Home is somewhere else

Older persons living in residential care homes have shared their experiences with the Swedish Institute for Human Rights. They describe the move into long-term care in terms of a major change and as a loss of the life they led before. For many of them, it has taken time to adjust to their new situation.

In the report ‘Hemma är någon annanstans’ (Home is somewhere else), older persons living in residential care homes share their experiences and perceptions of how a selection of human rights are protected and respected in their everyday lives. Based on their observations, we have analysed how these rights are realised in both law and practice. The human rights we have focussed on are the right to dignity, the right to participation and social inclusion, the right to privacy and family life, and the right to equality and non-discrimination.

This report, which is the Institute for Human Rights’ first in-depth thematic study, reveals a disparate situation. The staff the Institute met within the residential care system were committed and knowledgeable, and many older persons in residential care homes were satisfied with the care and service they receive. Despite this, however, we have been able to identify clear inadequacies from a human rights perspective: