Patricia Fita Ríos, lawyer of the Fernando Pombo Foundation, participates in the II International Congress on Law, Rights and Older Persons: Access to Justice | El Diario.es

The ‘II International Congress on Law, Rights and the Elderly: Access to Justice’ focuses on discrimination against the elderly and the abyss they face when they want to protect or guarantee their rights.

The Congress, held at the Bar Association of Valencia (ICAV), focuses on the effectiveness of the right of access to justice for the elderly, to propose solutions for their inclusion in the judicial ecosystem and to guarantee their rights with effective support for legal operators, who ‘often treat them in a paternalistic way’.

Thus, during the meeting, the prejudices held about the elderly in relation to the courts were addressed, as well as the fear felt by the protagonists themselves due to the lack of information, the complexity of the language or the digital divide, which is a further disincentive in their daily lives.

The Fernando Pombo Foundation was created in 2010 with the aim of creating an ‘ethical, responsible and sustainable advocacy to protect human rights’. Among its lines of action, Fita Ríos highlights that they focus on researching and raising awareness of how, from their position, they can improve society; as well as access to the rights of some vulnerable groups based on the work they carry out.

Envejecer con derecho: que la edad no sea un límite is one of the projects in which they focused on promoting the guarantees of older people and identifying and tackling situations of discrimination. The material can be found on the Envejecerconderderechos.org website, promoted by the Foundation, the Fundación Grandes Amigos and the University of Alcalá de Henares.

In addition, Patricia points out that with Law 15/2022, of 12 July, integral for equal treatment and non-discrimination, social entities can have more legal power and can collaborate with legal experts to solve the problem of potential victims, without involving them directly in the process.

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