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The realization of the right to health of older persons 2011, para. 13
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur believes that the dominant view, which considers ageing a biomedical problem, leads to the unfortunate perception of ageing as an abnormal or pathological phenomenon because it equates advanced age with illness. This position is not only inconsistent with the holistic approach to human health, but it also perpetuates a perception of older persons as dependent and sick. When considering the health of older persons, the Special Rapporteur is of the view that there must be a paradigm shift away from the perception of older persons as a "social burden" to one that emphasizes the process of "active ageing" and that will reorient our ideas about ageing to focus on the continuing contribution of older persons to society. According to WHO, active ageing aims to optimize opportunities for health, participation and security amongst older persons in order to enhance their quality of life. The word active therefore refers to continuing participation in social, economic, cultural and civic affairs, and not simply the ability to be physically active or to participate in the labour force.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of persons with disabilities to social protection 2015, para. 60
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Fifth, the eligibility criteria of social protection programmes should not include factors that could directly or indirectly exclude persons with disabilities. For instance, in many countries child nutrition programmes operate only at childcare centres and schools. Since children with disabilities have fewer opportunities to attend school, many of them lack access to nutrition programmes. Older persons with disabilities are also usually excluded from receiving disability benefits owing programmes are targeted towards the poor. Social protection programmes target persons with disabilities either as a separate group through disability-specific programmes; by explicitly incorporating them within the targeting criteria of mainstream programmes; or by including them within groups at risk of poverty. Programmes can also either target all persons with disabilities, only certain age groups, or focus on a particular level or type of impairment. to their age, yet pensions and other available benefits may not fully address disability-related needs. Therefore, States must take into account the situation of persons with disabilities when targeting specific age groups.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 15
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In 1989, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women explicitly linked gender-based violence and discrimination against women in its general recommendation No. 12 and called on States parties to include in their reports information on violence and on measures introduced to deal with it. Between 1989 and 1992, the Committee issued a series of general recommendations that addressed some rights violations experienced at the intersection of inter- and intra-gender sex discrimination and violence against women. In 1992 it issued general recommendation No. 19 both to define gender-based violence and to make it discrimination on the grounds of sex within the meaning of the Convention. Much of what is set forth in general recommendation No. 19 is reiterated and refined in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. CEDAW has also addressed the impact of intersecting forms of discrimination against women and its nexus with gender-based violence. Most recently, in general recommendation No. 27, which deals with the rights of older women, it recognizes that age and sex make older women vulnerable to violence, and that age, sex and disability make older women with disabilities particularly vulnerable.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 47
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Children assimilate these values and therefore accept, more or less readily, the authority of parents and of older individuals outside the family; some children even appear to seek such authority figures.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 3
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- For the purposes of this report, unpaid care work includes domestic work (meal preparation, cleaning, washing clothes, water and fuel collection) and direct care of persons (including children, older persons and persons with disabilities, as well as able-bodied adults) carried out in homes and communities.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 108
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States must recognize the human right to social security in domestic law. Non-contributory and contributory pension schemes must be guided by international human rights standards for the right to social security.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 31
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Even in developed countries, contributory systems are often inadequate to protect the elderly: often benefits are too low to cover costs of living. Moreover, legislation related to compulsory retirement age can make it impossible for some older persons to find additional sources of income.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 24
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The HIV/AIDS epidemic impacts on older persons in two ways. First, mostly middle-aged people die from the disease and older persons are more likely to be left without the care and support of their children. Second, they also may become the primary caregivers to their orphaned grandchildren.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 23
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Migrants can also be at risk of losing income in their old age. While persons who have migrated to work in their adulthood may have contributed to pension systems where they worked, when they retire and return to their countries of origin they are unable to reap the benefits of their prior contributions.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 21
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Older women are not only more likely to be poorer than men, but they are also likely to be burdened with caregiving responsibilities for other family members, especially their grandchildren. In some countries, accusations of witchcraft against poor older women are common, revealing worrying discriminative patterns.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The realization of the right to health of older persons 2011, para. 22
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In addition, there are non-binding United Nations instruments and international documents on ageing and older persons, such as the 1982 Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, the 1991 United Nations Principles for Older Persons, the 1992 Global targets on ageing for the year, and the 1992 Proclamation on Ageing. The most recent of these is the Political Declaration and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing adopted at the Second World Assembly on Ageing in April 2002, and endorsed by the General Assembly in resolution 57/167 of 18 December 2002. The Political Declaration reaffirms the global commitment to promote and protect human rights and to eliminate age-discrimination, neglect, abuse and violence (art. 5). It further makes reference to the right to health (art. 14), the opportunity to work and the continuing access to education and training programmes (art. 12). It has guided the development of legislation and policies at the national level and provided a framework for international cooperation, which resulted in, among other things, the establishment of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons in 2010, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 65/182.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The realization of the right to health of older persons 2011, para. 21
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Nonetheless, different human rights treaty monitoring bodies have interpreted and applied existing norms to older persons as a group, recognizing their vulnerability to discrimination and exclusion. In 1995, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) adopted general comment No. 6, which offers a detailed interpretation of the specific obligations of State parties regarding each of the rights contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as they apply to older persons. In 2010, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women adopted general recommendation No. 27 on older women and the protection of their human rights. General comment No. 14 of CESCR elaborates on substantive issues arising from the implementation of the right to health and addresses particular issues related to older persons, including "preventive, curative and rehabilitative health treatment…maintaining the functionality and autonomy of older persons … [and] attention and care for chronically and terminally ill persons, sparing them avoidable pain and enabling them to die with dignity".
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The realization of the right to health of older persons 2011, para. 17
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Differences between the genders in respect of the ageing process must also be acknowledged, given that global life expectancy at birth for women is currently 70 years, and is significantly higher than for men at 66 years. Given differing life expectancies, it is more often men who are able to rely on informal care from their spouses than women. Women who outlive their husbands are more often left with no spousal support, relying on informal care by other relatives or the formal care system. Compounding this problem is the fact that older women are frequently excluded from social security and health insurance schemes that are linked to formal, paid employment. They are also at much greater risk of poverty than men. In many countries older women are less likely than men to hold valuable assets in their own name (A/HRC/14/31, paras. 19-21). These factors limit women's ability to provide for their own health-related needs in later life. Furthermore, lack of access to health care services for debilitating diseases such as cancer and hypertension, or illnesses disproportionately affecting women such as osteoporosis, have also been noted to prevent older women from enjoying their full human rights (CEDAW/C/GC/27).
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of persons with disabilities to social protection 2015, para. 11
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- As a foundation for any national social protection system, these floors must ensure, at a minimum, access to essential health care (including maternity care) and to a basic level of income security for (a) children - including access to food, education, care and other necessary goods and services; (b) persons of active age who are unable to earn sufficient income, including persons with disabilities; and (c) older persons. The ILO recommendation concerning national floors of social protection, 2012 (No. 202) identifies as priority areas of attention the prevention and alleviation of poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion, and sets forth guidelines for implementing and monitoring national strategies that are participatory, country-led, sustainable and regularly reviewed. It also provides guidance to States on progressively providing higher levels of protection to as many people as possible and as soon as possible, reflecting States' economic and fiscal capacities. The recommendation also recognizes the principles of non-discrimination, gender equality and responsiveness to specific needs, and emphasizes that any initiative should support people with special needs and other potentially disadvantaged groups.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 51
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- However, the negative income tax option would be problematic for 18- to 29-year-olds and for senior women. The Canadian examples demonstrate the potentially positive effects of negative income tax, but warn that a basic income model that replaces existing social support mechanisms could have seriously negative effects on the poor.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 43
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Unconditional cash transfers, although without strings attached, differ from basic income schemes in several respects. First, they are generally paid to households and may vary accordingly. Second, unconditional cash transfers often target the poor or other categories such as children or the elderly. Third, the amount of the unconditional cash transfers often differs, depending on the recipient’s situation.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 27
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Some older persons might also face stigma, in particular when suffering dementia or other mental illnesses and requiring care, including for their sanitation and hygiene needs. Incontinence is not uncommon, but usually not openly addressed. Again, stigma can contribute to making the particular needs of older persons invisible, preventing the care they require and isolating them.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 56
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Those data had been gathered from publicly available sources, in particular media articles, and also included details of the perpetrators and the incident, including the date, names, police force jurisdiction, information about children, the recorded motive and the weapon used. Some of the data are verified, emanating from official reports, while other data, from media reports, are unverified. The census records women killed by men under any circumstance, not just intimate partner violence. Data are disaggregated by age, nationality, ethnicity and occupation of both the victim and perpetrator. Information on the health condition of the victim, including whether she was pregnant, and the relationship status with her perpetrator are recorded. This includes whether they were separated and, if so, the time that had elapsed between the actual separation or end of the relationship and the victim's death (from the information analysed, it appears that 53 per cent of intimate partner violence took place within one month of separation), whether the femicide took place in a context of the victim having rejected the perpetrator's advances or was committed in the course of another crime (e.g., high level of killings of older women in the course of burglaries) and any other information that would shed light on the nature of the femicide.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 37
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Although in the majority of the cases younger women are at higher risk of sorcery/witchcraft violence, a study has found that in some parts of Africa, older women are more vulnerable to sorcery-related femicide due to their economic dependence on others, or the property rights that they hold-and which younger members of the family want to inherit. Also, if women are perceived as dangerous and a threat to men, their labelling as witches, and consequently their destruction, is then seen as justified.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 83
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- World Health Organization research also shows that women and girls with low levels of education are at a greater risk of violence than better educated and older women. The higher the levels of schooling for girls, the less they are at risk of servile marriage. In the United Republic of Tanzania, women who attend secondary school are 92 per cent less likely to be married before the age of 18 years than women who attend only primary school.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 78
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- According to Save the Children in the 2004 edition of its annual publication, State of the World's Mothers, once born, children of girl brides are twice as likely to die before the age of 1 year as the children of a woman in her twenties. If they survive, the children are more likely than those born to older mothers to have poorer health care and inadequate nutrition as a result of the mother's poor feeding behaviour.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 56
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- One of the most encouraging developments in recent years in relation to economic and social rights has been the growth of specialist NGOs at the international, national and, especially, local levels working to promote either economic and social rights in general or specific rights such as those relating to health, housing, education, water, gender equality, disability and ageing.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 46
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Mr. Bengoa also recommended the creation of a social forum to facilitate the participation of States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and corporations in discussing how to take economic, social and cultural rights into account in their policies. The Social Forum was set up in 2002 and recent sessions have focused on the rights of older persons (2014) and on the rights of access to medicines in the context of the right to health (2015).
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 50
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Even those women who are able to combine unpaid care work with formal jobs are disadvantaged; their work histories and social security contributions are more likely than those of men to be interrupted by periods of full-time caregiving, and therefore they are less likely to receive an adequate pension on retirement. Thus, the gendered division of unpaid care work is one of the key reasons why older women are more likely to live in poverty than their male counterparts.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Unpaid care work and women's human rights 2013, para. 47
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Ensuring the enjoyment of rights of other members of the population - such as older persons, children and persons with disabilities - will also prove beneficial to their caregivers, by alleviating and redistributing intensive care needs. In this regard, inter alia, States are required to provide physical as well as psychological rehabilitative measures aimed at maintaining the functionality and autonomy of older persons; and attention and care for chronically and terminally ill persons.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 38
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Such factors often act as a persuasive deterrent against seeking redress from judicial or adjudicatory mechanisms, or may indeed represent an insurmountable obstacle for the poorest and most marginalized. This is especially so for those who have limited mobility, such as older persons or persons with disabilities, or those for whom travel is more difficult or dangerous, including women and children.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Movement
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 115
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Non-contributory pensions are the most efficient way of ensuring protection to older women and compensating them for their years of unpaid or inadequately paid work. States must address the specific challenges affecting older women seeking to benefit from existing social services. States must also take other measures to complement social security measures by ensuring women's equal access to land and resources.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 113
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States must ensure the meaningful and effective participation of older persons in the design, implementation and monitoring of social pensions. Considering the specific needs of older persons, participation mechanisms must take into account existing power structures within communities and remove particular obstacles for their participation in collective decision-making processes.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 112
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States must ensure that information on social pensions is widely available and accessible, especially to the poorest segments of society. In particular, information about eligibility criteria, levels of benefits and complaint mechanisms must be accessible to all potential beneficiaries. The legal and institutional framework regulating pension schemes must guarantee the existence of accessible accountability mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Social protection and old age poverty 2010, para. 109
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States must design social pension schemes progressively to ensure access to social security for all. At the very least, they must provide protection to all older persons who, when reaching the retirement age prescribed in national legislation, have not completed a qualifying period of contributions or are not otherwise entitled to an old-age insurance-based pension and have no other source of income.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph