The Third
Committee (the GA committee that deals with human rights) voted and adopted a
resolution (A/C.3/67/L.9/Rev.1 with oral amendments) put forward by El
Salvador and co-sponsored by 26 Member States from across Latin America, Africa
and Asia. I am attaching the final version given to us by the El Salvador
delegation.
As reported by AgeUK, it
establishes four key developments:
1. The fourth
session of the OEWG will be held in 2013.
2. At that fourth
session, the OEWG will consider proposals for an international legal instrument
to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older people.
3. It requests the
OEWG to present the General Assembly with a proposal as soon as possible which
contains the main elements to go in such an international legal instrument.
4. It requests the
UN Secretary General to submit to the OEWG a compilation of existing
international legal instruments that directly or indirectly address the
situation of older people.
This is an
incredibly important development. It means that the OEWG can now start focusing
directly on a what a new legal instrument, ie a convention, might look like.
It’s not setting up a drafting committee but it is one step further in the long
process towards a convention.
Here is the unofficial full text of the resolution:
Sixty-seventh
session
Third Committee
Agenda items 27 (b) and (c)
Social
development: social development, including questions
relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing,
disabled persons and the family
relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing,
disabled persons and the family
Follow-up
to the International Year of Older Persons: Second
World Assembly on Ageing
World
Bolivia (Plurinational State of),
Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea,
Eritrea, Honduras, Mexico , Nicaragua. Mali, Cuba,
Guatemala, Paraguay, Senegal, South Africa, Panama,
Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Dominica, Costa
Rica, Haiti, Belize:
revised draft resolution (26 countries) Gabon
Towards a
comprehensive and integral international legal instrument to promote and
protect the rights and dignity of older persons
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming the purposes and principles
of the Charter of the United Nations and the obligations contained in the
relevant human rights instruments,
Reaffirming also that the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights[1]
proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,
and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set out therein,
without distinction of any kind, such as age, race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth or other status,
(3) Recalling all General
Assembly resolutions on matters relating to older persons, including older
women, beginning with resolution 2542 (XXIV) of 11 December 1969, and
recalling also all relevant resolutions of the Economic and Social Council and the
Commission for Social Development and the Commission on the Status of Women
on the promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of older persons, as well as of the
Commission on the Status of Women, as appropriate;
Reaffirming the outcomes of the World Assembly on Ageing, held in
Vienna, in 1982,[2]
the United Nations Principles for Older Persons of 1991,[3] the global targets on ageing for the year 2001, as agreed in 1992,[4] and the Proclamation on Ageing of 1992,[5] as
well as the outcomes of the Second World Assembly on Ageing, held in Madrid, in
2002[6]
and the respective follow-up reviews, in particular as they pertain to the
promotion of the rights and well-being of older persons on an equal and
participatory basis,
Recognizing that different efforts made
to increase cooperation and integration and increasing awareness and
sensitivity to ageing issues since the adoption of the Madrid International
Plan of Action[7] by
Governments, relevant bodies of the United Nations system and civil society,
including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, have not been
sufficient to promote full and effective participation by and opportunities for
older persons in economic, social, cultural and political life,
Recalling its resolution 65/182 of 21
December 2010, in which it decided to establish an open-ended working group,
open to all States Members of the United Nations, for the purpose of
strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons by
considering the existing international framework of the human rights of older
persons and identifying possible gaps and how best to address them, including
by considering, as appropriate, the feasibility of further instruments and
measures,
Recognizing that, by 2050, more than 20
per cent of the world’s population will be 60 years old or older, and
recognizing also that the increase in the number of older persons will be
greatest and most rapid in the developing world,
(9) Recognizing also the
essential contribution that the majority of older men and women can continue
to make to the functioning of society if adequate guarantees, means and
resources, as well as the highest possible level of health care, are in place,
and that older persons must be full participants in the development process and
also share its benefits,
Reaffirming the outcomes of the major
United Nations conferences and summits and their respective follow-up reviews,
in particular as they pertain to the promotion of the human rights and the
well-being of older persons on an equal and participatory basis,
Encouraged by the increasing interest of
the international community in the promotion and protection of the rights and
dignity of older persons in the world under a comprehensive and integral
approach,
Acknowledging that there are numerous
obligations vis-à-vis older persons implicit in most core human rights treaties
but that explicit references to age in core international human rights treaties
are scarce, that there is no such instrument for older persons, and that only a
few instruments contain explicit references to age,
(13) Welcoming Noting the reports of the Open-ended
Working Group on Ageing and welcoming the report of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation of older persons,[8] which states that dedicated measures to strengthen the
international protection for older persons are called for without further
delay, including a new dedicated international instrument; include
recommendations towards a convention to remedy the existing gaps regarding
older persons in the current mechanisms and instruments,
1. Decides
that the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, which shall be open to all member states and observers of the
United Nations, shall as part of its mandate and starting from
its upcoming fourth session, to be held in 2013, consider proposals for an
international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of
older persons, based on the holistic approach in the work done in the fields of
social development, human rights and non-discrimination, as well as gender
equality and the empowerment of women, and taking into account the inputs of
the Human Rights Council, the reports of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing
and the recommendations of the Commission for Social Development and the
Commission on the Status of Women, as well as the contributions from the second
global review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on
Ageing, to be held during the fifty-first session of the Commission for Social
Development;
2. Requests
the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing to present to the General Assembly at
the earliest possible date a proposal containing, inter alia, the main elements
that an international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and
dignity of older persons should include, which are not currently addressed
sufficiently by existing mechanisms and therefore require further international
protection;
3. Invites
States and
relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, including
relevant human rights mandate holders and treaty bodies and the regional
commissions, as well as civil society intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations
with an interest in the matter, to make contributions to the work entrusted to
the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, as set out in paragraph 1 above, and also invites
relevant Non-Governmental Organizations to contribute, as appropriate,
based on the practice of the General Assembly; based on the modalities for participation agreed by the Open Ended
Working Group on Aging (9);
9) A/AC.278/2011/2
4. Requests
the Secretary-General, with the support of the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Division for Social Policy and
Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat
and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women,
to submit to the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing by its fourth session and
within existing resources a compilation of existing international legal
instruments, documents and programmes which directly or indirectly address the
situation of older persons, including, inter alia, those of conferences,
summits, meetings or international or regional seminars convened by the United
Nations and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations;
5. Requests
the Secretary-General to provide the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing with
the facilities necessary for the performance of the work entrusted to it in the
present resolution;
6. Also
requests the Secretary-General to include in the report to the General
Assembly at its sixty-eighth session under the sub-item entitled “Follow-up to
the International Year of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing” comprehensive
information on the implementation of this resolution
.
