Human Rights of Older Persons

Calls upon all States to prohibit all forms of discrimination against older persons and to adopt and implement non-discriminatory policies, national strategies, action plans, legislation and regulations, and to promote and ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for older persons in, inter alia, employment, social protection, housing, education and training, access to technologies and the provision of financial, social, health-care, long-term support and palliative care services, while systematically providing for consultation with and the participation of older persons themselves;

Encourages all States to take measures to combat ageism and eliminate age discrimination, and to protect the human rights of older persons in, inter alia, employment, social protection, housing, education and training, access to new technologies and the provision of financial, social, health-care, long-term support and palliative care services, and to promote the development of comprehensive care systems;

Recommends that States parties to existing international human rights instruments address, where appropriate, the situation of older persons more explicitly in their reports, and encourages treaty body monitoring mechanisms and special procedure mandate holders, in accordance with their mandates, to address further the situation of older persons in their dialogue with Member States, in their consideration of thematic reports and in their country missions;

Calls upon all stakeholders, including States, the entities of the United Nations system, civil society, national human rights institutions and the private sector to combat ageism and eliminate age discrimination in all its forms and to adopt a human-rights based approach in all programmes, campaigns and activities relating to ageing and older persons;

Calls upon all States to establish and/or enhance effective redress mechanisms and to ensure access to justice, on an equal basis with others, for those subjected to discrimination based on age, including legal aid and support, as well as accessible and age-sensitive legal proceedings;

Also calls upon all States to take measures to raise awareness in society, including among public officials, the private sector and older persons themselves, about the meaning and consequences of discrimination in old age and about existing legal provisions and judicial remedies;

Calls upon States to collect and analyse data disaggregated, as appropriate, by age, gender, disability, area of residence and other relevant criteria, in order to identify and render visible inequalities, discriminatory patterns, including structural aspects of discrimination, and to analyse the effectiveness of measures taken to promote equality;

Invites the Independent Expert to continue to raise awareness of the challenges that older persons face in the realization of their human rights, including by further examining the impact of ageism and age discrimination on the rights of older persons in her annual reports;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with States, regional mechanisms, treaty bodies, national human rights institutions, relevant United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, to prepare a report on normative standards and obligations under international law in relation to the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons, and to submit the report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-ninth session, and to make the report available in accessible formats, including Plain Language and Easy-to-Read;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to convene a multi-stakeholder meeting, fully accessible to persons with disabilities, with the participation of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, human rights experts and expert representatives of Member States, the treaty bodies and the special procedures, regional mechanisms, the United Nations system, academia, national human rights institutions and civil society, including with the meaningful and effective participation of older persons and of persons of different ages, to discuss the report, and to prepare a summary with conclusions of the meeting that includes recommendations on addressing possible gaps and the dispersiveness of international human rights law with regard to older persons, and to submit the report to the Human Rights Council by its fifty-first session.