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02 October 1999
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International Day of Older Persons, Geneva, 2 October 1999
Statement by Mary Robinson,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
I am pleased to address you on the International Day of Older Persons. Yesterday I spoke at a Special Seminar to mark 10th Anniversary of the Rights of the Child. It is appropriate today to focus on other end of life cycle! Yesterday a young man said “It is important to listen to us children because when you are gone we will still be here”. On this day we are reminded of the fact that our society is undergoing a silent demographic revolution: as earlier speakers had said - we are witnessing a dramatic increase in the number of older persons worldwide. The revolution has different features. Firstly, it is estimated that in about twenty years’ time the world’s ageing population will reach 1 billion. Secondly, it is estimated that by the year 2025, more than 70 per cent of older persons will be living in what today is called developing countries. Thirdly, by next year, the year 2000, the majority of the world’s older persons will be living in urban areas. Fourthly, the majority, or 55 per cent, of older persons are women.
We do not have to look far to be aware of the vulnerability of older persons. All around the world the traditional family unit is being undermined by migration, urbanisation and busy lifestyles. When there are severe downturns in economies, as happened in Russia last year, it is the elderly who bear the brunt. Where there are conditions of extreme poverty, as in the townships of South Africa, older persons are most at risk. Women, who live longer than men, are especially hard hit by old age and often spend their last years in poverty, alone. Older people are particularly vulnerable in conflict zones, being the least able to escape and, understandably, the most reluctant to leave their homes where they have often lived all their lives. The AIDS epidemic in Africa and elsewhere presents older persons with new hardship in that the economically active population is hit hard with the result that older persons find themselves without support but with the responsibility of being the care-givers to children left parentless.
In the field of human rights, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is responsible for monitoring the compliance by States parties with their obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, broached the subject in depth in 1993. The Committee discussed and adopted General Comment Number 6 on the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons. This General Comment is the first authoritative interpretation of a human rights instrument with regard to the rights of older persons.
Although no explicit mention of older persons is made in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded that “in view of the fact that the Covenant’s provisions apply fully to all members of society, it is clear that older persons are entitled to enjoy the full range of rights recognised in the Covenant”. (CESCR General Comment No. 6, para. 10) The Committee acknowledged its role in monitoring state compliance with respect to the promotion and protection of the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, in view of the fact that no comprehensive international convention yet exists in relation to the rights of older persons and no binding supervisory arrangements attach to the United Nations principles in this area.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has also acknowledged the importance of the 62 Vienna recommendations and the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, namely, independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity. These principles correlate closely to the rights recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
It is encouraging to see how awareness of the new challenge facing us is spreading. As we speak, a Special Diplomatic Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law is meeting for its closing session at the Peace Palace in the Hague. The Conference has identified a need, in our ageing and internationally mobile society, for improved international protection of vulnerable adults by means of legal regulation and international co-operation.
The challenge of translating the awareness-raising, definitional and codifying activities in various UN fora and elsewhere into action-oriented policies and programmes still remains. According to findings of the fourth review and appraisal of the implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing, the picture varies from country to country. Some countries are devoting resources to ageing issues and have in place a range of policies and programmes to respond to the growing older population. Other governments have done less. The positive news is that more and more governments - even those with resource problems - report having policies and programmes in place to support older citizens. And perhaps equally important, non-governmental organisations have increased their substantive presence in helping to address ageing issues and needs in those countries.
Our older people represent a rich resource for society and should be valued and used as such. And older people should know their rights and insist on their rights. As a contribution by my Office to the International Day of Older Persons, we have produced a leaflet which contains the rights and responsibilities of older persons in the field of economic, social and cultural rights. This has been produced jointly with the Geneva International Network on Ageing. Copies of the leaflet are available for everyone today; I hope that the leaflet will contribute in a modest way to increasing older peoples’ awareness of the full range of rights to which they are entitled and to help us to achieve the goal of the International Year of Older Persons: “Towards a Society for All Ages.”
Statement by Mary Robinson,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
I am pleased to address you on the International Day of Older Persons. Yesterday I spoke at a Special Seminar to mark 10th Anniversary of the Rights of the Child. It is appropriate today to focus on other end of life cycle! Yesterday a young man said “It is important to listen to us children because when you are gone we will still be here”. On this day we are reminded of the fact that our society is undergoing a silent demographic revolution: as earlier speakers had said - we are witnessing a dramatic increase in the number of older persons worldwide. The revolution has different features. Firstly, it is estimated that in about twenty years’ time the world’s ageing population will reach 1 billion. Secondly, it is estimated that by the year 2025, more than 70 per cent of older persons will be living in what today is called developing countries. Thirdly, by next year, the year 2000, the majority of the world’s older persons will be living in urban areas. Fourthly, the majority, or 55 per cent, of older persons are women.
We do not have to look far to be aware of the vulnerability of older persons. All around the world the traditional family unit is being undermined by migration, urbanisation and busy lifestyles. When there are severe downturns in economies, as happened in Russia last year, it is the elderly who bear the brunt. Where there are conditions of extreme poverty, as in the townships of South Africa, older persons are most at risk. Women, who live longer than men, are especially hard hit by old age and often spend their last years in poverty, alone. Older people are particularly vulnerable in conflict zones, being the least able to escape and, understandably, the most reluctant to leave their homes where they have often lived all their lives. The AIDS epidemic in Africa and elsewhere presents older persons with new hardship in that the economically active population is hit hard with the result that older persons find themselves without support but with the responsibility of being the care-givers to children left parentless.
In the field of human rights, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is responsible for monitoring the compliance by States parties with their obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, broached the subject in depth in 1993. The Committee discussed and adopted General Comment Number 6 on the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons. This General Comment is the first authoritative interpretation of a human rights instrument with regard to the rights of older persons.
Although no explicit mention of older persons is made in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded that “in view of the fact that the Covenant’s provisions apply fully to all members of society, it is clear that older persons are entitled to enjoy the full range of rights recognised in the Covenant”. (CESCR General Comment No. 6, para. 10) The Committee acknowledged its role in monitoring state compliance with respect to the promotion and protection of the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, in view of the fact that no comprehensive international convention yet exists in relation to the rights of older persons and no binding supervisory arrangements attach to the United Nations principles in this area.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has also acknowledged the importance of the 62 Vienna recommendations and the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, namely, independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity. These principles correlate closely to the rights recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
It is encouraging to see how awareness of the new challenge facing us is spreading. As we speak, a Special Diplomatic Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law is meeting for its closing session at the Peace Palace in the Hague. The Conference has identified a need, in our ageing and internationally mobile society, for improved international protection of vulnerable adults by means of legal regulation and international co-operation.
The challenge of translating the awareness-raising, definitional and codifying activities in various UN fora and elsewhere into action-oriented policies and programmes still remains. According to findings of the fourth review and appraisal of the implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing, the picture varies from country to country. Some countries are devoting resources to ageing issues and have in place a range of policies and programmes to respond to the growing older population. Other governments have done less. The positive news is that more and more governments - even those with resource problems - report having policies and programmes in place to support older citizens. And perhaps equally important, non-governmental organisations have increased their substantive presence in helping to address ageing issues and needs in those countries.
Our older people represent a rich resource for society and should be valued and used as such. And older people should know their rights and insist on their rights. As a contribution by my Office to the International Day of Older Persons, we have produced a leaflet which contains the rights and responsibilities of older persons in the field of economic, social and cultural rights. This has been produced jointly with the Geneva International Network on Ageing. Copies of the leaflet are available for everyone today; I hope that the leaflet will contribute in a modest way to increasing older peoples’ awareness of the full range of rights to which they are entitled and to help us to achieve the goal of the International Year of Older Persons: “Towards a Society for All Ages.”