Working on the content of a convention

Background and Introduction

One of the two strategic outcomes of GAROP’s three year Strategy is that ‘civil society has a broad consensus around the content of a UN convention and the capability to communicate this clearly to governments and other relevant stakeholders‘.

We need a strong UN convention that will provide a comprehensive and integrated international framework for the protection and promotion of the human rights of all older people. Its content must reflect the diversity of national contexts and older people (e.g. different older age groups, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status, among many others), and be designed to be able to respond to possible future challenges and developments that may emerge. The content of a UN convention must be grounded in the everyday and lived experiences of older people in all their diversity around the world. GAROP has a key role to play in convening content discussions that embed the meaningful participation of older people throughout and that are accessible and wide-reaching, including those who may not have significant human rights knowledge or legal expertise.

In September 2025, the GAROP Steering Group appointed 13 people to form a new Content Working Group (CWG). The 13 members will participate and contribute to the work in an individual capacity. The CWG is accountable to the GAROP Steering Group and will guide this content work and lead the development of content proposals to support GAROP members and civil society to engage with the official drafting process in a coherent and effective way. This work will include developing appropriate methods and templates to guide the GAROP Secretariat, GAROP members, and other stakeholders to gather data and provide other inputs in an accessible and inclusive way to inform the work of the CWG.