Blog of Frances Zainoeddin, SI UN Representative in New York.
I call on women of all ages to support the drafting of an international legally binding instrument (a United Nations “Convention”) to protect the rights of older persons everywhere.
From 20 to 24 May 2024, the Fourteenth Session of the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWGA) considered intergovernmental negotiated recommendations on options to address gaps in the international human rights framework for the rights of older persons, OEWGA website: https://social.un.org/ageing-working-group.
Over one billion older persons (those over the age of 60), the majority of whom are older women, are suffering from inadequate access to affordable healthcare, lack of long-term care or palliative care, inadequate housing, and lack of social protection. Many suffer hunger, violence, abuse and neglect. Ageism is rampant. Age discrimination in the workplace prevents many older persons from working in order to survive, and the lack of social protection and social security for them results in poverty. Those who work in the informal sector do not have access to pensions or other social benefits. We must combat the stereotyping of older persons as having no value; a burden on society.
The invisibility of older persons, particularly older women, as contributors to their families, their communities, to society at large, and to national economies, is shameful. When are governments going to look at older persons as human rights holders and not just as recipients of medical rehabilitation and no longer useful?
Call to Action
Soroptimists should pay particular attention to the plight of older women, many of whom have suffered a life-time of discrimination – lack of education, lack of jobs, unequal pay, lower status. Inequality does not end at 49 (which is regarded as the end of reproductive age when most data collection on women’s issues end). Inequality continues beyond child-bearing years. Sexual and reproductive health rights rarely take into account the needs of older women, who have gynaecological issues that are constantly ignored – breast cancer, hysterectomies, fistula. Where are their rights to health articulated and protected?
I urge Soroptimists around the world to speak about and advocate for older women, when fighting for gender equality. When collaborating with other groups such as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, farmers, youth, call attention to the fact that they too need to plan for a future when longevity should be celebrated, not to be feared or be apprehensive about. I call on Soroptimists to advocate for a convention to protect the rights of older persons. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is not enough (Recommendation 27 on older women is not legally binding); the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is not enough. None of the other human rights treaties is enough.
Older persons count and need to be counted!
Please urge government representatives to support a United Nations international legal instrument to protect the rights of older persons. Older women will reap the benefits of a common, global understanding of definitions and minimum human rights standards of practice.
The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) has issued a petition for individual signatures, to be presented to government officials at the national level and at the international level – please sign and share the petition: https://rightsofolderpeople.org/age-with-rights-petition/