Elderly rights bill set to go before House – Minister

Barbados could see landmark legislation to protect the rights of older citizens before the end of the month, with the Rights of Older Persons Bill now in its final drafting phase, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey revealed on Wednesday.

Humphrey announced the development at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Residential and Respite facility in Sterling, St Philip.

“We have to lay in Parliament… the Rights of Older Persons legislation,” he told those in attendance. “I hope by very early next month. I was just informed by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel that we will have the final draft of the Rights of Older Persons legislation in hand on Monday. If we have it in hand on Monday, I can probably lay it in Parliament by the end of the month.”

Humphrey described the bill as the final element in a series of sweeping social policy reforms.

“That, to me, will be the last piece in the puzzle of legislation for social policy and development,” he said. “It would be the last piece—we would have done the other two: disabilities, elderly, and we did the Social Empowerment Agency Bill. This will be the last piece, the final piece, but in my mind, one of the more or equally important pieces.”

The minister underscored the urgency of the legislation by highlighting the demographic realities facing the country.

“Barbados is bordering dangerously close to being a super-aged society,” Humphrey warned. “A super-aged society is where 21 per cent of your population is 65 and over, and Barbados is already at 20 per cent.”

He noted that while the population continues to age, the birth rate remains too low to sustain traditional patterns of family support.

“The problem with that is that while we are getting older, we are not getting enough children,” he explained. “As you get older, with less children, you’re going to have an older population and less and less and less people to be able to support them, and that dependency ratio is something we’re going to have to be able to look at.”

The minister emphasised that the upcoming bill will elevate the rights of seniors while recognising the shared responsibility of families, communities and the State.

“As people get older, whether you like it or not, you have a duty to take care of the older persons, either as a state, either as a community, or either as a child,” he said.

The Rights of Older Persons Bill follows the recently passed Child Protection Bill, Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, and the Social Empowerment Agency Bill which merged several social welfare services into a single agency.

He stated that this legislative framework is designed to ensure dignity and protection across the life cycle.

The minister described the bill as both overdue and transformative. He called on the nation to view the ageing population not only as a challenge but as an opportunity.

“We’re all a part of making older people and persons with disabilities and children feel as if they matter and treating them with dignity,” he said. “When we do this, then we will build a much better Barbados.”