UN Roundtable on Older Persons in the 2004 Tsunami February 13-14, 2006 Recommendations

UN Roundtable on Older Persons in the 2004 Tsunami

February 13-14, 2006

Recommendations Recommendations

UN Roundtable on Older Persons in the 2004 Tsunami - RecommendationsRecommendations

Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002

“ Equal access by older persons to food, shelter and medical care and other services during and after natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies.”

(para 55 objective 1)

“ Enhanced contributions of older persons to the establishment and reconstruction of communities and the rebuilding of the social fabric following emergencies.”

(para 55 objective 2)

Note: Review and appraisal process underway


• [Social & Legal] Protection

• Visibility and Inclusion

• Mainstreaming

• Practical and Financial Resource Support


(a)Take concrete measures to protect and assist older persons in situations of armed conflict and foreign occupation, including through the provision of physical and mental rehabilitation services for those who are disabled in these situations;

(b) Call upon Governments to protect, assist and provide humanitarianassistance and humanitarian emergency assistance to older persons in situations of internal displacement in accordance with General Assembly resolutions;

[Social & Legal] Protection MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 55

h) Assist older persons to re-establish family and social ties and address their post-traumatic stress;

(j) Raise awareness and protect older persons from physical, psychological, sexual or financial abuse in emergency situations, paying particular attention to the specific risks faced by women


[Social & Legal] Protection MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 55

(cont’d)

[Social & Legal] Protection

• Human rights framework for relief and reconstruction

• International policy / protection framework for older IDPs

• Standards to include and target older and disabled persons

• IASC cluster to include older persons as cross-cutting theme

• Implement agreed international standards





• Mainstreaming



(c) Locate and identify older persons in emergency situations and ensure inclusion of their contributions and vulnerabilities in needs assessment reports;

(d) Raise awareness among relief agency personnel of the physical and health issues specific to older persons and of ways to adapt basic needs support to their requirements; 21 A/CONF.197/9

(g) Make explicit reference to, and design national guidelines for, assisting older persons in disaster relief plans, including disaster preparedness, training for relief workers and availability of services and goods;

Visibility and Inclusion MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 55


(a) Include older persons in the provision of community relief and rehabilitation programmes, including by identifying and helping vulnerable older persons;

(b) Recognize the potential of older persons as leaders in the family and community for education, communication and conflict resolution;

(f) Share and apply, as appropriate, lessons learned from practices that have successfully utilized the contributions of older persons in the aftermath of emergencies.

Visibility and Inclusion MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 56

(cont’d)

Visibility and Inclusion


• Older persons participate in decision-making at all levels – family, community and policy

• Promote a paradigm that treats older persons as active “subjects,” rather than passive “objects”

• Transparent system of dissemination of information for all

• Create greater awareness among donors and media of aging issues

• More effective and inclusive assessment techniques.

• Collection of accurate data, disaggregated by age and gender on the elderly.

• Exchange of information, lessons learned and identification of best practices on response and assistance to the elderly

• Increase training of international agencies to include vulnerable groups in existing programs

Visibility and Inclusion (cont’d)





• Mainstreaming


(k) Encourage a more targeted inclusion of older refugees in all aspects of programme planning and implementation, inter alia, by helping active persons to be more self-supporting and by promoting better community care initiatives for the very old;

(l) Enhance international cooperation, including burden-sharing and coordination of humanitarian assistance to countries affected by natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies and post-conflict situations in ways that would be supportive of recovery and long-term development.


Mainstreaming MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 55

• Build upon local strengths and coping mechanisms

• Targeted plan of action at national and regional level to assist elderly population in emergencies

• Mainstream issues and concerns of vulnerable groups into all policies, programmes and projects.

• Strengthen coordination efforts and the overall coordination framework.

• Include older people in inter-agency emergency programming guidelines

Mainstreaming





• Mainstreaming


(e) Aim to ensure that appropriate services are available, that older persons have physical access to them and that they are involved in planning and delivering services as appropriate;

(f) Recognize that older refugees of different cultural backgrounds growing old in new and unfamiliar surroundings are often in special need of social networks and of extra support and aim to ensure that they have physical access to such services;

(i) Following disasters, put in place mechanisms to prevent the targeting and financial exploitation of older persons by fraudulent opportunists;


Practical and Financial Resources Support MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 55

(c) Assist older persons to re-establish economic self-sufficiency through rehabilitation projects, including income generation, educational programmes and occupational activities, taking into account the special needs of older women;

(d) Provide legal advice and information to older persons in situations of displacement and dispossession of land and other productive and personal assets;


Practical and Financial Resources Support MIPAA recommendations - Actions para 56

(cont’d)

Practical and Financial Resource Support


• Capacity building for local organizations representing vulnerable groups

• Support community-based and self-reliance initiatives

• Income security : Livelihoods, Cash transfers, Skills training

• Health and nutrition


Practical and Financial Resource Support (cont’d)

Psychosocial support

Shelter

Improve coordination and collaboration among agencies, governments and organizations

Establish mechanisms to support older persons’ access to their entitlements


Way Forward

UN Roundtable on Older Persons in the 2004 Tsunami

Technical conception: Thibault MARTIN-DONDOZ, Global Action on Aging, New York, NY, USA, February 2006

Thank you …

Find this roundtable’s full review and some additional resources at http://www.globalaging.org

Documents

UN Roundtable on Older Persons in the 2004 Tsunami February 13-14, 2006 Recommendations