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Violence against older people is a real and little-studied problem globally, but also felt in countries like Armenia and the Caucasus in general. Also because the elderly tend to live isolated, and struggle to find help
“He will kill me one day”
Anahit, 73, lives in Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia. Her sole guardian is her 50-year-old son, who lives next door. He visits his mother several times a week, if necessary, does the shopping, helps her in everyday matters. In the last few months, however, her life has turned into hell after the once caring son started drinking.
“My son is a very good man; I have never had a problem. But the drinking is destroying him. He sometimes becomes uncontrollable”, the elderly woman says. Her son has been beating her for half a year now, demanding her savings to buy alcohol.
“Neighbours think I am a happy woman whose son brings her fresh food. In fact, those shopping bags mostly contain vodka which my son buys with my savings. I had saved some money so that I wouldn't be a burden to anyone in my old age, and now he just takes my money, beats me. He has hit me so hard that I fell down. Actually, it's not that I don't want to give my son money, but I don't want him to drink so much”, the woman says, adding that she has no one to talk to.
“I don't know, maybe I should turn to the police. Otherwise, one day he will kill me for a glass of vodka”, she says.
Statistics
Only one out of 24 cases of violence against the elderly is officially recorded. According to the World Health Organization, violence against the elderly is an important but understudied public health problem. The latest data are based on the results of 52 studies conducted in 28 countries in 2017.
According to the WHO, 15.7% of the world's population over the age of 60 is subjected to some kind of violence. Extremely high rates of violence against the elderly are recorded in closed institutions. 64.2% of employees of hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities admitted to witnessing violence against an elderly person, and 50% admitted to using violence in the past. The most common form of violence against the elderly is psychological – 11.6%, followed by financial – 6.8%, neglect – 4.2%, physical – 2.6% and sexual violence – 0.9%.
Violence against the elderly has significantly increased due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and is expected to increase in the coming decades, as the world's elderly population will exceed 2 billion individuals by 2050 .
According to experts, in most cases the elderly person is abused by their spouse or children, but is ashamed to speak up, especially in Caucasian countries where “what other people think” remains a concern. The elderly are also easy targets for unstable personalities.
“Young people and children are more protected from violence because they lead a more active life, go out of the house, visit different places and can talk about their problems. The elderly, on the other hand, may not leave the house for days and just keep silent”, notes human rights activist Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, who also notices an increase since the pandemic.
“In the last few years, elderly women started turning to the shelter too, and I'm sure the number of elderly men being abused has increased as well. However, there are no statistics because people don't talk about it”, she says.
Extreme consequences
On April 20, a brutal and horrifying murder-suicide took place in Yerevan. The police found the body of a 63-year-old housewife with her neck cut off. She was killed by her 34-year-old son, who committed suicide immediately after.
“On average, 10 such murders are recorded each year. If the victim of violence had spoken about the problem in time, the tragedy could have been prevented”, argues Zaruhi Hovhannisyan.
