Co-authored by Emanuele Rizzardi
Last week at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, a federation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) proposed a new "International Convention on the Rights of Older Persons" and a new special rapporteur for aging. The group included the powerful American lobby, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
The launch of the campaign for a new aging treaty took place at a panel discussion during the 48th Session of the Commission on Social Development, whose theme this year was social integration. In addition to AARP, the consortium included Age UK, Global Action on Aging, and International Association on Gerontology and Geriatrics.
A report released by treaty advocates entitled “Strengthening Older People’s Rights: Towards a UN Convention,” said that new treaty was the only way to “help to reduce age discrimination and ageism; oblige ratifying states to adopt nondiscriminatory laws …provide the necessary, legally binding protection of older people’s rights under international law…encourage greater development aid for programs benefiting older people,” as well as “training…the judiciary” and “guid[ing] the private sector in how it can protect older people’s rights.”
The creation of a new position of Special Rapporteur for Aging was justified, the report said, in order to “advise and support UN Member States … examining and reporting on the nature and extent of violations of older people’s rights and …encourage existing rapporteurs to address older people’s rights within their own specific areas of concern.”
Ms. M. Luz Melon, a delegate from Argentina who worked on the recently enacted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, said that a UN treaty would build on the activism already underway in Latin American countries, particularly in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Mr. Zahim Rastam, a delegate from Malaysia, raised the question of whether having a new treaty would make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “less universal” by giving special rights to one particular group. He and the rest of the panel of experts quickly dismissed the idea. Such exceptions have already been made for treaties for women, children, and disabled persons.
The public who attended the event also raised concerns. One participant said that problem is not aging, but population decline. Another participant said he believed that the family has an important role in supporting the elderly. The panel responded that defending the rights of older people cannot be left to their children and relatives. The experts said that a right is only for an individual and it cannot depend on anyone else.
Critics noted that the proposal seems out of step with evidence in the latest study recently released by the UN Population Division. That report, “World Population Ageing 2009,” was released in January and warns of the particular hardship facing the developing world where elderly depend upon their children and relatives because their societies do not have the social security systems in place.
The 48th Session of the Commission on Social Development concludes this week.
