OAS in specific has been very active, and has been working in the last two years very quickly and has been successful in moving forward in actually presenting a working draft for a regional convention in this field.
Here is a link for the documentations and protocol in this field:
http://www.oas.org/consejo/cajp/personas%20mayores.asp#Notice
To get a "feel" of this new regional instrument, here is the text of part of the proposed convention: see and feel:
PROPOSALS FOR ARTICLES 11 THROUGH 20 OF THE DRAFT
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION, BASED ON THE CONTENTS OF THE COMPENDIUM OF PROPOSALS
ON THE DRAFT INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF OLDER PERSONS,
CAJP/GT/DHPM-44/12 rev. 2
(Presented by the Chair)
Article 11
Right to freedom and personal safety
Older persons have a right to freedom and personal safety, on an equal
footing with others, regardless of the family or social environment in which
they function.
The States Party shall ensure that older persons:
a.
Enjoy the right to freedom and personal safety;
b.
Are not illegally nor arbitrarily deprived of their freedom or personal
safety, and that any deprivation of freedom be in accordance with the law, and
that under no circumstances should age be used to justify deprivation of
freedom.
The states party shall ensure that older persons who
are deprived of their freedom because of a process have, on an equal footing
with others, the right to guarantees in accordance with international human
rights law and to be treated in accordance with the objectives and principles
of this Convention, including being afforded reasonable accommodation.[1]/
The States party shall adopt appropriate measures to
ensure older persons in facilities the freedom to move about and to protect
their personal safety.
Article 12
Right to freedom of expression and to access to
information
Older persons have the right to
freedom of expression and opinion, the right to seek, receive, and offer
information, on an equal footing with others, by means of all forms of
communication of their choosing.
The States Party shall take all measures necessary to
ensure the effective exercise of this right, particularly concerning long-stay
public and private facilities in relation to:
1. Informing
older persons of their rights and of the legal framework applying to the
facilities.
2.
Ensuring older persons access to the various communication media.
3.
Guaranteeing access to all technological information media, including
social networks.
Article 13
Right to nationality and to freedom of movement
Older persons have the right to freedom of movement, freedom to choose
their residence, and to hold a nationality. To ensure the effective enjoyment
of these rights, the States Party shall adopt measures to ensure that older
persons:
1. Can exercise their right to acquire and
change nationality and to not be arbitrarily deprived of their own.
2. May not be deprived, for reasons of
age, of their ability to obtain, possess and utilize documentation related to
their nationality or other identity documents.
3. May not be deprived, for reasons of
age, of access to immigration procedures needed to ensure the exercise of the
right to residence and to freedom of movement.
4. Can exercise the right to leave any
country, including their own.
5. May not be deprived arbitrarily or for
reasons of age of the right to enter their own country.
Article 14
Right
to privacy and intimacy
Older persons shall have the right, regardless of
their place of residence or their mode of living, not to be the subject of arbitrary or illegal interference in their
private life, family, home, correspondence or any other type of communication,
or of illicit attacks on their dignity, honor,
and reputation, and shall be
protected by the law from such interference or attacks.
Older persons are entitled to intimacy and to maintain
their privacy during bathing or in the various activities of life in an
institution.
States Party shall design the measures necessary to
guarantee these rights, particularly at public and private long-stay
facilities.
Article 15
Right
to social security and to care
Older persons have the right to social security, which should include
both contributory benefits and non-contributory insurance plans and benefits.
The States Party shall ensure that, within available
resources, all older persons receive a permanent minimum income sufficient for
a dignified life. Social security systems shall include retirement benefits and
other sustainable means of social protection in the event of disability,
widowhood, or other causes of loss of the means of livelihood because of
circumstances beyond their control; as well as in instances in which they do
not meet the requirements to enjoy old-age pension, either because they had not
worked or did not complete the required minimum periods of contributions, and
lack any other source of income.
Older persons have the
right to care and to comprehensive social protection that recognizes protection
covering the areas of health, economics, promotion and coverage for social
services, food security, housing, and education, promoting the idea of older
persons staying in their homes and maintaining their independence and autonomy.
The States Party shall take measures designed to
develop a comprehensive universal care system that takes particular account of
a gender perspective.
In planning their social security policies, the States Party shall take fully into
account the protection of family life, the needs of the various forms of
families, other forms of care, and the full participation of older persons.
Article 16
Right to work and in the workplace
Older persons should have the opportunity to work and to pursue activities
that enable them to obtain income.
Age-based labor discrimination is
prohibited, as is the setting of an upper age limit for hiring a person for any
job or employment, except in those cases in which the nature of the job so
requires.
The States Party shall promote the trend toward
equalizing the age and conditions of retirement for older men and older women,
in accordance with social, cultural, and
economic circumstances.
The States Party shall promote
policies that take account of the characteristics of older workers, according
to the working conditions and environment, as well as work hours and the
organization of the jobs, as well as policies that prevent exclusion, and
promote the voluntary entry and
re-entry of older persons into the labor market.
Employment or occupation
after the normal time of retirement should have the same guarantees and be
remunerated with the same salary that applies to all workers for similar tasks
and responsibilities.
The States shall promote programs and measures for the
years prior to retirement that will
facilitate a simple and gradual transition into retirement, with the
participation of organizations representing
employers and workers, and of other interested agencies, including the
possibility of creating more flexible forms of retirement, or partial or
gradual retirement.
The States shall adopt measures
and programs that recognize and promote the contribution that older persons
make by unremunerated work in the informal sector and in domestic work.
The States shall regulate work for older persons, as
well as the various forms of self-employment and domestic work, with a view to
preventing abuse of older persons and guaranteeing them adequate social
coverage.
Article
17
Right
to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Older persons have the right to enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health without
discrimination based on age or any other condition.
The States shall establish and implement comprehensive
policies for health promotion, prevention of illness, comprehensive care and
rehabilitation, and even assistance for the terminally ill. To give effect to
this right, the States Party pledge to take the following measures:
a. Assure universal, equitable, and
priority access to timely, quality
comprehensive health services, consistent with international human rights
standards; as well as the creation and implementation of integrated health and
social services.
b. Formulate legal frameworks and
implementation mechanisms for the protection of older persons in long-term care
services.
c. Encourage international cooperation in
terms of the design of strategies and exchange of capacities and resources to
execute their plans on health and ageing as well as social services for older
persons.
d. Develop strategies that promote healthy
personal and environmental behaviors throughout the life cycle in order to
encourage active ageing.
e. Strengthen prevention through
self-care, knowledge of the pathologies, and the informed opinion of older persons in the treatment of chronic
illnesses and other health problems.
f. Establish services of quality for
older persons by strengthening primary care-based health systems.
g. Establish high-quality social
healthcare services for older persons, based on the progressive care system
covering home care, daycare centers, and long-stay facilities.
h. Promote
the development of specialized social healthcare services for comprehensive
care of people with cognitive impairment, particularly Alzheimer’s disease.
i. Strengthen healthcare workers’ and
social workers’ acquisition of skills for providing these services to older
persons, as well as the training of specialized health professionals in geriatrics
and gerontology.
j. Promote training for other
healthcare-related stakeholders taking into account their family ties and
loving relationships.
k. Strengthen the technical capacity of
agencies responsible for gerontology issues–be they healthcare, programs, or
social services–to be able to follow up on and evaluate health care for the
senior population.
l. Promote the gathering and publication
of the scientific evidence needed to adapt interventions in health and social
issues in aging to national circumstances.
m. Support the social,
economic, and psychological well-being of older persons infected with
sexually-transmitted diseases, those who suffer from serious communicable and
non-communicable diseases and those who suffer from other illnesses that
pertain to ageing. For that purpose the States Party should promote older persons’ access to in-kind aid, affordable
health services to enable them to meet the needs of their children and
grandchildren affected by serious communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Article 18
Right to education
Older persons have the right to take part in educational programs at all
levels and to make use of their knowledge and experience to benefit younger
generations.
In order to ensure the effective exercise of the right
of education of older persons, the States Party shall:
a.
Promote the development of educational programs, materials, and formats
that are suitable for older persons and that reflect their preferences and
needs, as well as the use of information technologies or new techniques, and
shall include education-for-health
courses and self-care techniques.
b.
Promote unstructured community-based programs for older persons that
are geared to leisure, cultural and spiritual development, physical activity,
and other forms of creative use of free time.
c.
Facilitate access to and the active participation of older persons in
formal and informal cultural institutions and activities, including volunteer
activities.
d.
Design and implement active policies to reduce illiteracy among older
persons, and especially among women.
e.
Promote access to education and training in new technologies by older
persons, to minimize the generation gap and increase community integration.
f.
Foster actions to promote the rights and empowerment of older persons
by promoting continuing education processes.
g.
Foster, through education, the transmittal of a positive and dignified image of old age.
h.
Promote training in gerontology and geriatrics in undergraduate and
graduate studies.
i.
Take such legislative, administrative, and other measures
as are necessary to reduce and progressively eliminate barriers and
difficulties of access to educational goods and services in rural areas,
particularly those related to information technology.
j.
Take such measures as are necessary to promote
and strengthen solidarity among generations and mutual support as a key
component of social development.
Article
19
Right
to property
Older persons have the right to fully
exercise their right to property, not to be deprived of it for reasons of age,
and the right to the effective enjoyment of inheritance rights.
The States shall establish the legal and
administrative mechanisms needed to provide
special protection for the property of older persons, especially against the abuse
or occupation of their houses.
Article 20
Right
to housing and a healthy environment
Older persons have the right to live in safe,
healthy, and accessible environments that can be adapted to their personal
preferences and capacities, and their continually changing capacities.
Older
persons have a right to live on their own for as long as is possible, and the
States should provide them the home care services for this to happen.
Older persons have the right to a
healthy environment that guarantees access to basic sanitation services, clean water and air, and
that minimizes their exposure to pollution.
The States shall guarantee the
right of older persons to appropriate housing, particularly in crises,
emergencies, humanitarian disasters, displacements and internal migration, or evictions.
The States should adopt policies to promote
the right to housing and access to land, ensuring access to credit, on equal
terms, recognizing allocation to older persons as priority. The policies should
pay particular attention to:
a.
the need to build housing units architecturally tailored to the
restricted mobility and physical disabilities of older persons
b.
the need to address the
specific needs of older persons, particularly those who live alone, by means of
rent subsidies, housing cooperatives, support for housing renovations, and
other pertinent measures.
|
The States should guarantee security of
tenancy possession and protection against forced evictions of older persons.
[1]. “Reasonable
accommodation” means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not
imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case,
to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal
basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms; (United Nations
Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities).
