QNA/Geneva

Qatar attaches great importance to the elderly as the country’s constitution guarantees that their rights are well protected. It has also issued national legislation to ensure their legal, social security, housing, employment and healthcare protection.

This came during a speech delivered by Noor Ibrahim al-Sada, the second secretary at the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the UN, Geneva, during an interactive dialogue on the rights of elderly people.

Al-Sada noted that the family remained the natural environment where older persons would be able to enjoy their rights. A rights-based approach should underpin care for older persons so that they can live independently and actively participate in social life, she added.

Qatar adopted a number of policies and programmes to enable the elderly to live with dignity and independence, she said. These include the population policy of the country issued in 2009 that aimed at enabling older persons to actively participate in social and public life; the National Development Strategy (2011, 2016) as well as the social protection strategy that includes a plan to review the pension system and support for households supported by elderly people.

Al-Sada also pointed to a number of institutions and committees formed by the state to promote and protect the rights of older persons, the most important of which is Qatar Foundation for Elderly People Care, an organisation dedicated to improving the lives and status of seniors. The foundation aims to house the elderly, and guarantees provision of health and social care services, and reintegration into society.

The second secretary hailed efforts exerted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as it initiated a department for the elderly and persons with disabilities to develop and implement programmes and services dedicated for this segment of the society.

Al-Sada also underscored Qatar’s great role in the field of international co-operation with regards to rights of the elderly, adding that Qatar participates regularly in the meetings of GCC committee for elderly care organised by the GCC Executive Office.

Last February, she said, Doha received a number of leading international experts on dementia to attend the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), and also participated in the meetings of the First WHO Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia that was held in Geneva in March, as well as supported the initiative, which aimed at raising awareness and mobilising support for global action against dementia.