Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

The proposed Convention on the Rights of Older Persons is likely to be the next major human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations. The proposed treaty will seek to remedy the fragmented human rights structure for Older Persons, and will focus on reaffirming critical human rights which are of concern to the Elderly. The focus of the treaty will be persons over 60 years of age, which is a growing demographic worldwide due to increased population ageing. The treaty follows from the success of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which has seen near universal acceptance since 1989. Where the UNCRC focuses on the rights of younger persons, the UNCROP will address those who form the older portion of society, who according to United Nations reports, are becoming increasingly vulnerable as a group without applicable normative standards of human rights law. Support for a Convention is becoming increasingly popular, as human rights groups including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), HelpAge International, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the International Labour Organization, and many other NGOs and states have expressed support for a universal instrument. The need for a treaty has arisen due to issues surrounding demographic changes from population ageing. This has led to significant interest in how to best ensure the well being of older persons. Among the rights issues faced by older persons are their rights against ageist discrimination, and the rights to participation. The debate surrounding the convention focuses on the implementation and safeguarding of these rights, to set normative standards of human rights for older persons. One substantive issue is the conception of elder abuse as between individuals. Individual relationships generally fall outside of current human rights law, which seeks to present standards of relations between states and individuals. Therefore, it has been suggested that the proposed human rights convention for older persons ought to be drafted as an anti-discrimination convention. However, this would not be consistent with other multilateral human rights conventions such as the ICCPR and ICESCR which set normative standards.
Content.
Presently, no formal draft treaty has been agreed upon by the United Nations General Assembly, though "The Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing for the Purpose of Strengthening the Protection of the Human Rights of Older Persons" (OEWGA) has debated what the substantive content of a treaty may be. In its most recent session, the OEWGA noted agreed that: 
"it is fundamental to consider older persons as specific right holders and agents of change, and to provide guarantees with respect to the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, in order to allow for their participation in social, economic, cultural, civil and political life, and to seize their experience and potential for contributing to all areas of development." The fundamental rights affirmed by the proposed treaty would be extensions of those secured by other multilateral treaties, though with a focus on specific issues faced by elderly persons.
Background.
World Assembly on Ageing.
In 1982, the Report of the World Assembly on Ageing (also known as "the International Plan on Ageing") was published, which represented the first international debate on the rights of older persons and presented a plan for their implementation. The Report sets out a number of underlying principles which are applicable to older persons, importantly the participating states reaffirmed "their belief that the fundamental and inalienable rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights apply fully and undiminished to the aging." The report acknowledged several sub-topics especially applicable to the rights of elderly persons, including health and nutrition, housing and environment, the family, social welfare, income and security and employment, and education. The report therefore gave policy recommendations to address these concerns, including to avoid imbalances in age groups in the public sector, and to give effort to fill longer life spans with a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Additionally, producing proactive policies aimed at healthier older populations and financial security for retirement were promoted. The significance of this report for the proposed convention is its use in determining the United Nations approach to ageing and its members states' internal policies.
United Nations Principles for Older Persons.
The next move towards a convention for the rights of older persons was the adoption of the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, 1991. The Principles provided that older persons in society ought to have independence, the ability to participate in society, have access to care, be entitled to self-fulfilment and the full dignity of life among other rights. The Principles were adopted in October 1992 due to the adoption of the proclamation on aging in General Assembly Resolution 47/5, which contained the proclamation as an annex and giving some weight to the 1991 Principles. However, the implementation of these Principles received little oversight, as under international law United Nations General Assembly Resolutions are not automatically binding on parties. By adopting the Principles, the United Nations brought the rights of older persons to the same moral level as those of other bodies and set some targets towards their implementation, such as the 2001 deadline for meeting global targets on problems for ageing persons.
The Second World Assembly on Ageing.
The Second World Assembly saw the adoption of the 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, which sought to outline a plan for "building a society for all ages." The Plan identified four areas in which states ought to focus to produce a healthier environment for older persons, "individual lifelong development, multigenerational relationships, the interrelationship between population ageing and development, and the situation of older persons." The Plan sought to achieve these aims by promoting the active participation of older persons in society in its member states. The contribution of the Plan towards an International Convention on the Rights of Older Persons can be seen in the placement of older people into the general context of international human rights law, establishing the groundwork for older persons to be seen as a protected group. The plan did not specifically refer to older persons as a specific protected group, implying that it was not meant as a declaration of rights, though it did acknowledge the commitment of member states to upholding the rights of all groups and older persons by extension. The plan was set for review after a 10 year period, in which states and NGOs such as the United Nations Population Fund were tasked with implementing the Plan.
The Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing for the Purpose of Strengthening the Protection of the Human Rights of Older Persons.
In October 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 65/182 which established the "Open‐Ended Working group on Ageing for the purpose of strengthening the Human Rights of Older Persons" as a follow-up to the Madrid Plan. The OEWGA had a mandate to consider the existing international framework of the human rights of older persons and identify possible gaps and how best to address them. The OEWGA forms the primary forum for debate as to the adoption of a multilateral human rights treaty regarding the rights of older persons, as it focuses on the issues faced by older persons and recognizes gaps in the existing human rights framework. The OEWGA has had 8 sessions as of September 2017, and each of these sessions has aimed to clarify issues surrounding older persons rights and provide assistance to members in their obligations under the Madrid Plan. Before each session the OEWGA takes submissions from member states on their contributions towards older persons in society. In the first session select member states acknowledged the difficult position of older person's rights under the traditional international framework, due to the lack of a specific convention. Therefore, debate regarding the necessity of an international convention on the rights of older persons has been a feature of the OEWGA since its outset, which can be seen through the submissions of the member states.
Debate and criticism.
OEWGA has primarily focused on ways to improve the existing human rights framework, though NGOs and states such as Argentina have advocated for a human rights convention, stating in their first submission that:
″There is no legally binding instrument to standardize and protect the rights of older persons... The argument is that the universal nature of international instruments should include the elderly. We all know that this does not happen because we live in an imperfect world. If the world were perfect we would not need any convention, and there is no discrimination. This is why the government of Argentina... support[s] the need for a convention to promote, protect and ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensuring its implementation through a binding instrument″ [sic]
Argentina's submission drew attention to the legislative significance of Human Rights Conventions, and that adopting such a convention for older persons would be in the best interests of the Madrid Plan. However, multiple states, such as Australia, Denmark and China all noted that domestic policy concerns and demographic differences within their regions allowed for a human rights based approach to the issue, though they disapproved of a multilateral convention.
A significant gap in normative standards of older persons rights has been noted by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has stated: "the establishment of a binding international convention on the rights of older persons would create a legal framework that defined their rights." A similar position was taken by Help-age International, which submitted a substantial report on age discrimination, and concluded that a single instrument was needed to amalgamate the principles of older person's rights into one convention. As a result, the notion of a treaty has received some support as it would set normative standards of human rights for older persons, in order to supplement the Madrid Plan, though it was not universally supported. Non-Government organisations such as HelpAge International have repeatedly referenced a need for "universal prohibition of discrimination in old age in a human rights instrument [that] would provide a definitive, universal position that age discrimination is morally and legally unacceptable."
The main criticism of a new convention has come from states who have argued that drafting a new convention would be resource intensive, noting that the international human rights framework is already under-resourced. These states argued for a strengthening of existing mechanisms such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as an alternative. This view has been advocated by the United States, which has argued that a new convention would not add anything to the existing protections under international conventions already in existence.
However, in the 10 year review of the Madrid Plan on Ageing, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Council: "10 years after its adoption, the Madrid Plan of Action has made only limited headway in national and international development plans."
Future of the convention.
Following the 10 year review of the Madrid Plan, Alan Cordina, chair of the sixth session, stated that:
"I am... aware that an increasing number of delegations and a unanimous and clear voice coming from civil society are requesting us to undertake the task of elaborating a convention. Can we continue turning a deaf ear to those calls? Can we ignore that part of our mandate? My response to both questions is no. A clear no, simple and without ambiguities."
The result was a call for a draft convention, which would be presented to the UN General Assembly. This was considered necessary due to the constant breaches of older persons rights taking place worldwide in spite of the existing framework. This was followed in the seventh session with a collaboration with the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to establish some ways in which a multilateral treaty could be established.
During the eighth working session, multiple NGOs, and some states came together to discuss the possible text of a draft treaty.