A/HRC/24/25 the health and welfare of older persons to be complemented with measures to empower older persons and to prevent abuse, neglect and loneliness of the elderly. 63. This policy framework was directed at preventing abuses through awareness-raising, mitigating risk factors both for older persons and for caregivers, prevention in health-care settings, helplines and counselling, legal assistance, case management and multiagency teams. 64. The ECE Associate Population Affairs Officer considered that the lessons learned pointed to the need to adopt a public health perspective with an emphasis on prevention, while also offering remedial legal, therapeutic and other necessary interventions. This included a client-oriented approach, taking into account the specificities of each person, better cross-national data collection and a more systematic evaluation of interventions and their effectiveness. 65. Ms. Bashtovenko illustrated the difficult situation in Kyrgyzstan with regard to the protection of the rights of older persons. Currently, while violence against older persons was prevalent, little relevant information was available and, as a consequence, the situation was ignored. Older persons were often unaware of their rights and of the safeguards against domestic abuse. No comprehensive national legislation had been adopted to combat this phenomenon and there was, therefore, a lack of capacity and knowledge on the part of social services regarding the prevention, timely intervention and protection of the elderly. Health and social workers seldom took into account domestic violence against older persons and often avoided intervening. Domestic violence against the elderly was usually not reported and not treated as a human rights violation. Only a few studies existed on domestic violence against older persons, and society was insufficiently informed about the services available to victims of domestic violence. 66. Ms. Bashtovenko illustrated her presentation with research conducted by HelpAge International and the Association of Crisis Centres. A study had found that 71 per cent of people acknowledged that the problem of violence against older persons existed, 47 per cent believed that family violence against older persons had increased over the past 10 years, while 35 per cent were aware of situations of violence against older persons. Older persons were victims of different forms of family abuse: 55 per cent of respondents believed that the needs of older persons were often neglected, 47 per cent of older persons had experienced psychological violence, and 13 per cent believed that older persons were exposed to financial abuse. 67. The gender dimension of the phenomenon was also apparent: 39 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men reported having experienced at least one form of violence, including financial, psychological, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Many factors, either alone or in combination with others, accounted for violence against older persons, and these included poverty and unemployment, alcoholism and drug addiction, the inability of older persons to defend themselves, the destruction of moral and ethical values, impunity and migration. 68. In Kyrgyzstan, the proportion of persons over 60 years of age in the general population was expected to rise from 8 per cent to 20 per cent by 2050. The need to take appropriate measures to avert a potential increase in violence against older persons was therefore urgent. For several years, the Government of Kyrgyzstan had adopted national policies and legislation to address violence against older persons, such as a law on social and legal protection against domestic violence, awareness-raising advocacy and public information campaigns. Public bodies were required to work in the prevention of family violence, to provide assistance and support to victims and to collect statistics. Older persons continued, however, to experience various forms of violence because the law did not 14