Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, has modified the federal penal code to allow prosecution for the crime of abandoning an elderly person.
Legislators unanimously approved sanctions of one month to five years in prison.
Elder abandonment refers to the desertion of an elderly person by an individual who has assumed responsibility for providing care for an elder or by a person with physical custody of an elder.
Older adults in Mexico constantly struggle to integrate into society, and abuse and discrimination against them has become widespread in the family environment, said Esmeralda de los Ángeles Moreno Medina, a legislator from the Partido Encuentro Social (PES). She added that according to data from the Family Development Agency (DIF), there are more than 13 million older adults in Mexico, and 16 percent suffer from neglect and mistreatment by their own relatives.