Senate approves draft law ensuring the rights of senior citizens, penalizing negligent caregivers

Senate approves draft law ensuring the rights of senior citizens, penalizing negligent caregivers

CAIRO - 21 November 2021: A draft law on the rights of senior citizens has been preliminarily approved by the Senate on Sunday. The law proposes a punishment of a maximum of one year and fined L.E. 1,000-10,000 for deriliction of duty on the part of a caregiver of an elderly. The penalty toughens up to two years in prison and/or a L.E. 2,000-20,000 if the caregiver deliberately refrains from looking after the elderly or takes advantage of them. If any of the foregoing results include wounding or harming the elderly person, the penalty shall be imprisonment, and if it includes a disability or the death of a senior citizen, the panlty shall be jail time of three-five years. The draft law aims to endorse the rights of senir citizens and to offer them more advantages and social care. It also endorses the rights of the elderly as laid out in the international conventions to which Egypt is signatory, as well as the right to life, food, clothing, housing suitable for their age and state of health, and the right to make their own independent choices. The draft law also prohibits discrimination based on age or religion. It also mentions