Page 26 - รายงานฉบับสมบูรณ์โครงการศึกษาวิจัยเพื่อจัดทำข้อเสนอแนะนโยบายหรือมาตรการเพื่อคุ้มครองและส่งเสริมสิทธิของผู้สูงอายุ: กรณีการเลือกปฏิบัติในผู้สูงอายุ

xx | รายงานวิจัยฉบับสมบูรณ์ (Final Report)

Executive Summary

Thailand has been transformed into aging society, in which the number of older
population has been increasing, that of younger population declining, life expectancy
increasing, family structure changing. This leads to the generation gap problems between the

younger and older generations. While the older generation’s needs tend towards more
dependence due to the decline in physical and cognitive conditions, those of the younger
tend towards more independence with opportunities in life abound. The difference in needs
between generations can lead to discrimination against the older population. Thus, the main
objectives of the research project are (1) to study the situations, policies, laws, and measures

related to the older persons in Thailand whether they are in consistency with the
international obligations that Thailand is a member and up to the international standards;
(2) to analyze the causes of discrimination problems under the existing policies, laws, and

measures compared with the international obligations and standards, as well as the gaps in
protecting the human rights of older persons from discrimination; and (3) to provide policy
suggestion to mitigate the problems and/or evidence-base measures in consistency with the
international obligations and human rights standards for the relevant government agencies
to protect and promote the human rights of older persons against discrimination as well as

to provide data for the National Human Rights Commission and the base-line data to
prepare for the ratification with the UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons in the
future.

The research frame of reference for the rights of older persons are based on the
human right principle with equal treatment and non-discrimination, directly or indirectly, on
age under the UN General Assembly’s Principles for Older Persons. The study method is a
mixture between the qualitative and quantitative ones. The qualitative method will explore
(1) the relevant documents and content analysis, (2) in-depth interviews, and (3) focus group;

while the quantitative method will analyze the evidence-base data collected from the field
survey using questionnaire instrument in conducting face-to-face interviews with the sample
group of the older persons.

Study Results
1) The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 is
considered to be the basic principle for protecting the human rights of older persons. This