NEPAL

 Speech

by

H. E. Mrs. Sushila Swar

State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare

at the

Second World Assembly on Ageing

Madrid, Spain

April 9, 2002

Honorable Chairman

Distinguished Delegates

Ladies and Gentlemen

It's been two decades since we put our heads together at the World Assembly on Ageing, back in 1982 and adopted the International Plan of Action. 

Since then, we in our countries have: put efforts to identify, understand and to address the problems of elderly citizens and ease their livelihood. 

The problems of ageing however, increase with the demographic shift. And to cope with the multitude of problems stemming from ageing we need to understand the nature of problems in a given socio-cultural context before we come up with any strategic measures. 

Back home, in Nepal, the only Hindu kingdom, the problems arising from ageing is partly economic, partly social and partly cultural. 

Being a Hindu country inhabited by largely a religious minded people, Nepal's problem with ageing may differ from that of many developed and transitional economies of the world. 

With the materialistic life style taking over many developing and developed societies and the spiritual fabrics torn apart, the cohesiveness of family has been rapidly unraveling. 

In Nepal, the Vedic tradition still governs family values and the elderly citizens are largely loved, revered and taken care of.

However, with economic pressure increasing resulting in migration of youth across the border in search of works, the elderly population are left at home in rural hills, and the in-laws consider them "inactive", "burdensome" and " passive recipients of support". 

Nepali people traditionally have a joint family system where 2/3 generation live together under one roof in a perfect harmony. 

However, economic hardships and terrorism striking hard in rural hills, the elderly citizens are exposed to vulnerabilities and destitution. Most of them abandon their homes and come down to urban centers where they eke out their living by begging or doing hazardous works. 

While poverty and terrorism shatter the traditional family system in rural hills, the fragmentation of family system among the well-off in urban centers too, complicate the lives of elderly. 

While the elderly citizens from the poorest of the poor are largely abandoned, those from the well-off suffer from loneliness and isolation. 

Yet, a large segment of society is made of middle-class, people who abide to the old Hindu values of respecting and loving ,elders. It in this category of family, the elderly people are comfortably placed. 

We believe that we should develop a two-prong strategy with the objective of easing the lives of elderly people and making them creative force. 

At the first place, we should work towards reviving the old values of family cohesiveness and create the environment to keep them in families where they can be comfortably placed. 

Next, we need to work out strategy for them who find living away from home less painful than living in family. A rehabilitation of these elderly people away from home may be needed. 

With these objectives in mind, His Majesty's Government of Nepal carne with some concrete programs in the Ninth Plan (1997 - 2002). The Ninth Plan aimed at developing family-based security system to enable elderly lead a creative and dignified life. 

To promote it, His Majesty's Government began distributing monthly allowance to elderly on the basis of their citizenship or electoral identity cards. The Government also set up a separate Geriatric Wards at all zonal hospitals and made a provision of subsidized treatment to elderly citizens. 

Recently, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare has drafted a guideline for the implementation of a new program called " Senior Citizen Treatment Service". The guideline envisages offering the poorer and sick elders basic health case service free of cost. 

The Monthly Old Age Pension and the proposed Senior Citizen Treatment Service remains two major programs that potentially contribute to the benefits of the elderly people. 

His Majesty's Government of Nepal recognizing the potentials of – Non-Governmental sector is equally working in partnership with NGOs to address the problems of elderly. 

We believe that the best cares and opportunities to the elderly citizens can be given in their homes and not by brining them out. 

Finally, let me express my sincere thanks to the UN Commission for Social Development for organizing the Second World Assembly and letting us the opportunity to express our views. 

Also our  thanks goes to the Government of Spain for hosting the Assembly and  allowing us to be in this beautiful country. 

Thanks

The World Assembly on Ageing

By Prem Lal Chitrakar, The Kathmandu Post

Nepal

April 23, 2002

The five day second World Assembly on Ageing concluded on April 12, 2002 in Madrid. This Assembly was organized as a follow-up to respond to the opportunities and challenges of rapidly increasing aged people all over the world. The first World Assembly on Ageing was held in Vienna, Austria in 1982. It was two decades before the Vienna Assembly that the voices of the older people were discussed in depth by the participating government representatives and the NGOs working in such fields. At the end, a Vienna International Plan of Action was adopted by the developing countries to promote the well being of the aged people. Nepal, however, did not attend the Vienna Assembly on Ageing.

For the first time, Nepal sent its representatives to attend the second World Assembly. This should, indeed, be considered as an opportunity to know and learn the basic issues related to ageing people raised by the participating countries of the world.

One of the objectives of the second World Assembly was to build a society for all ages. As of now to a certain extent, the Nepalese society has been structured or sustaining in line with building a society for all ages. This has, as a concept as well as process, been a way of life in our society. If the Nepalese delegation had highlighted how the Nepalese have been living based on building a society for all ages it would have been one of the major contributions to the second World Assembly. The Nepalese delegation could have also recommended the World Assembly for undertaking a special study by an international academics and professional practitioners of gerontology on how best to address the issues of individual and ageing population and how well the elders in this country have been treated and honoured.

The increasing aged population in this country has been affecting several areas of our life. Such areas include problems of health and health care facilities, family composition, income and spending, living arrangements, housing and migration to name a few, owing to the changing value system of Nepalese society in recent years.

Problems of increasing aged people have not only been caused by the increasing figures but also raise the uncertainty over the way such aged people are being taken care of by the members of a family — the foundation of solidarity of the Nepalese society of the past.

Similarly, several old age homes have also been built in this country in recent years, especially to rehabilitate the elderly people for better welfare, healthcare and at the same time engage them in some sort of creative undertaking so that they can improve their livings. However, the facilities and other infrastructures developed and available at these old age homes built so far are very limited.

The Nepalese society is being restructured by many factors in recent years. Among the most important ones that have been responsible for this are globalisation, liberalisation, constant change in value system, rapid urbanisation and increasing number of aged people. Under such situations, how other countries have been tackling such problems could be a good lesson for this country.

Ageing has, in fact, been a cyclical process. All the people of the world, whether he or she is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, have to pass through this cyclical process in their life time irrespective of their present state of strength or merit or weakness.

Similarly, it is also a human nature that aged people have been aspiring to live in a suitable or congenial environment — where they are taken proper care of, well nourished and have adequate latitude in their development to undertake in some creative undertaking even at their old age. So the progress made and the obstacles encountered in the implementation of the first Plan of Action adopted in Vienna will be very useful for Nepal. The United Nations (UN) had asked the participating countries to address the sever issues in Vienna: health and nutritions of older people, their safety, habitat and environment, family, social wellbeing, income security, employment and education.

Recently, the government has adopted a new comprehensive policy on senior citizens with an objective of tapping their skills, knowledge, and experiences in different areas as well as to ensure their social and economic wellbeing so that they can live a life with dignity and honor in our society. The new policy on senior citizens adopted by the government to a certain extent is also similar to UN principles. But how to implement these policies remains unclear. The outcome of the reviews of the Plan of Action is very important while conceiving new strategic options for the benefit of the elders.

Currently, the National Planning Commission is preparing for the Tenth Five Year Plan. One of the areas which are to be well-prepared is how the issues related to aged people can be well addressed. The Plan of Action adopted by the Madrid Assembly is to bring about changes in attitude, policy and practice at all levels in all sectors of the economy. Similarly, the Plan of Action has also been streamlined and developed in meeting the needs of the aged people of the world in this century. The Plan of Action has been developed not merely to meeting the needs of the aged people but they have also been framed in harnessing the enormous potential of the aged people. Therefore the Plan of Action, adopted in Madrid is very useful for preparing the Tenth Five Year Plan.

Nepal not only failed to participate in the first Vienna Assembly but also failed to implement the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing. For Nepal it is, therefore, necessary to adopt and revise the well-articulated Plan of Action adopted in Madrid and implement the most useful parts in the years to come. Nepal should also receive resources to implement the Madrid Plan of Action and develop the much needed infrastructure for the well being of the aged people in this country.