Photo : YONHAP News
South Korea’s human rights watchdog has called on the nation to address poverty and other social problems that affect older adults.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea(NHRCK) released a statement Wednesday to mark the International Day of Older Persons, noting that the country’s elderly poverty rate stood at 40-point-four percent as of 2020, while the suicide rate per 100-thousand seniors was 42-point-two as of 2021.
Both figures are the highest among OECD member nations.
The commission stressed that the country is becoming a super-aged society, and it is necessary to stop viewing older adults as objects of charity, and instead focus on guaranteeing human dignity and basic human rights.
The NHRCK also noted that as society changes rapidly, more older adults are experiencing problems such as alienation, discrimination, social exclusion and poverty.
The commission set the goal of strengthening the rights of the elderly in its ‘Human Rights Promotion Action Strategy for 2021-2025’ and called for institutional improvements to protect the elderly from poverty, abuse and dementia, while regularly holding the ‘Human Rights Forum for the Elderly.’