Long Term Care and Palliative Care - Joint Submission to the OEWG

Joint submission by AGE Platform Europe, HelpAge International, The Law in the Service of the Elderly and the National Association of Community Legal Centres Australia

Open-Ended Working Group On Ageing, 9^th Working Session, 23-26 July 2018

Long-term care and palliative care

Authors

1.       This joint submission is authored by Robin Allen (Cloisters), Andrew Byrnes (Australian Human Rights Institute, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales), Israel (Issi) Doron (University of Haifa), Nena Georgantzi (AGE Platform Europe / National University of Ireland Galway), Bill Mitchell (National Association of Community Legal Centres, Australia) and Bridget Sleap (HelpAge International). Our views do not necessarily reflect the broad and consensual positions of the organisations we represent, which will be submitted separately.

Context of Response

2.       This response addresses the guiding questions from a global perspective. It is an executive summary of a more comprehensive statement which will be provided to the 9^th Working Session.

Guiding Question 1: Long-term care

3.       Living independently at any stage of life means the provision of all necessary support to enable one to make decisions, perform actions of daily living and participate in society in accordance with one’s will and preferences.

4.       Support is the act of providing help or assistance to someone who requires it to carry out daily activities and participate in society.  Knowledge about, access to and choice and control over the support necessary to be able to live according to one’s will and preferences is central to autonomy, dignity, and independence in older age.

5.       There is no specific right to support for independent living in older age in international human rights law. A wide range of general provisions in international human rights law are pertinent in long-term care settings but their specific application in this area has yet to be fully explored. Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006, which explicitly guarantees the right to independent living for persons with disabilities and includes provision of support services to enable such independent living, applies only to older persons with disabilities.

6.       Some regional human rights standards recognise care and support for independent living in older age. However, these vary and are inconsistent across regions.

Guiding Question 2

7.       Older persons’ choice and control over the support they require is often limited or denied within current systems of long-term care. Support options available may serve the system rather than the individual user’s needs and preferences. Support is also often unavailable and may not be guaranteed under the law. Some types of support, for example, personal assistance schemes, may be subject to upper age limits and therefore not available to older persons. Support may also be unaffordable or tied to particular living arrangements.

8.       The use of restrictive practices to manage behaviour in long-term care and support settings, including within in-home care settings, is a particular concern. Common forms of restrictive practice in long term care include: detention (e.g. locking a person in a room or ward indefinitely); seclusion (e.g. locking a person in a room or ward for a limited period of time); physical restraint (e.g. clasping a person’s hands or feet or mis-use of equipment to stop them from moving); mechanical restraint (e.g. tying a person to a chair or bed); and chemical restraint (e.g. giving a person sedatives or other unnecessary medication to restrict or subdue behaviour). These practices amount to violations of human rights.

9.       Isolation, social exclusion, segregation and loneliness can affect older persons regardless of their particular living arrangements.

Guiding Question 3

10.    Explicit, legally binding international human rights standards are needed on older persons’ right to affordable, appropriate, integrated, quality, timely, holistic, care and support services which are adapted to their individual needs, promote and protect their well-being and maintain their autonomy, dignity, and independence, without discrimination of any kind.

11.    The right should extend to the provision of care and support services in all settings, public and private, including but not limited to in the home, in the community, and in residential settings.

12.    Older persons should have the right to the care and support services they require independent of and unrelated to the income of their family members.

13.    States should take steps to ensure, inter alia, older persons:

·         Enjoy autonomy and independence in the exercise of this right

·         Are able to participate fully in the community and society

·         Have access to effective complaints and redress mechanisms

·         Have access to information about their health status and care and support services

14. States should ensure that standards, professionalism, and quality of care and support services are in line with human rights principles.

15. States should ensure that older persons are not denied necessary and appropriate care and support services based on their and/or their family’s financial means. States should develop and implement policies to address public and private financing of care and support services.

16. States should ensure effective compliance mechanisms for complaints arising out of a range of issues including pricing, quality, and the protection of human rights in care and support.

Guiding Question 5: Palliative care

17. Palliative care is an approach that seeks to improve the quality of life of patients diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses through prevention and relief of suffering. It also addresses the psychosocial, legal and spiritual aspects associated with life-threatening illnesses and end-of-life care.

18. While existing international human rights treaties do not specify a right to palliative care, there is a growing body of authoritative interpretations and “soft law” that establishes this right. Access to palliative care is both a component of the right to the highest attainable standard of health and implicates the right to freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

19. Some regional human rights standards recognise the right to palliative care. However, these vary and are inconsistent across regions.

20. International human rights standards are needed on older persons’ right to quality palliative care services that are available, accessible, and acceptable without discrimination of any kind.

21. The right should apply to holistic palliative care in all settings and should not be limited to pain relief or any particular treatment or setting.

22. States should take steps to ensure, inter alia:

·         Quality palliative care services are available, accessible and acceptable for older persons in a setting consistent with their needs, will and preferences, including at home and in long-term care settings

·         Availability and accessibility of essential medicines, including internationally controlled essential medicines, for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, and for palliative care of older persons

·         A range of supports to exercise legal capacity, including the appointment of one or more trusted persons to assist them to make decisions based on their instructions, will and preferences, and the opportunity to make advanced directives, living wills and other legally binding documents that set out their will and preferences around medical interventions, palliative care and other support and care at the end of life

·         Older persons are able to express their free, prior and informed consent to their palliative care treatment and any other health matters

·         Regulation and monitoring of compliance of all palliative care providers with professional obligations and standards.

Equality and Non-Discrimination - Submission to the OEWG

Joint submission by AGE Platform Europe, HelpAge International, The Law in the Service of the Elderly and the National Association of Community Legal Centres Australia

Open-Ended Working Group On Ageing, 9^th Working Session, 23-26 July 2018

Normative content on the right of older persons to equality and non-discrimination

Authors

This joint submission is authored by Robin Allen (Cloisters), Andrew Byrnes (Australian Human Rights Institute, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales), Israel (Issi) Doron (University of Haifa), Nena Georgantzi (AGE Platform Europe / National University of Ireland Galway), Dee Masters (Cloisters), Bill Mitchell (National Association of Community Legal Centres, Australia) and Bridget Sleap (HelpAge International). Our views do not necessarily reflect the broad and consensual positions of the organisations we represent, which will be submitted separately.

Definition of discrimination

Discrimination against older persons is understood as any differential treatment, including but not limited to any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based directly or indirectly on age or any other ground, which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Affirmation of the right

1. Older persons have the right to equality and freedom from discrimination on the basis of their age or on any other ground, alone or in combination with another ground or grounds.

Scope of the right

1.1 The prohibition of, and guarantee of legal protection against, discrimination against older persons shall apply to every aspect of life without limitation.

1.2 The right shall engage all forms of discrimination against older persons including direct, indirect, by association, by perception or imputation, incitement, vilification, victimization, harassment and denial of reasonable accommodation.

1.3 Specific measures which are necessary to accelerate or achieve de facto equality of older persons shall not be considered discrimination.

1.4 The grounds upon which intersectional and cumulative discrimination may occur shall be comprehensive.

State obligations

2. States Parties shall undertake:

2.1 To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against older persons;

2.2 To take all appropriate steps to ensure formal and substantive equality of older persons, including but not limited to a duty to consider the differential impact of all their decisions, in particular age-based policies, on older persons;

2.3 To prohibit and take all steps to eliminate intersectional discrimination, namely the combined effect of age and another personal characteristic or the combined effect of any two or more characteristics;

2.4 To prohibit and take all steps to eliminate cumulative discrimination and victimisation, namely discrimination and or victimization on a number of occasions over time and or from multiple sources;

2.5 To take all appropriate measures to ensure protection for particular groups of older persons who suffer discrimination and denial of rights on heightened or systemic basis and/or as a common experience;

2.6 To take all appropriate steps to eliminate discrimination against an individual and any ageist institutional, systemic or structural practices which affect the human dignity of older persons;

2.7 To take all appropriate steps to eliminate harmful ageist social norms and practices, including traditional practices, which affect the human rights and dignity of older persons;

2.8 To ensure the access of older persons to tailored and comprehensive assistance in making claims and accessing justice;

2.9 To ensure the access of older persons to redress and reparation for age discrimination, including where appropriate taking cumulative discrimination into account in any award of damages;

2.10 To adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures to promote information, research and public awareness around equality and non-discrimination against older persons, inter alia, by:

·         Raising awareness of the rights, capacities and contribution of older persons

·         Countering any discriminatory systemic ageist perceptions of, and practices towards, older persons

·         Promoting awareness of the benefits of age equality and of investing in older age

·         Promoting a positive image of ageing

·         Undertaking or promoting research on ageing and on issues particularly affecting older persons, and ensuring data is collected, disaggregated, analysed, utilised and disseminated by all ages, and take into account intersectionality

·         Providing accessible, appropriate information to older persons on their rights and entitlement to benefits and resources

·         Engaging and making older persons partners and active participants in shaping social policies and public programmes which relate to their rights and interests

·         Promoting intergenerational interactions and solidarity.

The 1st Report of the Independent Expert on Human Rights of Older Persons

As was already reported, the UN Human Rights Council has nominated on June 2 2014, Ms Rosa Kornfeld-Matte to serve as the Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of all Human Rights by Older Persons.
The Independent Expert submitted its first report, and here is the link to the full text of the report.:
http://www.rightsofolderpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/A-HRC-27-46_en-1.pdf

http://www.rightsofolderpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/A-HRC-27-46_en-1.pdf

The Report includes background information regarding the foundation of the mandate of the Independent Expert, its scope of operation, the legislative context, and the global context of the human rights of older persons.
As little time has passed by since her nomination, this report is mostly descriptive and does not include any new or novel findings or recommendation.
However, here is the conclusion of this first report, which can indicate the spirit and direction that the IE wishes to pursue:

"The Independent Expert aims to respond to the expectations of numerous individuals and organizations with regard to her work on the human rights of older persons, as outlined by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 24/20. To that end, she looks forward to engaging in constructive and fruitful cooperation with diverse stakeholders in all regions. She emphasizes her desire for constructive engagement with the States Members of the United Nations, and reiterates the importance of an inclusive and all-encompassing approach in the discharge of her mandate. She particularly notes the central role of non-governmental organizations, including in providing her with information and engaging with and assisting her as she fulfils her mandate."

We wish the IE the best success in her work, and we will continue to report on her progress.

Historical development: The Human Rights Council adopts a new resolution on the Human Rights of Older Persons

The UN Human Rights Council, has approved on September 25 2013, a new resolution regarding the human rights of older persons (resolution A/HRC/24/L.37).
This new resolution, decided to appoint and independent expert with a mandate to assess the implementation of existing international instruments with regard to older persons, to assess the implementation of MIPAA, and to cooperate with various stake-holders in promoting the human right of older persons.
This is a historical development, which is yet a crucial next step in the promotion of an international convention for the rights of older persons.
Here is the text of the resolution:

Human Rights Council, Twenty-fourth session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development

                         Argentina, Bolivia (Plurinational State of)*, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, Brazil, Chile, Colombia*, Costa Rica, Cuba*, Djibouti*, Ecuador, El Salvador*, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras*, Mexico*, Panama*, Paraguay*, Peru, Turkey*, Uruguay*, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of): draft resolution

                   24/…  The human rights of older persons

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Guided also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other relevant human rights instruments,

Reaffirming the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 65/182 of 21 December 2010 on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing, in which the Assembly established an open-ended working group 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,

Recalling also Human Rights Council resolution 21/23 of 28 September 2012 on the human rights of older persons,

Acknowledging the work of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons,

Bearing in mind the Political Declaration and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing of 2002, and all other relevant General Assembly resolutions,

Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing[1] and of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights of older persons,[2]

Recalling general comment No. 6 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, and other relevant documents by treaty bodies,

Conscious that older persons represent a large and growing segment of the population and that greater attention is needed to the specific human rights challenges affecting them,

Concerned at the multiple forms of discrimination that may affect older persons and at the high incidence of poverty among this particularly vulnerable group, especially older women, persons with disabilities, persons of African descent, individuals belonging to indigenous peoples, persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, rural persons, persons living on the streets and refugees, among other groups,

Recalling Human Rights Council resolutions 5/1, on institution-building of the Human Rights Council, and 5/2, on the Code of Conduct for special procedures mandate holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

1.       Recognizes the challenges related to the enjoyment of all human rights that older persons face in areas such as prevention of and protection against violence and abuse, social protection, food and housing, employment, legal capacity, access to justice, health support, long-term and palliative care, and that those challenges require in-depth analysis and action to address protection gaps;

2.       Acknowledges the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the consultation on the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons,[3] which summarizes the issues discussed at the consultation, including age discrimination, access by older persons to work, adequate health services and social protection, protection from abuse, violence and neglect, long-term care and the situation of older prisoners;

3.       Calls upon all States to promote and ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for older persons, including by taking measures to combat age discrimination, neglect, abuse and violence, and to address issues related to social integration and adequate health care, bearing in mind the crucial importance of family intergenerational interdependence, solidarity and reciprocity for social development;

4.       Encourages all States to conduct their age-related policies through inclusive and participatory consultations with relevant stakeholders and social development partners in the interest of developing effective policies creating national policy ownership and consensus-building;

5.       Decides to appoint, for a period of three years, an independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, with the following mandate:

(a)     To assess the implementation of existing international instruments with regard to older persons while identifying both best practices in the implementation of existing law related to the promotion and protection of the rights of older persons and gaps in the implementation of existing law;

(b)     To take into account the views of stakeholders, including States, relevant regional human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and academic institutions;

(c)      To raise awareness of the challenges faced in the realization of all human rights by older persons, and to ensure that older persons receive information about those rights;

(d)     To work in cooperation with States in order to foster the implementation of measures that contribute to the promotion and protection of the rights of older persons;

(e)      To integrate a gender and disability perspective into his/her work, and to pay particular attention to older women, persons with disabilities, persons of African descent, individuals belonging to indigenous peoples, persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, rural persons, persons living on the streets, and refugees, among other groups;

(f)      To assess the human rights implications of the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing;

(g)     To work in close coordination, while avoiding unnecessary duplication, with the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, other special procedures and subsidiary organs of the Human Rights Council, relevant United Nations bodies and the treaty bodies;

6.       Requests the Independent Expert to report annually to the Human Rights Council and to present his/her first report at its twenty-seventh session, with a view to presenting a comprehensive report at its thirty-third session;

7.       Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the above-mentioned comprehensive report of the Independent Expert is brought to the attention of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 3 of General Assembly resolution 67/139 of 20 December 2012;

8.       Calls upon all Governments to cooperate with the Independent Expert, and invites them to provide him/her with all the necessary information related to the mandate;

9.       Decides to continue consideration of the question of human rights of older persons at its twenty-seventh session.

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                     [1]   A/67/188.

                     [2]   E/2012/51.

                     [3]   A/HRC/24/25.

OEWG: Social Justice and the Justification of a New Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

In the last days, the UN Open Ended Working Group on Rights of Older Persons, held its 4th meeting.
During this meeting many discussions were made around the need and justification for a new convention on the rights of older persons.
One of the presentations were made by Prof. Israel Issi Doron, about the relevance of Social Justice to the discussion on the justification of a new human rights instrument in the field of law and aging.
Here is the link to the full presentation:
http://webtv.un.org/watch/5th-meeting-open-ended-working-group-on-ageing-fourth-working-session/2606704833001/

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People - 4th Session of the UN OEWG on Aging

Statement to Fourth Working Session of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, 12-15 August 2013

The Open-ended Working Group on Ageing was established with the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons. This focus of UN Member States on the human rights of older persons is unique, justified, necessary and fundamental for achieving the ambitions set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) was set up to help give expression to the views of civil society and older persons that should underpin all of these deliberations. We are clear that a global human rights instrument that articulates how human rights apply to older people and provides a legal basis that enables them to claim these rights at the national and international level is absolutely necessary.

The general human rights standards enshrined in existing UN instruments and existing soft law, such as MIPAA, are not sufficient for protecting against particular and unique forms of discrimination and do not provide adequate guidance, implementation mechanisms and enforcement processes to ensure equal and full enjoyment of rights by older persons. The persistent violations of their rights and the discrimination they face on the basis of their old age  can only be addressed by  a dedicated, binding instrument that provides the level of clarity, legal certainty and accountability necessary to do this.

We urge Member States both to work towards a new global legal instrument to clarify how human rights apply to older people and to take the necessary measures at national and local level to translate these rights into concrete improvements for older people.

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People believes that to be effective, any international human rights instrument for older persons must:

Ø  Be universally applicable to all older persons;

Ø  Reaffirm and articulate the rights of older people and States Parties’ human rights obligations towards them without diluting existing human rights standards in any way;

Ø  Recognise and prohibit all forms of discrimination on the basis of old age, including multiple discrimination;

Ø  Provide for a comprehensive range of substantive rights for older persons;

Ø  Establish implementation, monitoring and accountability mechanisms that provide citizens with national-level recourse on the implementation of these agreements, including the collection, analysis and dissemination of data that is disaggregated by age and sex in 5-year periods and includes people over the age of 100 years.

Finally, we remind Member States that any process to consider the rights of older people that does not actively include older persons themselves from all parts of the globe and from a wide range of backgrounds cannot be considered legitimate. The UN must recognise and act upon the need for engaging more actively with civil society globally and create the mechanisms whereby older people themselves and other civil society actors, including National Human Rights Institutions and Equality Bodies, can meaningfully participate in articulating the rights and standards intended to protect them.

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People urges UN Member States to:

Ø  Remain focussed on the urgent task of strengthening human rights standards for older persons, by working towards a comprehensive legally binding mechanism on the rights of older persons, so that people of all ages can benefit from the aspirations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Ø  Ensure  that the positions presented at the OEWG and other for a for discussing how to strengthen the human rights of older persons are informed by the views of older persons and civil society by organising large consultations at national level

Ø  Support the effective participation of older persons at the OEWG and other relevant UN meetings, by including older persons’ representatives in their national delegations

About the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People:

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People was born out of the need to strengthen the rights and voice of older people globally. The Alliance is the result of the collaborative efforts of the nine organisations that currently form its Steering Group:

International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA)

International Longevity Centre (ILC) Global Alliance

International Federation on Ageing (IFA)

International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (IAHSA)

International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG)

HelpAge International 

AGE Platform Europe

Age UK

AARP

Through its membership, the Alliance reaches out to older people in all regions of the world to ensure their voices are heard by United Nations (UN) and its member states nationally, as well as regionally and internationally, through UN institutions, UN Commissions and the UN General Assembly. 

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People supports the creation of new international and regional human rights instruments as powerful tools for strengthening the rights of older people.

The Alliance is committed to building national-level capacity to work towards more effective human rights instruments for older people.

Human Rights Council Resolution on Older People's Rights

The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on older people’s rights at its last session in Geneva, attached. This is good as it will keep older people’s rights on the Human Rights Council’s agenda.

The resolution  tasks the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) to hold a public consultation on older people’s rights and then submit a report to the Human Rights Council next year. 

Here is the text of the resolution:

Human Rights Council

Twenty-first session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development

                         Angola, Argentina*, Bolivia (Plurinational State of)^*, Brazil^*, Burkina Faso, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras^*, Paraguay^*, Peru, Qatar, Turkey^*, Uruguay, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)^*: draft resolution

                   21/…   The human rights of older persons

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 65/182 of 21 December 2010 on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing, in which the Assembly established an open-ended working group 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, and taking into account that no international instrument addresses specifically the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons,

Bearing in mind the Political Declaration and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing of 2002, and relevant General Assembly resolutions,

Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing,[1]

Taking note with appreciation also of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights of older persons,[2]

Noting with appreciation the analytical outcome paper prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner on normative standards in international human rights law,

Recalling general comment No. 6 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, and general recommendation No. 27 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on older women and the protection of their human rights, as well as other relevant documents by treaty bodies,

Conscious that older persons represent a large and growing segment of the population, and that greater attention is needed to the specific human rights challenges affecting them,

Concerned at the multiple forms of discrimination faced by older persons and the high incidence of poverty among older persons, in particular older women, people with disabilities, people of African descent, indigenous people, people belonging to minorities, rural populations and people living on the streets, among other groups particularly vulnerable to poverty,

1.       Recognizes that older persons face human rights challenges relating to civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, such as age discrimination, long-term care, violence and abuse, social protection, adequate food and housing, decent work, access to productive resources, and legal capacity and health support, and that those challenges require in-depth analysis on normative and operational protection gaps;

2.       Also recognizes that current international mechanisms have been insufficient to promote and protect the human rights of older persons, and that dedicated measures are needed without delay;

3.       Welcomes multilateral, regional and subregional initiatives aimed at the promotion and protection of rights of older persons, including the development of normative standards;

4.       Calls upon all States to ensure the realization of all human rights for older persons, including by addressing age discrimination, neglect, abuse and violence against older persons and by providing social integration and adequate health care, bearing in mind the crucial importance of family intergenerational interdependence, solidarity and reciprocity for social development;

5.       Encourages all States to conduct their age-related policies through inclusive and participatory consultations with relevant stakeholders and social development partners in the interest of developing effective policies creating national policy ownership and consensus-building;

6.       Calls upon all States to adopt or improve national legal mechanisms dedicated to the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons;

7.       Encourages all States to ensure that older persons receive information about their rights;

8.       Invites existing special procedures and treaty bodies to integrate, within their existing mandates, the human rights of older persons;

9.       Encourages all States to consider including in their national reports, to be submitted for the universal periodic review, information on the human rights of older persons;

10.     Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize, in Geneva, an intersessional public consultation on the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons, to receive the inputs of States Members of the United Nations, relevant international organizations, United Nations agencies and stakeholders;

11.     Also requests the Office of the High Commissioner to present a summary report of the above-mentioned consultation to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-third session;

12.     Decides to continue consideration of the question of human rights of older persons at its twenty-third session.

                                      

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                                *    Non-Member State of the Human Rights Council.

                     [1]   A/67/188.

                     [2]   E/2012/51.