Agência, vulnerabilidade e responsabilidade: a construção discursiva da pessoa idosa em relatórios de organizações humanitárias internacionais

Abstract

Population aging and the increasing presence of older people in armed conflict contexts highlight the need to understand how this group is represented and protected within the humanitarian field. In this context, this study aims to analyze how older people are discursively constructed in reports produced by international humanitarian organizations and how these constructions may contribute to their visibility, protection, or, conversely, to the reproduction of situations of neglect and invisibility. To this end, a qualitative and interpretive research was conducted, drawing on Bakhtinian language studies, the concept of ageism, and International Humanitarian Law. The corpus consists of three reports: No One Is Spared: Abuses Against Older People in Armed Conflict, by Human Rights Watch; Falling Through the Cracks: Older People in Conflict Situations, by Dorcas; and Older Persons in Armed Conflict and Peacebuilding, by Amnesty International. The analysis focused on the discursive forms used to explain why older people do not flee situations of conflict, considering three main dimensions: individual choice, structural obstacles, and physical or psychological limitations. The findings demonstrate that, although the reports recognize concrete vulnerabilities, such as mobility difficulties, illness, lack of resources, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient social protection, they also employ constructions that associate older people's decision to remain with individual choice, attachment to possessions, and an inability to adapt. Such formulations may shift attention away from structural conditions toward characteristics attributed to old age itself, thereby reproducing stereotypes related to passivity, dependence, and incapacity. It is concluded that the reports not only describe the experiences of older people in armed conflicts but also participate in the construction of meanings concerning this group and its possibilities for agency and protection. Therefore, discourse analysis highlights the importance of considering the ethical and political effects of language in the formulation of humanitarian responses and public policies, contributing to efforts to address ageism and promote protection practices that are more attentive to the complexity of aging.