultation; and a horrendous lack of PPE and testing in care homes. It shows how the care system struggled to cope during the pandemic and poses wider questions on how policy makers felt able to take decisions that breached the human rights of our eldest citizens.
The event will also be live streamed on YouTube
ENDS
The agenda and press release can be downloaded below
Press Release
Agenda