Welcome to the UN House and to this Regional Working Meeting on a new legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons.

Let me start by thanking AGE Platform, a much-valued partner of the UN Human Rights Office, for the cooperation in organizing this event. This is not the first time we work together – over the past years we have regularly collaborated to highlight gaps in the human rights protection of older persons.

Such efforts have been much needed. While the human rights of other groups are regularly subject of discussion, the situation of older persons is rarely addressed. And when it is, it is often about older people as recipients of care or as a demographic group putting a financial burden on society. It is very rarely about human rights.

Yet, older persons face unique human rights challenges, such as age-based discrimination; inadequate social protection or access to health care, lack of autonomy in decision-making, and vulnerability to violence, neglect, and abuse.