Page 32 - รายงานฉบับสมบูรณ์โครงการศึกษาวิจัยเพื่อจัดทำข้อเสนอแนะนโยบายหรือมาตรการเพื่อคุ้มครองและส่งเสริมสิทธิของผู้สูงอายุ: กรณีการเลือกปฏิบัติในผู้สูงอายุ

xxvi | รายงานวิจัยฉบับสมบูรณ์ (Final Report)

(3) Lack of income criteria to qualify for the social welfare: No poverty threshold
or minimum income threshold available as a criteria to select the qualified persons for social
welfare programs. The criteria can reduce the discretion power of the government officials.

(4) Lack of front-line operation units to protect the rights of older persons: Most
of policy makers and implementation are from the central administration and there are no
front-line offices lower than the district levels. In order to operate the programs in the
village level, the cooperation between the central administration and the local

administrative organizations is the key.
(5) Lack of participation from all sectors: Lack of participation from both in the
civil sector such as NPOs and private sector. There is no social enterprises to provide services
to the older persons at home. The participation by the family members may lead to the

abuse of the frail older persons since it is very stressful for the family members in balancing
their work and care for the family. For the care givers, most of them work as volunteers or
they receive a very low pay. They also need better economic incentive to work for living.
(6) Lack of policies and laws that are aging friendly: Existing laws or regulations

concern mainly the indoor environment, not the outdoor, such as city planning appropriate
for the safety living and transportation for the older persons.
(7) Bias attitude towards older persons: there exists the prejudice against aging
both from the older persons themselves and their surrounding people. Older persons

perceive or are perceived as “burden” than “assets”. The protection of the rights of older
persons from discrimination is resulted in the form of social welfare since they are a
vulnerable group of people due to poverty or neglect that need to be protected.
7) Suggestion to solve the problems of discrimination on age: the economic and

social dimension
(1) By laws:
1. To reform or amend the laws and regulations to ensure the rights of the older
persons to employment and to social security stated under the National Older Persons Act.

The social security system should be reformed to cover those working in both the formal
and informal employment systems as well as those who are self-employed. The Ministry of
Labor should be the main active agent to provide the employment opportunity for the older
persons. The Ministry of Finance should be another main active agent to reform the social

security system by amending or reforming the existing various funds related to the older
persons under different ministries, e.g. the Elderly Fund under the National Older Persons