Growing Ageing Population - 60+ Years

60+years


NEWSFLASH!! 

34th United Nations International Day of Older Persons
Ageing with Dignity: The Importance of Strengthening Care and Support Systems for Older Persons Worldwide

Monday, 7 October 2024 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

In-Person: ECOSOC Chamber, UN Headquarters, New York and on UNTV

PLEASE WATCH RECORDING ON UNTV

  • UPCOMING INTERGOVERNMENTAL MEETINGS AT THE UNITED NATIONS:

NGO COA members with ECOSOC consultative status are urged to attend/participate in the following United Nations intergovernmental bodies taking place in 2025.  Those NGOs are entitled to submit written statements and make oral statements.  Please access websites for information on civil society participation, including in information on deadlines and registration requirements.  Participation will provide opportunities to raise issues concerning older persons., 

  1. Commission for Social Development, 10-14 February 2025, New York

https://social.desa.un.org/csocd/63rd-session


  1. Commission on the Status of Women 10-21 March 2025, New York

https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/commission-on-the-status-of-women/csw69-2025


Also get more information on civil society participation from the NGO Committee on the Status of Women:  https://ngocsw.org/ngocswforum/    (ECOSOC Status not required).


16 days of Activism to end Violence Against Women (25 November -10 December) https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite

Draw attention to violence, abuse and neglect of older women !


  1. Commission on Population and Development – 7-11 April 2025, New York

https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/events/EGM-CPD58


  1. Statistical Commission, no information on 2025 session (as at 23 October 2024): https://unstats.un.org/UNSDWebsite/statcom/
  • HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, 57th session (9 September -11 October 2024)

The Council considered two reports related to older persons:

  1. Report of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons on violence against, abuse and neglect of older persons (AHRC/54/26 – (https://undocs.org/A/HRC/54/26), and
  2. Report of OHCHR on expert meeting on the human rights obligations of States regarding violence against and abuse and neglect of older persons in all settings (A/HRC/57/36 -https://undocs.org/A/HRC/54/36)


  

*****

STATUS of efforts for an international legal instrument (a “convention”) to protect the rights of older persons:


The General Assembly, in its resolution 78/324 adopted on 13 August 2024 (https://undocs.org/A/RES/78/324):

  1. Decided that the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing has completed its work, in view of its adoption of decision 14/1 (https://undocs.org/A/AC.278/2024/2)
  2. Urged relevant United Nations bodies to further consider decision 14/1;
  3. Requested the President of the General Assembly to hold a high level meeting at its 79th session to exchange views and share experiences on the recommendations of decision 14/1 and to define next steps on the challenges and opportunities regarding the rights and well-being of older persons.

Decision 14/1 includes recommendations for a number of options to address possible gaps in the protection of the human rights of older persons, including the option of “an international legally binding instrument to promote, protect and ensure the recognition and the realization, on an equal basis, of all human rights of older persons” (see para. 25 (a) of Decision 14/1).


However, there is NO decision to start drafting a convention, BUT supporters of a convention will be advocating for the Human Rights Council in Geneva (one of the “relevant United Nations bodies”) to urgently consider the options listed in decision 14/1, particularly the option of an international legally binding instrument.


At the national level, advocates for a convention will continue to lobby their respective governments to convince the Human Rights Council of the need for a convention to protect the human rights of older persons around the world.  


NGO COA-NY will be following closely arrangements for the high level meeting to be convened during the 79th session of the General Assembly (which begins on 10 September 2024 and continues till September 2025).  Every effort will be made to ensure the participation of national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons. 

Useful websites:


WHY DO WE NEED A CONVENTION?   WATCH TWO VIDEOS from Amnesty International:

“The Forgotten Convention”


“Age Loud”


RECOMMENDED EVENTS

07-november-2024

Empowering Older Women and Strengthening Rights:

Investing in Equality and Addressing the Funding Gap for Older Women

Thursday, November 7, 2024

10:00-11:00 AM EST

This is a virtual Program. Use this link (no registration required)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83818278166

Download Flyer Here…

HelpAge International has recently released a new report, Investing in Equality: Addressing the Funding Gap for Older Women, that focuses on older women’s lifetime of disadvantage and discrimination, the bleak picture of donor spending, and empowering and strengthening their rights. To bring you cutting-edge, data-driven information, we are focusing this program on a presentation of the report and its implications. This interactive program will help us craft directions for our work on older women and the economic and social gaps.

Business Meeting

Welcome and Update - William Smith, PhD, Chair, NGO Committee on Ageing/NY

Report on Sub-committee Meeting and Updates — Robin Fenley, PhD, Vice Chair

Program

Speaker: Tanvi Patel, Gender Policy Advisor, HelpAge International

Moderator: Robin Fenley

Audience Response and Q & A

Summary and Closing: Sandra Timmermann, EdD, NGO CoA Program Co-Chair

Recent Publications of Interest to us

Ageing of the Oppressed - A Pandemic of Intersecting Injustice

Editor: Silvia Perel-Levin

Read More here…
Find purchase information here…

cover-ageing-of-the-oppressed

Ageing of the Oppressed: A Pandemic of Intersectional Injustice explores what it is like to grow older with accumulating and intersecting discrimination. It condemns ageism and other "isms." Despite its visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, ageism is not a new phenomenon but one that has been ignored for too long by policymakers and the general population. The negative language used to describe population ageing adds fuel to the fire by filling people’s minds with ageist images that permeate all levels and sectors of society. We should all be recognized as full human rights holders, no matter our age, ability, disability, gender or sexual orientation, race, or socio-economic or any other status. This book combines theoretical models and academic essays by top experts with the real-life experience of older persons and activists. It is a must-read for advocates for human rights; policymakers; service providers; students of social and health sciences, the humanities, and law; and anybody willing to challenge assumptions and practices. The proposed UN Convention on the human rights of older persons will be a step forward to providing older persons with a remedy for daily and often life-long oppression.

Annual report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly - the topic for this year refers to intergenerational solidarity across public policy domains, highlighting opportunities and challenges for current and future generations of older persons (https://undocs.org/A/79/157)

Reports of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons on:

Report of the Open-ended working group on Ageing at its 14th session (https://undocs.org/A/AC.278/2024/2)

Documents submitted to the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing at its 14th session, 20-22 and 24 May 2024 (https://social.un.org/ageing-working-group/fourteenthsession.shtml)

Report of the OHCHR – Summary of the multi-stakeholder meeting on the human rights of older persons (https://undocs.org/A/HRC/52/49)

Report of the OHCHR – Normative standards and obligations under international law in relation to the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons (https://undocs.org/A/HRC/49/70).

Report of the Secretary-General on Fourth review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2022, (https://undocs.org/E/CN.5/2023/6)

Report of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, 12th session:  (https://undocs.org/A/AC.278/2022/2)

Joint letter from the three NGO Committees (New York, Geneva, Vienna) to UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and to UN Women, expressing concerns about lack of references to older women, here: Letter on gender snapshot

Reports on ageing issues prepared by various entities of the UN system can be found in the list of entities under “Resources/Key International Documents on Ageing”

join_button3



Learn more about the Committee’s mission here.  


NGO Committee on Ageing • PO Box 1854 • New York, NY • 10163-1854