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VERONIKA BÍLKOVÁ
CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
In view of all these flaws, it is plausible to argue that the current human rights
framework fails to grant older persons adequate protection that would reflect the
plurality of situations in which they may face age-related human rights violations.
Could a new convention aimed specifically at the protection of the human rights of
older persons constitute a solution to these flaws?
A New Convention for the Protection of Human Rights of Older Persons?
The idea of having a universal human rights instrument focused on older people
is not really new. In fact, the first (and so far, as it seems, the last) draft on this
topic was submitted as far back as in 1948. Shortly before the adoption of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Argentina submitted a draft resolution on
a Declaration of Old Age Rights.
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The Declaration was introduced by a preamble
saying that
“age rights, having the same origin and purpose as other universal social
safeguards, are essential for the improvement of the living conditions of the worker and
for his welfare when his physical strength is at an end and he is exposed to poverty and
neglect”
and then contained a list of ten rights to be granted to older persons. Those
rights encompassed the rights to assistance, to accommodation, to food, to clothing,
to the care of physical health, to the care of moral health, to recreation, to work, to
stability and to respect. As is visible from the catalogue, as well as from the preambular
paragraph, the document primarily focused on economic, social and cultural rights,
though some provisions had a broader scope (the right to respect). The Declaration
was submitted to the UN Economic and Social Council for further study but no
action was taken. As we saw above, the possibility of drafting an instrument centred on
older persons was again contemplated in the 1960s, during the elaboration of the two
Covenants, but again to no avail.
The idea has come back in the past two decades, this time in the context of the
debate on the global process of ageing. It has been primarily promoted by certain
States, NGOs and scholars. In 2010, the UN General Assembly established an
Open-End Working Group on Ageing
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which was tasked to consider the existing
international framework of the human rights of older persons and identify possible
gaps and how best to address them,
“including by considering, as appropriate, the
feasibility of further instruments and measures”
(par. 28). In 2012, the UN General
Assembly asked the Open-ended Group to
“consider proposals for an international
legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons, based on
the holistic approach”.
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By July 2016, the Open-ended Group has not produced any
draft text, focusing instead on instances of best practices and lessons learnt. This is to
a large extent due to the fact that States are divided over whether a new instrument
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UN Doc. A/C.3/213/Rev.1,
Declaration of Old Age Rights
, 26 November 1948.
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UN Doc. A/RES/65/182,
Follow-up to the Second World Assembly in Ageing,
4 February 2011.
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UN Doc. A/RES/67/139,
Towards a comprehensive and integral international legal instrument to promote
and protect the rights and dignity of older persons,
13 February 2013, par. 1.