On June 15 all over the world countries will be commemorating World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day. Many abusers are individuals in the home or family environment that put seniors to suffer from physical, verbal, emotional, financial abuse and neglect. Providing poverty pensions and social allowances under poverty level is a violation of the right of older persons to a decent standard of living. Violation of human rights of the elderly is also a form of elderly abuse. So not only individuals but also governments can be abusers of elderly who put seniors to suffer from systematic, structural, collective, financial, emotional abuse.
The Sint Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association (SMSPA) is announcing some actions to stop the abuse of the seniors in Sint Maarten and in defense of the human rights of the seniors in Sint Maarten. These actions which will culminate on World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day are the following:
- On Wednesday June 15, on World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day, the SMSPA will hand a petition to the Council of Ministers of Sint Maarten and to the representative of the Dutch government in Sint Maarten, to equalize the old age pensions, the social allowances and all other social provisions in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, just as the social provisions on the French side of Sint Maarten are equal to the social provisions in France.
- On Thursday June 9 this week, the SMSPA will be meeting with Parliament to give a presentation and to discuss with members of Parliament the abuse that seniors of Sint Maarten have to suffer, because of the geo-political systematic structural discrimination that the Kingdom government is maintaining in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In a petition to Parliament the SMSPA will request the members of Parliament to represent the people and the seniors of Sint Maarten and to demand from the Kingdom Government to stop this elderly abuse. The SMSPA wants the Parliament to pressure the Kingdom government to comply with its obligation to implement the non-discrimination principle as a signatory of International Human Rights Conventions and Declarations throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands, so also here in Sint Maarten. The SMSPA reminds the members of the Kingdom Relations Committee of Parliament to address the elimination of the human rights deficit and human rights abuse of elderly in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in defense of the people and the seniors. The Kingdom Relations Committee and the President of Parliament will travel to the Netherlands for upcoming meetings from June 14-17 with the members of the other parliaments in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Dutch First Chamber and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, an excellent opportunity to table this elderly abuse in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Through press releases and interviews on radio and television board members of the SMSPA will inform the public of the different forms of abuse that the seniors in the world and the seniors on Sint Maarten are experiencing. The SMSPA calls upon the public to report all kinds of elderly abuse so that we can address these in a systematic organized way to put an end to the abuse of elderly in Sint Maarten and to change their living conditions so that seniors can enjoy a life of dignity and respect in sweet Sint Maarten land. The local press media is requested to cooperate and pay attention during this week to the different forms of elderly abuse in Sint Maarten. The public at large is asked to report any kind of elderly abuse to the SMSPA Secretary of Organization Frances Rovelet 5484205, 5242223 or to Vice-President Raymond Jessurun on 5220925 or write an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
By stepping up with these actions the Sint Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association (the SMSPA) is one of the organizations in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who based upon this International Action Plan on Aging is advocating :
- to stop the discrimination of seniors in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and
- to implement non-discrimination and equality in the social provision level throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands
- for old age pensions, social allowances, etc for seniors on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten to be equal as in the Netherlands, just as is the case in France and on the French side of Sint Maarten
- to stop the violation of human rights conventions in the Kingdom of the Netherlands all human rights of elderlys.
