Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the human rights protection challenges facing older persons in societies around the world. While the infection spreads among persons of all ages, older persons and those with underlying medical conditions are at higher risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19. Symptomatic individuals in their seventies are 20 times more likely to require hospitalization than young adults. Case fatality rates suggest a notable increase in risk after the age of 60, with progressively worse outcomes at older ages.

As the pandemic spreads in developing countries, the needs of older persons may also differ. Severe disease and mortality rates for older persons may increase even further if fragile health and social protection systems are overwhelmed. The impact on older persons has broad consequences, with prolonged lockdowns affecting the social and economic well-being of older persons, especially those living alone.

To inform a human rights-based approach to older persons in the context of COVID-19, there continues to be an urgent need for disaggregated data. This was the focus of the former Independent Expert’s thematic report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/45/14). This need will remain as States tackle prevention and the ongoing response to the spread of the pandemic.

Related event

Older Persons in the age of COVID-19 and Beyond: Webtalk with the High Commissioner and the Independent Expert on the human rights of older persons, 12 May 2020

Video

Inputs received

Access the joint questionnaire (Word) in English | French | Spanish.

Member States

• Albania
• Argentina 1 | 2
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Bulgaria
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Ecuador
• Estonia
• Finland
• Germany 1 | 2 | 3
• Greece
• Hungary
• Italy
• Maldives - Annex
• Mexico
• Mongolia
• Nepal
• Oman 1 | 2
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Qatar 1 | 2 | 3
• Republic of Korea
• Romania 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
• Rwanda
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Sierra Leone
• Spain
• State of Palestine
• Sweden
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

National Human Rights Institutions, Ombudspersons and Courts

• Austria - Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB)
• Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Mexico
• Cyprus – Supreme Court
• Danish Institute for Human Rights
• Defensor del Pueblo - Spain
• Defensoría del Pueblo de la Nación - Argentina
• Ecuador - Defensoría del Pueblo de Ecuador, annex
• Finish Human Rights Centre
• Human Rights Defender's Office - Armenia
• Human Rights Resource Centre - City of Barcelona – Spain
• Ghana - Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
• National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Annex 1, Annex 2)
• Personeria de Medellin- Colombia
• Philippines Commission on Human Rights
• Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos – El Salvador
• Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos - Nicaragua
• Public Defender of Rights of the Czech Republic (the Ombudsman)

NGOs and Civil Society Organizations (focus on human rights of older persons).

• Acamage
• Coalition of Caregivers and Advocates for the Elderly in Liberia (COCAEL)
• German National Association of Senior Citizens’ Organisations (BAGSO)
• Gravis
• Help Age Germany
• Help Age International
• Human Rights Watch
• International Longevity Centre Canada
• NSINDAGIZA Organization
• Society of Social Psychiatry P. Sakellaropoulos
• Uganda Older Activist

Academics

• Kevin H. Bell, et al., Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University, and Prof Joe Aged Care Advocacy Group