The SI President’s Appeal for 2019-2021- ‘The Road to Equality’, inter alia focuses on older women. It was felt necessary to include this theme as a part of the Appeal, to ensure that the lifelong efforts to empower women and girls, are not wasted as in later life, a time when many older persons face renewed discriminations and inequalities.

Sadly, in the wake of the corona virus pandemic, the very reason the theme is included within the focus of the Appeal has become clear to all: with discrimination against older persons, and particularly older women, becoming evermore apparent.

In early May, 2020, the UN released a policy brief on ‘The Impact of Covid-19 on Older Persons’, identifying the key risks faced by ageing people under the current climate, and underlining the immediate and longer-term policy and programmatic responses that governments and other partners must advance to support the rights of older persons. These risks pertain to life and death: older persons are more at risk of contracting the virus, often have underlying health conditions, and face discrimination when accessing health care; vulnerability: physical and social distancing affects older persons disproportionately, resulting in isolation, with many facing neglect and mistreatment in the home, and with much needed essential care for older persons facing severe pressures; and finally social and economic wellbeing: jobs, pensions and access to health care are affected, with older persons less likely to be digitally included, with all the above scenarios having a serious repercussion on their mental health.

Having recognised these risks, the policy brief recommended four key priorities for action:

1. Ensure that difficult health-care decisions affecting older people are guided by a commitment to dignity and the right to health;
2. Strengthen social inclusion and solidarity during physical distancing;
3. Fully integrate a focus on older persons into the socio-economic and humanitarian response to COVID-19;
4. Expand participation by older persons, share good practices and harness knowledge and data.

In response to the above stated policy brief, more than 100 civil society organisations including Soroptimist International sent an open letter to Secretary General António Guterres, welcoming the said policy brief, but, highlighting ‘critical gaps’ they felt needed immediate redressal. The open letter identified the lack of a system-wide policy or strategy by the UN, and the lack of a formal mechanism including a lead UN agency for collaboration between UN bodies, thereby exposing ‘the gaps in coordination and leadership (that) have led to disparities between the objective risks and needs of older persons, their visibility within agency response plans and their prioritisation within the overall response’, in light of the COVID-19 situation.

In regard thereto, the letter encouraged the Secretary General to share the plan which addresses the inclusion of older people with actions to uphold their rights across the UN system, further suggesting that such plan include but not be limited to the following:

• Immediate steps to mainstream older persons into COVID-19 responses;
• Measures to strengthen UN-wide policy and coordination at all levels, including through the adoption of a system-wide strategy on older persons and ageing;
• Commitment by the executive heads of the organisations of the UN system to analyse the gaps in the strategies and programmes of UN agencies, funds and programmes, and present these at the earliest possible Chief Executive Board meeting to plan corrective action;
• Acceleration of efforts by the General Assembly’s working group to develop proposals for an international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons;
• Enhanced capacity to provide technical support to governments to strengthen older persons’ rights;
• Strengthen and support the participation of older persons in UN-led intergovernmental fora.

The Secretary General’s reply reiterated the commitment of the UN to advancing the needs and human rights of older persons in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and also in realising the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. It further emphasised upon the current efforts in place across the UN to support the needs and rights of older persons, which include the following:

• The Inter-Agency Group on Ageing is addressing this matter in line with the UN Framework for the Immediate Socioeconomic Response to COVID-19, and the UN COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan;
• The UN Country Teams are working to integrate older persons in the Leave No One Behind analysis for the UN socioeconomic impact assessments and responses to COVID-19;
• The leadership roles of the UN Resident Coordinators is also being leveraged to create space for dialogue at the national level to address the impact of COVID-19 on older persons and other vulnerable groups.

In addition to the above, the Secretary General’s reply also highlighted how the UN Secretariat continues to provide technical support to the General Assembly open-ended working group for the purposing of strengthening the protection of human rights of older persons.

Finally, the Secretary General mentioned in his reply that he has requested the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to identify ways to further strengthen the inclusion of older persons in the work of the UN systems at all levels.