On February 18, 2014, a big international conference took part in Kiev RUS hotel. There were presented the findings of the “Elder Abuse Prevention in Ukraine” project. The Project was developed in partnership between Ukrainian Charity “Turbota pro Litnih v Ukraini” (Age Concern Ukraine) (TLU) and a British charity – Age UK. The project was supported by European Commission through the EIDHR Programme.
The Conference has attracted keen interest among governmental institutions, international agencies and non-governmental organizations. Altogether there arrived 101 participants from 7 European countries.
Hundreds TLU volunteers aged 60+ took an active part in the project activities. They interviewed almost 1500 elder persons to reeval the truth about elder abuse in this country. There were also established volunteer groups to reveal the cases of elder abuse and to provide support to its victims.
One of most important products of the project was development of a very useful instrument – establishment of commissions to support elder abuse victims. The commissions are established at the bodies of local executive power and do not cost a penny to the tax payers. The commissions unite representatives of various professional groups and provide support to those who suffered from all types of abuse.
The experience has been analysed by the experts from the Ministry of Social Policy and recommended this model to be used in other regions of Ukraine. At the moment these commissions are already operating at the local governmental administrations in Myckolayiv, Glukhiv, Khmelnitsky, in several rayons of Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
