An ageing society: rights and needs

An ageing society: rights and needs

Published March 24, 2025

by Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon, Parliamentary Ombudsman

Population ageing in developed nations raises concerns.  As people age, the risk increases of their rights being placed in jeopardy.  It is unacceptable that some societies abroad tend to treat the aged as numbers rather than persons with rights who deserve dignity. While the demographic shift towards an older population could be irreversible, policy decisions have to be taken to shape a reasonable path forward in those respects fully the rights of older persons.

Where the weak are concerned, ours has proved to be a caring society, and all should strive to keep that the way for the present and for the future, even though new social realities in our country in recent years are making us as a population more difficult to manage from a human 360-degree perspective.  Nonetheless it would be incorrect and unfair not to acknowledge that in Malta over the years our political class has done considerably a lot to meet the needs of the elderly.  The examples are many for all to attest without having to pinpoint any particular measure.  After all that is not the scope of this writing.  What this opinion piece wants to achieve is to drive home the point that where the aged are concerned, our society has to have clear priorities and achievable targets to protect their rights and needs. 

There is often confusion in the minds of some about what are needs and what constitute rights.  The needs of a person are what that person subjectively requires to live with dignity and are dictated by a variety of circumstances, preferences and values.  However, the elderly do not have only needs but they also have rights that require protection. They are vulnerable persons who require legal safeguards.  Needs alone can never replace rights because rights are objective values of universal application, that enjoy legal recognition and consequently place an obligation of respect and safeguard by the State and by society in general. 

In our society there is an increased awareness on the rights of the elderly, but awareness alone is not enough.  The time is mature for our political class to consider the inclusion of a special right of the elderly to dignity, care and understanding in the Declaration of Principles that is enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of Malta that goes well beyond the reference that Art 17(2) of the Constitution of Malta makes to “old-age” in relation to the  payment of social security on a contributory basis.  Although the principles included in Chapter 2 are not legally enforceable, they are “nevertheless fundamental to the governance of the country” as stated in Art 21 of the Constitution of Malta itself, which further provides that “it shall be the aim of the State to apply these principles in making laws”.

The protection of rights and needs of persons is crucial to promoting a just and equitable society.  In the case of the aged, keeping in mind a clear distinction between "needs" and "rights" is vital.  Questions arise on how to support rising numbers of older people in the face of healthcare and long-term care costs, particularly if equitable and sustainable systems are not in place to distribute resources adequately among age groups. Apart from taking due care of the obvious, States have an obligation to manage the many problems that are posed by ageing, including taking long-term measures to innovate their labour markets, their pension and health-care systems to ensure that support for older persons is both appropriate and sustainable. Countries with extensive social protection systems and universally accessible essential services have been successful in mitigating income inequality and reducing poverty at older ages than those countries without such wide-ranging systems. New sociological challenges have emerged in recent years, including how to enable the aged to reasonably accept and adapt to rapid developments in information technology and artificial intelligence that most certainly will affect their lives. One cannot risk that said developments prejudice the aged, place them at the wayside and make them totally dependent on others for their well-being.

In Malta we are experiencing new problems arising from a labour market that has changed.  As a society we cannot risk increased precarious forms of work as these threaten access to adequate pensions and other social protection benefits, putting financial security at risk for older persons. It is not acceptable that the standards of living of older persons become increasingly unequal. 

Worldwide the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in health care for older persons, especially long-term care, and showed how such weaknesses did aggravate inequalities. In Malta we were careful enough to put our priorities first.  Despite initial confusion arising primarily due to absence of knowledge on the coronavirus that caused the disease, the health situation never became critical.  On the contrary, the health emergency was managed reasonably well also because proper and effective measures of prevention were undertaken.  Abroad it has been shown that poor quality and underfunded systems of care, insufficient provisions for care at home, low wages and precarious conditions for care workers, and a lack of reliable protocols to prevent COVID-19 transmission contributed to a heavy death toll among older persons.

On another level: the fact that older people in future may be more unequal and financially insecure must be seriously considered. The financial viability of pension systems is an issue of grave concern, unless medium-and long-term remedies are not undertaken without delay. I must confess that when compared to the enormous cost and waste of arms spending, keeping pension systems with a reasonable burden on people would in comparison be trivial. With appropriate planning, collective actions and policy decisions can more strongly shape effective future action. By postponing critical measures that allow societies including ours to benefit from and adapt to population ageing would impose high social, financial, fiscal and health-related costs, for current and future generations.