Towards a comprehensive and integral international legal
instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons
A/RES/67/139
follow-up reviews, in particular as they pertain to the promotion of the rights and
well-being of older persons on an equal and participatory basis,
Recognizing that different efforts made to increase cooperation and integration
and increasing awareness of and sensitivity to ageing issues since the adoption of
the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002, 7 by Governments, relevant
bodies of the United Nations system and civil society, including non-governmental
organizations and the private sector, have not been sufficient to promote full and
effective participation by and opportunities for older persons in economic, social,
cultural and political life,
Recalling its resolution 65/182 of 21 December 2010, in which it decided to
establish an open-ended working group, open to all States Members of the United
Nations, for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older
persons by considering the existing international framework of the human rights of
older persons and identifying possible gaps and how best to address them, including
by considering, as appropriate, the feasibility of further instruments and measures,
Recognizing that, by 2050, more than 20 per cent of the world’s population
will be 60 years of age or older, and recognizing also that the increase in the number
of older persons will be greatest and most rapid in the developing world,
Recognizing also the essential contribution that the majority of older men and
women can continue to make to the functioning of society if adequate guarantees,
means and resources, as well as the highest possible level of health care, are in
place, and that older persons must be full participants in the development process
and also share its benefits,
Reaffirming the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and
summits and their respective follow-up reviews, in particular as they pertain to the
promotion of the human rights and the well-being of older persons on an equal and
participatory basis,
Encouraged by the increasing interest of the international community in the
promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of older persons in the world
under a comprehensive and integral approach,
Acknowledging that there are numerous obligations vis-à-vis older persons
implicit in most core human rights treaties but that explicit references to age in core
international human rights treaties are scarce, that there is no such instrument for
older persons and that only a few instruments contain explicit references to age,
Taking note of the reports of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, and
welcoming the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
on the human rights situation of older persons, 8 in which it is stated that dedicated
measures to strengthen the international protection regime for older persons are
called for without further delay, including a new dedicated international instrument,
Decides that the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, which shall be
1.
open to all Member States and observers of the United Nations shall, as part of its
mandate and starting from its upcoming fourth session, to be held in 2013, consider
proposals for an international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and
dignity of older persons, based on the holistic approach in the work carried out in
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7
8
2/3
Ibid., chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
E/2012/51 and Corr.1.