Saturday, December 8, 2012

Another Important Step: UN GA Decision on Future Older Persons Rights Convention - El-Salvador's Initiative


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

Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second
World
Assembly on Ageing



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,
(7)      Recalling also its resolution 66/127, in which it designated 15 June as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and invited 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 intergovernmental and relevant civil society organizations, including non‑governmental organizations and the private sector, with an interest in the matter, to continue to contribute to highlighting the urgent need to eliminate all forms of abuse and violence against older persons,
           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

.


          [1]            Resolution 217 A (III).
          [2]            See Report of the World Assembly on Ageing, Vienna, 26 July-6 August 1982 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.82.I.16).
          [3]            Resolution 46/91, annex.
          [4]            See A/47/339, sect. III.
          [5]            Resolution 47/5, annex.
          [6]            See Report of the Second World Assembly on Ageing, Madrid, 8-12 April 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.02.IV.4).
          [7]            Ibid., chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
          [8]            E/2012/51 and Corr.1.