CYIL vol. 7 (2016)

188 / 536

174
VERONIKA BÍLKOVÁ CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
Charles University and from the European Master’ s Degree in Human Rights and
Democratisation, and she is a holder of the Diploma in International Law awarded
by the University of Cambridge. Since 2010 she has been the member of the Council
of Europe Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission) on
behalf of the Czech Republic. She focuses on international law and international
relations and publishes extensively in these areas.
Achieving longevity has been one of the persistent dreams of humankind. Yet,
when this dream has come to a large extent true, with life expectancy increasing from
31 in 1900 to 70 in 2015, people have immediately started to ask themselves whether
its results are all that positive. Ageing – a term which has largely replaced longevity in
the current debate – is conceptualized as a problem which has to be analysed, discussed,
and solved. In a rapidly changing world, older persons are often seen as a burden on
the society to which they, incapable to keeping pace with modern development, have
no longer much to contribute. Stereotypes portraying older persons as weak, unfit,
incompetent and dependent on others may, and do, give rise to discriminatory practices
and to age-specific human rights violations. Older persons might be disqualified in
the job market and if they find a job, they get lower wages. They face acts of elderly
abuse, often at the hand of their own children or other close relatives. They may have
limited access to health care, social security or pension schemes.
It is predicted that by 2050, one fifth of the world population will be over 60,
with two thirds of older persons living in less developed countries.1 It thus hardly
comes as a surprise that increasing attention has been paid to the social and legal
status of older persons in recent years.2 And provided that older persons remain
one of the few vulnerable groups that are not subject to any special human rights
regime, it is also not astonishing that proposals have been made by scholars and
non-governmental organizations to adopt a new human rights instrument that
would focus specifically on older persons.3 Although so far the proposal has not
gathered sufficient support at the international scene, changing demography and the
challenges stemming from it clearly play in its favour. This paper assesses arguments
for and against a new instrument that are put forward in scholarly literature,
concluding that a new convention for the protection of the human rights of older
1 Global Ageing Statistics, HelpAge – online at
ageing-statistics/ (retrieved on 7 July 2016).
2 See MARTIN, Claudia, RODRÍGUEZ-PINZÓN, Diego, BROWN, Bethany, Human Rights of Older
People. Universal and Regional Legal Perspectives, Springer, 2015.
3 See DORON, Israel, APTER, Itai, The Debate Around the Need for an International Convention
on the Rights of Older Persons, The Gerontologist, Vol. 50, No. 5, 2010, pp. 586-593; DORON,
Israel, APTER, Itai, International Rights of Older Persons: What Difference Would a New Convention
Make to the Lives of Older People?, Marquette Elder’s Advisor, Vol. 11, 2010, pp. 367-385; 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.