Plan International - Girls' Rights Platform - Girls' rights are human rights: Positioning girls at the heart of the international agenda

36. Encourages the international community to support national efforts to forge stronger partnerships with civil society, including organizations of older persons, academia, research foundations, community-based organizations, including caregivers, and the private sector, in an effort to help to build capacity on ageing issues;

113. Notes with appreciation the measures taken by the Secretary-General, in accordance with its resolutions, to address, among other things, the issue of the replacement of retiring staff in the language services, and requests the Secretary - General to maintain and intensify those efforts, including the strengthening of cooperation with institutions that train language specialists, in order to meet the needs in the six official languages of the United Nations;

10. Invites Member States to ensure that older persons have access to information about their rights so as to enable them to participate fully and justly in their societies and to claim full enjoyment of all human rights;

16. Encourages Governments that have not done so to designate focal points for handling the follow-up of national plans of action on ageing, and also encourages Governments to strengthen existing networks of national focal points on ageing;

1. Takes note of the report of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board for 2010, 1 in particular the actions taken by the Board as set out in chapter II.B of the report;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to undertake a survey of current health- care plans for active and retired staff within the United Nations system, to explore all options to increase efficiency and contain costs and to report thereon at its seventieth session.

102. Encourages the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to seek additional voluntary contributions for the digitization of important older United Nations documents;

4. Encourages Member States to strengthen their efforts to develop national capacity to address their national implementation priorities identified during the review and appraisal of the Madrid Plan of Action, and invites Member States that have not done so to consider a step-by-step approach to developing capacity that includes the setting of national priorities, the strengthening of institutional mechanisms, research, data collection and analysis and the training of necessary personnel in the field of ageing;

Noting with concern that women, persons with disabilities, older persons, children and youth are often disproportionately affected in natural disasters, and stressing the need to ensure that their specific needs are identified and addressed in emergency preparedness and response,

35. Encourages the international community, including international and bilateral donors, to enhance international cooperation to support national efforts to eradicate poverty, in keeping with internationally agreed goals, in order to achieve sustainable and adequate social and economic support for older persons, while bearing in mind that countries have the primary responsibility for their own economic and social development;

(f) To engage in dialogue and to consult with States and other relevant stakeholders, including United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, regional human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, older persons, civil society organizations and academic institutions;

14. Encourages the international community and the relevant agencies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates, to support national efforts to provide funding for research and data-collection initiatives on ageing in order to better understand the challenges and opportunities presented by population ageing and to provide policymakers with more accurate and more specific information on gender and ageing;

Bearing in mind that, under its resolution 54/24, the General Assembly has entrusted the Commission for Social Development with the revision of the International Plan of Action on Ageing and the elaboration of a long-term strategy on ageing,

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,

30. Urges Member States to develop, implement and evaluate policies and programmes that promote healthy and active ageing and the highest attainable standard of health and well-being for older persons and to develop health care for older persons as part of primary care in the existing health systems;

8. Recommends that ongoing efforts to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 6 take into account the situation of older persons;

7. Stresses the importance of the full involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous people and other local communities, in the implementation of the Decade at all levels, including its midterm comprehensive review;

16. Urges Member States to develop, implement and evaluate policies and programmes that promote healthy and active ageing and the highest attainable standard of health and well-being for older persons, and to develop health care for older persons as part of primary care in the existing national health systems;

9. Reaffirms that social integration policies should seek to reduce inequalities, promote access to basic social services, quality education for all and health care, eliminate discrimination, increase the participation and integration of social groups, particularly young people, older persons and persons with disabilities, noting the role of sports in this regard, and address the challenges posed to social development by globalization and market-driven reforms in order for all people in all countries to benefit from globalization;

(f) Promoting consultation with and the participation of rural women and, as appropriate, girls, including those who are indigenous, those with disabilities and older women, through their organizations and networks, in the design, development and implementation of and follow-up to programmes and strategies for gender equality, the empowerment of women and rural development;

62. We commit ourselves to addressing the social, economic and spatial implications of ageing populations, where applicable, and harnessing the ageing factor as an opportunity for new decent jobs and sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, while improving the quality of life of the urban population.

18. Also encourages the international community to support national efforts to forge stronger partnerships with civil society, including organizations of older persons, academia, research foundations, community-based organizations, including caregivers, and the private sector, in an effort to help to build capacity on ageing issues;

22. Encourages the international community and the relevant agencies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates, to support national efforts to provide funding for research and data-collection initiatives on ageing in order to better understand the challenges and opportunities presented by population ageing and to provide policymakers with more accurate and more specific information on gender and ageing;

17. Encourages Member States to strengthen their efforts to develop national capacities to address their national implementation priorities identified during the review and appraisal of the Madrid Plan of Action by considering and devising strategies that take into account the entirety of the human life course and foster intergenerational solidarity, the strengthening of institutional mechanisms, research, data collection and analysis and the training of necessary personnel in the field of ageing;

3. Decides to consider the treatment of the accrued liabilities for the after- service health insurance benefits payable to former staff and the accrued liabilities for the pensions of retired judges, and their surviving spouses, of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda under agenda item 146, Financing of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals;

22. Reaffirms the obligation of all States and parties to an armed conflict to protect civilians in armed conflicts in accordance with international humanitarian law, and invites States to promote a culture of protection, taking into account the particular needs of women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities;

48. Invites relevant entities of the United Nations system, including UN-Women, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization, among others, as well as the International Organization for Migration, to include in reports to their respective governing bodies relevant information on efforts made by Member States and the international community on issues of relevance to older persons, including their social inclusion;

Deeply concerned that the situation of older persons in many parts of the world has been negatively affected by the world financial and economic crisis, and noting with concern the high incidence of poverty among them,

15. Approves the amendment regarding the special adjustment for small pensions, as set out in annex XIII to the report of the Board, to reflect the 10 per cent adjustment to small pension threshold amounts for separations on or after 1 April 2016;

11. Requests the Pension Board to ensure that the development of an electronic signature verification system to facilitate the certificate of entitlement process will be implemented expeditiously, in compliance with the relevant regulations and rules, notably the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations 7 and the Procurement Manual;