"The right to a safe and dignified life never gets old. For its full implementation, sufficient personnel, appropriate working conditions in institutional care, and effective and equally accessible other forms of non-institutional assistance are necessary. There are many ideas, measures, and good practices. It is the responsibility of the state which it will use, how it will "heal the wounds" and above all, how much money it will allocate for this. The concern of each of us is that the social responsibility to respect the elderly and their rights never expires," the Deputy Human Rights Ombudsman Dr. Dijana Možina Zupanc.

said at the third President's Forum entitled Creating a Culture of Peaceful Coexistence: Forum on (Non)Violence, which took place on 15 May 2024 in Brdo pri Kranju, as part of respect for the elderly and their rights.

The Deputy Ombudsman emphasised that the proactive action of the state, institutions, and each of us will be crucial for respecting the elderly and their rights. A clearly delineated timeline with clearly defined effects and established effective and transparent control that is financially tangible is essential.

We must establish a functioning system of institutional protection and support it with sufficient personnel, create decent working conditions, and ensure adequate payment for the work performed, therefore the financing system must be sustainable, and the decision-makers must have an ear for improvements. At the same time, after more than 30 years, we must move from words to actions and strengthen the processes of deinstitutionalisation and other forms of assistance to the elderly and other vulnerable groups. "When adopting legal bases in this area, it is imperative to take into account experience, suggestions, and comments from the field. Experience has already taught us that establishing regulatory frameworks that have little to do with practice does not make sense. Simply put – we will have to decide what kind of country we want to live in and how we want to grow old in it," said Deputy Ombudsman Dr. Možina Zupanc.

We must raise awareness and encourage reporting of hardship, inadequate and indecent treatment, and violent behaviour. Victims must be given a voice, heard, and protected as soon as possible, and the perpetrators of violence must be punished, she underlined.

"However, it is equally important to educate future generations with the aim of internalising that we are all part of the same community. Respect for the elderly and their rights must become something natural again. The key phrase, how to achieve this, is strengthening social responsibility," she stressed.