Lianne Murphy is Development Officer in Age Action’s Ageing & Development Programme.
The human rights of older people are somewhat neglected in our current international human rights infrastructure. While many international human rights instruments are universal by nature, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), older people are rarely specifically mentioned. They are not mentioned in the Covenants themselves or in the commentary or recommendations made by the Committees established to monitor compliance with the Covenants.
This is also true of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. Of the thousands of recommendations made under the UPR process since it began in 2007, only 31 mention older people specifically. International human rights law does not articulate or explain, for example, protection from elder abuse or support for older people in care settings in the same way that the Convention on the Rights of the Child deals with the specificity of issues that children face, such as child protection and adoption.
It is clear there are gaps in protections available to older people in our existing human rights infrastructure. This surely does not make sense given the projections for global ageing populations. By 2030, 16% or 1,375 million of the total global population will be over 60 years old (currently it is 11% or 809 million) and for the first time ever there will be more people over 60 than children under 10. This means that the number of people whose rights may be violated without adequate protections is increasing at a rapid pace.
However the situation is beginning to be addressed. There is now discussion at the UN, under the Open Ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWGA), about whether a new international Convention on the Rights of Older People should be drafted. The OEWGA has met four times since it was set up in 2010, lastly in August 2013. At the last meeting no agreement was reached by Member States as to whether a new Convention was necessary.
The Irish government is currently holding the EU position, which is against a new Convention. This EU position has softened over the course of the OEWGA’s existence and Slovenia now has come out supporting a Convention. The OEWGA is due to meet again on 30 July – 1 August 2014 and it will be important that Ireland and the EU continue to support the process at least. The negotiation and drafting process for human rights Conventions at the UN is very lengthy and it is not uncommon to take a decade or longer.
There have also been other positive developments. In October 2013, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted a resolution (that Ireland, as current members of the HRC co-sponsored) establishing a new Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons. Ms Rosa Kornfeld-Matte from Chile was appointed as Independent Expert on 8 May 2014. As part of her mandate, Ms Kornfeld-Matte can undertake fact-finding missions in countries and issue reports and recommendations; prepare thematic studies that serve as a guide on norms and standards; and raise public awareness through the media. She is also mandated to work in close coordination with the OEWGA and to consult with civil society.
Human rights are also being discussed in more depth by the ageing sector here in Ireland. We in Age Action are engaging more with the international human rights infrastructure we do have by making submissions under ICCPR and ICESCR, as well as engaging with the UPR process and the Constitutional Convention discussions on economic and social rights. We are also members of the human rights and older persons working group, set up in 2013. As well as looking at international human rights, the members of the group are also exploring using a human rights based approach in our work. The group produced a policy paper on human rights and older people in Ireland in December 2013, which looked at concrete ways of using human rights, concepts, languages and approaches to improve the lived experience of older people in Ireland.
Having the lived experience of older people here in Ireland and globally reflected in a Convention on the Rights of Older People will also be hugely important. Meaningful consultations with older people as well as participation by older people in the negotiation process, as happened with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, will need to take place.
Even once the Convention is negotiated the work in a sense will have only begun, as we will need to ensure that Ireland ratifies it and the rights it contains are fully realised for older people on the ground.