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‘Righting’ Wrongs for the Aged: a Bill of Rights?
Author(s) -
Carney T.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 0726-4240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1997.tb01031.x
Subject(s) - injustice , disadvantaged , panacea (medicine) , charter , political science , government (linguistics) , law and economics , fundamental rights , power (physics) , law , sociology , human rights , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , alternative medicine , pathology , physics , quantum mechanics
Opinion is divided about the extent to which the interests of the aged are amenable to rights strategies. It is argued here that rights strategies have a limited contribution. On an educative plane, there is an important place for measures which promote cultural respect for civil participation of the aged: a ‘rights orientation’. The trend towards enunciation of a separate charter of rights for the aged has some attractions, but these are outweighed by the fragmentation entailed: accentuating the processes of segregation and social stereotyping which may be responsible for much of the disadvantaged status of aged people. Universal statements of rights are preferable. The most fundamental difficulty with rights based approaches, however, is their lack of power in addressing the resourcing, service delivery and other structural issues which undergird the disadvantage experienced by some aged people. This is compounded in a federal system of government, with its rationale of preventing concentration of governmental power. This is not to deny the need for individual case‐by‐case remedies of injustice, or the symbolic and educative role of the law. An inclusive Australian Bill of Rights would advance this agenda as effectively as any measure. But it is neither a panacea nor necessarily the top agenda item. Too much store can be placed in legal remedies for social ills.