[A statement from the GAROP Steering Group]
As Member States conclude the work of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, a new and exciting phase in our global advocacy for a new UN convention begins.
On August 13, 2024, the General Assembly (GA) of the United Nations (UN) adopted resolution A/RES/78/324 on ‘Consideration of decision 14/1 of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWG), entitled “Recommendations regarding the identification of possible gaps in the protection of the human rights of older persons and how best to address them”‘. This is an important outcome from 14 years of joint efforts by Member States, NGOs, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), the UN system, and other stakeholders to strengthen the protection of the human rights of older persons at the international level.
With this resolution, UN Member States have decided that the OEWG has completed its work and have urged relevant UN bodies to further consider the recommendations adopted by the OEWG in decision 14/1. This substantive decision 14/1 identified gaps in the international human rights framework plus a number of options to address those gaps, including an international legally binding instrument (a UN convention) on the human rights of older persons.
We welcome this milestone and we now expect the Human Rights Council (HRC) to consider the recommendations in decision 14/1 and agree concrete next steps at the earliest opportunity. In this current challenging global political environment, we must now mobilise on a bigger scale than ever and intensify our collective advocacy efforts to call on the HRC to establish an intergovernmental working group to draft a UN convention on the human rights of older persons without further delay to ensure that we can all age with rights.
The GA resolution also called for the President of the GA to hold a high-level meeting about the rights and well-being of older persons in the next year. We continue to call for the full, meaningful and effective participation of older persons, their representative organisations, civil society, and NHRIs in all relevant UN discussions and processes relating to the human rights of older persons, including this high-level meeting.
The Steering Group of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People and our network of more than 400 member organizations stand ready to engage actively and constructively with Member States and other stakeholders to move forward at the international level and build on the extensive work undertaken on the human rights of older persons over the last 14 years.
[Download this statement as a PDF here]