CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ TOWARDS A NEW CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTON OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS is a good idea or not. Whereas countries of Latin America actively promote the idea, other States (EU countries, Canada, China, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and USA) remain sceptical. In the meantime, in 2014, the UN Human Rights Council created the post of an Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons and appointed Ms. Rosa Kornfeld-Matte from Chile to this post. Were a new convention to be tabled, the independent expert would be well placed to contribute to it. But is a new convention to be tabled after all? Which arguments have those in favour of it put forward? Which arguments, on the contrary, underpin the view of the sceptics? Let’s start with the arguments for. Mégret, as we saw above, argues that the adoption of a new convention on the human rights of older persons should be considered, because older persons constitute a definable population that faces distinct human rights challenges and whose needs are not sufficiently taken into account by human rights instruments. 77 By the same token, and quoting Mégret, Fredvang and Biggs give a (non-exhaustive) list of five arguments in support of a new convention. 78 They claim that: older persons experience age-specific human rights violations, there are normative gaps in the regulation, there are also gaps in the implementation and monitoring of legal instruments, the articulation of age-specific rights should be possible despite the diversity of definitions, and a new instrument would draw attention to older persons and strengthen the struggle against ageism. Mégret’s as well as Fredvang and Biggs’ view is largely premised on the idea that human rights instruments are useful to address group-based vulnerabilities. Other scholars and certain NGOs make one step back, seeking to demonstrate that – and how exactly – a new convention (and not just, for instance, a non-binding declaration produced by the UN General Assembly) would be useful. HelpAge, an international NGO established in 1983 to promote rights and needs of older persons worldwide, gives a list of five important consequences that the adoption of a convention would have. The instrument would: change attitudes, reducing age discrimination and ageism; increase visibility of the challenges faced by older persons; clarify responsibilities, providing a set of obligations binding upon State parties; improve accountability, establishing a specific mechanism for States to report and – potentially – for individuals to file complaints; and provide a guiding framework for national policy makers. 79 Commenting on the same issue, Doron and Apter concede that in the absence of a draft text, it is somewhat difficult to say what outcomes a new convention could bring about. Yet, relying on the analogies with the CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the authors argue that human rights conventions have 77 MÉGRET, Frédéric, supra note 34, pp. 63-66. 78 FREDVANG, Marthe, BIGGS, Simon, The rights of older persons, Protection and gaps under human rights law, University of Melbourne, Social Policy Working Paper, No. 16, 2012. 79 HelpAge, Strengthening Older People’s Rights: Towards a UN Convention, sine data; HelpAge, Why it’s time for a convention on the rights of older people, HelpAge Position Paper, 2009.

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