Statement by Elena Kountouri Tapiero, UN Human Rights Regional Representative for Europe a.i.

Leuven, Belgium. 12 June 2024.

Good morning!

Let me start by thanking AGE Platform, a much-valued partner of the UN Human Rights Office, for creating this opportunity to discuss age equality and the rights of older persons in Europe. This is a must-needed discussion - older people are not often visible, or even discussed, at the table of decision-makers. Not at national level; not at EU level; not at international level. And when they are, it is often about them as recipients of care or as demographic group placing a financial burden on society. It is very rarely about human rights.

The COVID-19 pandemic put the spotlight on the flaws in the protection of older persons’ rights. The impacts were devastating. Not only were they at significantly higher risk of severe disease and death, age-based discrimination in decisions on access to life-saving health care and triage was blatant. So were the horrifying stories of older persons left behind in care homes among the dead bodies of their peers. While the pandemic is behind us, the promise to ‘build back better’ rings rather hollow. What measures were taken to prevent such violations in future crises? What has been done since to promote and protect the rights of older persons?

It is important to keep in mind that the pandemic merely amplified challenges that older persons already faced before: lack of social protection and access to health services, lack of autonomy and participation in decision-making and risk of violence, abuse and neglect. At the basis of these challenges lies ageism, which is so pervasive in societies that it goes largely unrecognized and unchallenged.

Ageism results in older persons being perceived in a generalized way built on assumptions and stereotypes. Ageist stereotyping includes portraying older persons as uniformly frail, dependent and vulnerable. In reality, older persons represent the most heterogeneous and diverse segment of the global population. They are the most diverse of all age groups. Older persons frequently make irreplaceable contributions to their families and communities, as workers, caregivers, volunteers and community leaders.

Yet, older persons are overwhelmingly excluded from clinical studies or denied medication because of their age. For the same reason, their opinions - including on medical treatment - are often disregarded. Ageist barriers prevent older persons from accessing the labour market. They are less likely to be taken seriously by law enforcement bodies and there is evidence that social workers are less likely to label a case as abuse and offer help if the victim is older. As a result, a great majority of violations and abuses involving older persons are tolerated or suppressed.

The protection of the human rights of older persons is inadequate at all levels, also within the UN Human Rights System. This was highlighted in an OHCHR analytical outcome study (issued in 2012 updated in 2021) on the normative standards and obligations on the human rights of older persons. It shows that the existing human rights framework for older persons is fragmented and inconsistent coverage of the human rights of older persons, both in law and in practice.The analysis conducted by OHCHR shows that to overcome these gaps and the fragmentation of the existing international framework, there is a need for a fundamental shift. For more than a decade, OHCHR has been advocating for a legally binding instrument dedicated to the human rights of older persons to close this protection gap. A dedicated instrument would not create new rights, but concretize existing ones with regard to older persons. This would bring closer alignment among varying national legal and policy frameworks.

I would like to salute the recent decision at the last session (14th session) of the UN open-ended working group on ageing, and recognise the hard work of NGOs, such as the Age Platform. Members States adopted a recommendation recognizing the need for an internationally legally binding instrument to address the gaps in the protection of the rights of older people.

Here, I would like to highlight a recent landmark judgement by the European Court for Human Rights. An association of older women [‘KlimaSeniorinnen’], brought Switzerland to the Court because their health is threatened by heat waves, compounded by the climate crisis. They argued that their age and gender make them extra vulnerable. The ruling highlighted that the climate crisis is a human rights crisis, and that climate inaction is a human rights violation. The women described their victory as a victory for all generations. Many of the same arguments made were raised in a 2021 analytical study by the Office for Human Rights on the promotion and protection of the rights of older persons in the context of climate change

It is high time that it is recognized that older persons are holders of rights and active agents, empowered to claim their rights and contributing meaningfully to society.

The upcoming Summit of the Future in September provides another important opportunity to seal Member State’s Global commitment to age equality and the rights of older persons, particularly through the Declaration on Future Generations – one of the key outcome documents of the summit.

When we think of ‘future generations’ it is important that we keep in mind that the young people of today will be the older people of tomorrow. And that inequalities accumulate with age. Hence, it is essential that policies we develop take a life-cycle approach. We must keep reminding ourselves that our rights do not change with age! We are all born free and equal in dignity and in rights.

Thank you!