On March 27, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 60/252, proclaiming May 17 as World Information Society Day (#diadeinternet), to promote proper use and spread the enormous benefits that the Internet and digital technologies provide to inhabitants worldwide.
In each edition, the Steering Committee (SC) for Internet Day, made up of more than 50 social organizations, including the Spanish Banking Association, chooses a theme on which to focus actions and activities to celebrate the occasion.
The theme chosen for the 2022 edition is ‘Internet and digital technologies for the elderly and healthy aging,’ unanimously approved at the SC meeting on June 24, 2021. For this reason, this Decalogue of measures was created to facilitate access to and use of digital technologies for the elderly and contribute to their empowerment.
Manifesto
1) Promote social attitudes based on full respect for their dignity, freedom, interests, preferences, and their right to effective participation and social life, so that older people and, among them, older people with disabilities, are contextualized in the Digital Society, enabling them to occupy their rightful role under equal
conditions.
2) Respect and enforce what has already been approved in the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as in Spanish and European Union legislation regarding accessibility obligations and the absence of barriers in devices, applications, and services that constitute digital technologies.
3) Promote, encourage, and defend that technological devices, products, applications, and services are accessible to all people, with special attention to the Internet, so that it maintains its universal and accessible design for any type of older person and provides them with the same facilities as the rest of the population.
4) Develop initiatives and public aid plans to provide older people with the necessary knowledge and skills to independently use digital tools: devices, applications, and services, thereby guaranteeing an equal user experience. Support and promote activities in Digital Competence centers so that the elderly acquire autonomy in all facets of the digital reality.
5) Promote the safe use of digital technologies for the elderly by providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills, through specific cybersecurity awareness projects and campaigns that increase the level of protection against Internet threats and help them prevent potential cyber incidents.
6) Invest in analysis, studies, and research to anticipate and adequately respond to the demands and needs of older people in the digital society, providing them with realistic funding through specific aid plans.
7) Enhance the importance of senior talent and experience to include them in society by seeking formulas, through digital technologies, so that older people can continue to contribute talent and experience.
8) Avoid discrimination and algorithmic biases based on age or disability in new Artificial Intelligence applications. Encourage social algorithms with ethical, responsible, and inclusive criteria that serve as a framework for guidance and prescription so that Artificial Intelligence has a social dimension.
9) Pay special attention to new legislative reforms regarding digital technologies, supporting them and providing them with the appropriate resources to make them viable and effective for the elderly population.
10) Promote specific aid and training plans to encourage and facilitate the use of technologies by older people: that non-discriminatory public policies, strategies, action plans, laws, and regulations are approved and applied to promote and guarantee the full enjoyment of all their fundamental rights and freedoms, allowing the whole of society to connect.
