The Rights of the elderly
ENThe relevance of the protection of the rights of the elderly people does not cause any doubts. Such situation is predetermined by the demographic situation developed in the world. The demographic researches show the steady tendency of the obsolescence of the population of the planet. In the majority of countries the lifetime of people is increasing and thus the number of elderly people is increasing as well. There, in the European countries, people at the age of 65 and elderly ones have formed: in 1992 – 14.3 %, in 1997 – 15.2 %, in 2003 – 16.3 %. Currently there are over 6 milliard people living in the world. Approximately every 10th of them is at the age of 65 and elder. That is why the international community is constantly worried about the improvement of the quality of life of the elderly people, search of ways to avoid the problems arising due to the obsolescence of people and make use of the new possibilities that are revealed by the lengthened employable age of people. The international community has done a lot seeking to create the global system for the protection and defense of the human rights and freedoms where the main place is taken by the treatment of the rights of the elderly people. In a course of late years, the important international legal acts have also been adopted for the protection of the rights of the elderly people. These are: Political Decree of the Second World Assembly on Aging in Madrid, in 2002; and International Madrid Activity Plan on Aging.Another international legal act – the Regional Implementation Strategy for the Madrid International Plan on Actions on Ageing 2002 of the United Nations Economic Committee for Europe. The mentioned documents highlight the necessity to expand the participation of people in the public life, ensure the reliable protection of their rights. Lithuania has undertaken the obligation to take measures for solving the problems of obsolescence of the society following the requirements of the international legal acts, implement the International Activity Plan of Madrid and the Regional Strategy of Berlin on the Ageing of the Society [p. 271].
