The final conference of the project "puSHEd – protect, understand, support: help the elderly" was held at the House of Europe on Wednesday, 22 May 2024, starting at 12:00. The conference brought together important stakeholders from different sectors and thus rounded off an interdisciplinary view of the topic of gender-based violence against older women. Participants had the opportunity to hear more about economic violence, sexual violence and strategies to combat violence against older people.
Project manager Marina Gombar She presented the activities and results of the project to those present and emphasized that what the system needs most is education, awareness-raising and mutual cooperation between all stakeholders in the system of support for women victims of violence.
Advisor to the Ombudsman Silvija Trgovec-Greif She highlighted a number of different forms of violence that citizens turn to her for help. She added that the system is focused on physical violence, but there are many other problems, such as a lack of palliative care, a lack of places in nursing homes, and inappropriate attitudes of doctors towards the elderly.
Anica Jezic, Head of the Sector for Development and Improvement of Social Services at the Ministry of Labor, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, spoke to the participants about the operational plan of activities for connecting health and social services in the field of long-term care, as well as changes in the law on social welfare - changes in the field of development of social services.
Iva Prpic, Head of the Department for Support to Children and Families, City Office for Social Protection, Health, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities at the City of Zagreb, emphasized that the City of Zagreb is developing and supporting a local system of support and protection for victims of domestic violence and is paying special attention to respecting the rights and supporting particularly vulnerable groups, including the elderly.
Zeljka Baric, the director of the Home for Children and Adult Victims of Domestic Violence 'Duga – Zagreb', pointed out that the number of calls from elderly women seeking help has increased at the Home Duga. She also pointed out that the state, in cooperation with the profession, should develop a strategy to combat violence against the elderly with an appropriate framework and synergically network the activities of the social welfare and health care systems.
Lawyer Ljubica Matijevic Vrsaljko She highlighted the problem of financial violence, especially through life support contracts, and the slowness of the judiciary in such cases. Psychotherapist and psychologist Marijana Senjak presented her work on victims of sexual violence to the attendees.
The aim of the project is to prevent and combat gender-based violence against older women by developing gender-specific responses in providing support to victims and building the capacity of relevant experts from the protection and support system. The project is also aimed at raising awareness among the general population and improving the community's response to gender-based violence against older women, primarily by increasing the number of reports of violence, but also by preventing it. The project "puSHEd - protect, understand, support, help the elderly" was launched by the BaBe association in partnership with the City of Zagreb and Dom Duga Zagreb, with the support of the Ombudsman, the Association for Victims and Witnesses Support and the European Social Network. The project lasted 24 months and was financed by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme of the European Union and co-financed by the Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
