The International Day of Older Persons is marked on October 1. This day reminds us of the obligation to protect and promote the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.

Every year the United Nations echoes this day with a different theme. This year, the International Day of Older Persons is being celebrated for the 33rd time and the theme is: "Fulfilling the Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for Older Persons."

On December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which for the first time in the history of human rights laid down the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all people, including all older persons, should fully enjoy. Despite this, the enjoyment of the fundamental rights decreases with age due to the negative perception that older people are less productive, more vulnerable and less valued in society, as they are seen as a burden on the economy and younger generations. It is unfortunate, but it is a reality that discrimination based on age results in the exclusion of older persons.

One of the functions of the Public Defender is to protect and promote the realization of the rights of older persons. In the annual parliamentary report, a separate chapter is devoted to the rights situation of older persons, which reviews the problems existing in the direction of the protection of the rights of older persons, as well as the results of various cases studied by the Office and the monitoring of long-term care facilities for older persons.

It is important for the Government to make more efforts to protect the rights of older persons and to activate this issue in order to eliminate challenges and rights violations, and to gradually take specific steps to protect the rights of older persons.