A/81/133 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, submits the present report pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/7. In the report, the Special Rapporteur examines the main forms and manifestations of violence experienced by older women and their intersection with other grounds. 2. In response to the call for input to the report, the Special Rapporteur received 108 submissions from different stakeholders, including 20 from States, and subsequently convened consultations with 58 experts. The Special Rapporteur also analysed information from reliable secondary sources, noting the insufficiency of disaggregated statistics on older women and their frequent exclusion from research and surveys. II. Background and terminology 3. Older persons are most often defined in United Nations sources as individuals aged 60 years and above. 1 However, understandings of old age vary across regions and contexts. In many countries of the global North, older age is associated with persons aged 65 and above. By contrast, in parts of the global South, it is frequently understood to begin as early as 50 years. 2 The Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa adopt a contextual approach to defining older persons, using 60 years as a reference threshold while allowing for national laws and policies to apply. In the case of the InterAmerican Convention, the age set by domestic law cannot exceed 65. 4. Globally, the number of women aged 60 years or older is estimated to be 664 million in 2025 and is projected to reach 1.13 billion by 2050. 3 Currently, women make up 54% of those over 60, rising to 62% of those over 80. 4 Women’s longer life expectancy contributes to the “feminization of ageing”, with older women more likely to be widowed, to live alone to experience poverty, disability or social isolation and to be dependent on care. 5. Most elder abuse victims are women. 5 They are also more likely than older men to experience sexual offences, harassment and related crimes, 6 or to suffer from neglect in crisis settings. Yet, their specific needs are frequently ignored in legal and policy frameworks, and violence against them receives little attention. 6. The report defines older women as those above the age of 60. However, it also recognizes situations in which protections designed for older women should apply below this threshold, including for women younger than 60 who may experience: (a) lower life expectancy because of specific conditions in a given region; (b) the onset of age-related conditions and their consequences at an earlier age; or (c) the same harm as a result of negative stereotypes or severe discrimination associated with ageing as older women. __________________ 1 See https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2017/08/AgeingOlder-Persons-and-2030-Agenda_Issues-Brief-low-resolution-.pdf. 2 See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10738734/. 3 See https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/ undesa_pd_2026_pb186_gender_matters_in_an_ageing_world.pdf. 4 Ibid. 5 See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41564820/; and https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinicalguidance/committee-opinion/articles/2021/03/elder-abuse-and-womens-health. 6 Submission by Canada. 26-09992 3/26