Ensuring Older Persons’ Human Rights

Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted a resolution jumpstarting the multilateral process for negotiating a new international treaty on the rights of older persons. The landmark resolution marks the culmination of three decades of governmental and civil society progress, as the world races to meet the far-reaching challenges posed by its rapidly aging population. Like the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) before it, this treaty will aim to close critical gaps in international human rights legal protections for a population that disproportionately experiences discrimination, marginalization, and exclusion. Indeed, since the launch of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030), HPOD, in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and a broad coalition of organizations, has worked to make clear that a new treaty specific to older persons is sorely needed.

True, other international instruments have addressed some human rights challenges faced by older persons. But a binding international treaty would build on these instruments in critical ways. It would become a binding agreement, concretizing the principles and goals reflected in non-binding precursors, including the UN Principles for Older Persons and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. It would also reflect a global consensus position on the proper scope of older persons' human rights protections, extending the reach of other binding treaties on the rights of older persons in the Americas and Africa that are limited to specific geographic region. It would also create a multilateral compact for states to hold one another accountable for their obligations, in ways that the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons is not empowered to do. 

Notwithstanding these important advances, the United Nations' Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Ageing has developed extensive evidence of gaps in the international human rights legal frameworks that only a new treaty can help to address. Over 14 years of deliberations, this intergovernmental working group, in consultation with governments and civil society, has systematically identified such gaps across a wide spectrum of life areas, ranging from education, training, life-long learning and capacity-building to autonomy and independence. Further, the existing international order is underprepared to meet critical present-day challenges threatening the human rights of older persons, including the accelerating pace and disproportionate effects of climate change, expanding and transforming armed conflicts and the rise of non-state actors in violent conflicts, and novel risks posed by emerging and rapidly-evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Importantly, ageism remains a persistent barrier to older persons' full and effective enjoyment and exercise of their human rights. In poignant ways, the global COVID-19 pandemic laid bare inherently ageist assumptions underpinning social services and health care delivery systems. In many places, older persons were denied life-saving care based on criteria reflecting stereotypes about older persons' reduced quality of life and diminished capacity to self-direct their lives. So long as governments lack enforceable measures that can help root out ageism in their policies, laws, and programs, stereotypes and misconceptions about older persons will continue to contribute to patterns of marginalization and exploitation. 

Thus, the HRC resolution presents a watershed opportunity for governments to work together to build a global legal framework not only to effectively protect older persons' human rights but also to harness their capacity to contribute to the manifold challenges they face today. Despite this clear opportunity, however, many governments may be reluctant to take on meaningful new legal obligations, especially if they require wide-ranging and structural reforms to implement. Even if demographic data portend inevitable societal transformations, current leaders may lack the political will to confront them head on.

So, civil society organizations, much as they have done throughout the course of the OEWG's global stock-taking efforts, must actively engage governmental representatives to ensure that an eventual human rights treaty for older persons is effective. As demonstrated especially by civil society's active engagement during the CRPD negotiations, sustained advocacy can play a powerful role in shaping the norms that government representatives end up supporting. Also, as shown in other treaty negotiation processes, this may require the creation of new entities and platforms that can facilitate contributions from and engagement with civil society actors from diverse contexts. The work to date of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People, as well as the NGO Committees on Ageing in Geneva and New York, for example, has been instrumental throughout the OEWG's work in the lead-up to the HRC's resolution.

One such effort launched by HPOD Senior Advisor, former Ambassador Luis Gallegos, is the Global Initiative on Aging and Longevity, a worldwide network of organizations working to advance the dignity of persons who are aging. Also, to galvanize broad-based civil society support beyond dedicated advocacy organizations, while Chair of UNITAR, Ambassador Gallegos brought together a broad coalition of prominent civil society and intergovernmental organizations, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, the World Health Organization, and HPOD, to host an annual series of roundtable events aimed to raise awareness of how existing policies and systems may be strengthened to better protect the human rights of older persons. This week, UNITAR, HPOD and many other co-sponsoring organizations, are set to embark on their fifth annual roundtable series, beginning with a focus on the critical intersection of ageing and migration.  

Ultimately, the adoption of a binding international agreement comparable to the CRPD would represent a high-water mark in global efforts to strengthen legal protections for older persons’ rights. Even so, it would also signify a waystation on the world's journey towards adapting to its rapidly aging population. As Ambassador Gallegos recently explained to Harvard Law Today: 

“Ultimately, this convention is not the end. It’s the beginning. It will take some years to negotiate this treaty, and when it’s negotiated, the members will sign and ratify it. If we get to that point, we will have what has happened in disability, which is that disability was not being considered at the international level before 2000. Now, 25 years later, disability is at the frontline of inclusion. I think, just as people better understand the issue of persons with disabilities today, this convention could do the same for older people.”