CYIL vol. 7 (2016)

197 / 536

183
CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ TOWARDS A NEW CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTON OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS
Only one sectoral human rights treaty speaks expressly about older persons –
the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It does so
in two provisions which relate to the right to health (Article 25 40) and the right
to adequate standard of living and social protection (Article 2841 ). In addition,
the CRPD encourages States to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices
relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of
life” [Article 8(1)(b), emphasis added]. It also invokes the need for age-appropriate
accommodations and age-sensitive assistance and support when granting the right to
access to justice [Article 13(1)] and the right to freedom from exploitation, violence
and abuse [Article 16(2)]. Finally, age is cited among the grounds that in the terms
of one of the preambular paragraphs of the Convention often add to disability and
result in “multiple and aggravated forms of discrimination” (par. p of the preamble)
of people with disabilities. At the moment, however paradoxical this may seem, the
CRPD contains the most comprehensive set of explicit legal rules relating to older
persons (disabled older persons, more exactly) that is available at the universal level.42
Despite the scarcity of references to older persons in universal treaties, UN human
rights monitoring bodies have repeatedly commented on the rights of such persons
in their case-law and in more general documents.43 The most important in this
respect are General Comment No. 6, issued by the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights in 1995,44 and General Recommendation No. 27, adopted by
the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
in 2010.45 The former, entitled The economic, social and cultural rights of older persons,
takes account of the phenomenon of ageing and recalls that under the ICESCR State
parties have a general duty to protect the vulnerable members of society, including
40 Article 25 declares the obligation of States to“provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities
specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and
services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons”
(par. b, emphasis added).
41 Article 28 declares that States shall “ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls
with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction
programmes” (par. 2(b), emphasis added).
42 See also KANTER, Arlene S., The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities and its Implications for the Rights of Elderly People under International Law, Georgia State
University Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2009, pp. 527-573.
43 In addition to the two documents mentioned in the text, General Comment No. 29 of the Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, dealing with Non-discrimination in economic, social and
cultural rights, merits attention, as it explicitly ranks age among prohibited grounds of discrimination.
See UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/20, General Comment No. 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social and
cultural rights, 2 July 2009, par. 29.
44 UN Doc. E/1996/22, General Comment No. 6: The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Older
Persons, 8 December 1995.
45 UN Doc. CEDAW/C/2010/47/CG.1, General recommendation No. 27 on older women and protection
of their human rights, 19 October 2010.