VI. Conclusions and Recommendations
121. By 2050, there will be, for the first time, more older persons than children under the age of 15 worldwide. A demographic transformation of such magnitude has far-reaching implications for society at all levels. As the world population continues to age, the human rights dimension of ageing becomes an ever-growing concern. It is essential that the analytical lens is all encompassing and embraces the full set of human rights, economic, social and cultural rights, but also civil and political rights.
122. Older persons face a number of particular challenges in the enjoyment of their human rights that need to be addressed urgently. Several good or promising practices in the implementation of existing laws have been reported on issues such as the development of national strategies or action plans on ageing, and in the area of care, the right to work, social protection, equality and non-discrimination, access to justice, violence and abuse, education, training and lifelong learning, the participation of older persons, accessibility and awareness-raising. None of those areas has however been covered extensively and little or no information has been received on some crucial issues such as legal capacity, quality of care, long-term care, palliative care, assistance to victims of violence and abuse, available remedies, independence and autonomy, or the right to an adequate standard of living, particularly housing. Each of the aforementioned areas raises a set of issues and protection concerns that deserve in-depth analysis. The information provided also demonstrates the need for South-South cooperation and the sharing of good practices at the regional level to guide national-level implementation taking into account regional specificities.
123. The information received appears to indicate that the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing may have positive implications for the enjoyment of some human rights by older persons. However, uneven progress with regard to the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action and gaps between policy and practice remain major constraints. Moreover, while the Madrid Plan of Action contains a number of references to human rights, it is not a human rights instrument and it addresses ageing issues mainly from a developmental perspective. It has not been designed to comprehensively address existing protection gaps and is therefore not sufficient to ensure the full enjoyment of their human rights by older persons. A/HRC/33/44
124. The former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in her 2012 report on the human rights situation of older persons, concluded that existing arrangements to protect the human rights of older persons were inadequate and that dedicated measures to strengthen the international protection regime were required, such as a new dedicated international instrument and/or a new special procedure mandate (see E/2012/51, para. 66).
125. Similarly, the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing concluded at its sixth session, held in 2015, that the existing mechanisms designed to guarantee the full exercise of the civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of older persons have flaws (see A/AC.278/2015/2, p. 8). A variety of proposals have been made with regard to new instruments and measures, in accordance with the Working Group’s mandate, including a dedicated convention or an optional protocol to an existing convention. As the present report and its findings will be brought to the attention of the Working Group, in accordance with Council resolution 24/20, the Independent Expert calls on States to step up their efforts to determine the best way to strengthen the protection of the human rights of older persons and to consider the various proposals that have been made, notably the elaboration of a convention on the rights of older persons. It is also hoped that the Working Group will in due course present to the General Assembly a proposal containing, inter alia, the main elements that should be included in an international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons, which are not currently addressed sufficiently by existing mechanisms and therefore require further international protection, as requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/139 of 20 December 2012.7 Considering that there is unanimity about the need to strengthen the protection of the human rights of older persons, existing divergences must urgently be overcome, given the millions of older persons waiting for their human rights to become a reality.
126. The creation of the mandate of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons by the Human Rights Council in 2013 constituted a paradigm shift from a predominant economic and development perspective to ageing to the imperative of a human rights-based approach8 that views older persons as subjects of law, rather than simply beneficiaries, with specific rights, the enjoyment of which has to be guaranteed by States. It has also kick-started a Geneva-based process that has received new impetus through the recent launching of the Group of Friends on the human rights of older persons. It is hoped that this will contribute to further deepening the discussions at the level of the Human Rights Council and to ensure that this human rights forum remains seized of this important matter and actively engaged in shaping tomorrow’s society.
Website of the UN Independent Expert on the Human Rights of Older Persons:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/IE/Pages/IEOlderPersons.aspx
REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF OLDER PERSONS TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 2016:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/33/44
Извор: WUNRN – 18.08.2016
