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What are the current social norms and practice?

What are the current social norms and practice? (2)

The socio-cultural context in which demographic ageing is taking place is on where older women and men are seen as less equal, less deserving of respect, less part of mainstream society and less capable than other age groups.

a. Ageism

Older people are (and feel) ostracised, degraded, devalued and rendered socially powerless

We see ageism in:• Belittling, degrading and humiliating treatment of older

people• Gradual denial of people’s autonomy in older age• Patronising and infantilising attitudes towards older people

in language• A culture of impunity around all forms of violence and

abuse against older people• The media, e.g. constant advertising of anti-aging products

b. Direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of older age

• Invisibility in data: statistics on violence against women, HIV prevalence and STIs, for example, are only collected, disaggregated and used for ages 15 - 49

• Health care: denial of services or treatment based on older age

• Access to financial services: financial services can have upper age limits or be denied or not made available to older people

• Employment: Mandatory retirement ages or discrimination in employment based on older age

c. Intersectional discrimination

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d. Accumulated discrimination

Croatia22% for all women

30% for women over 65

Slovenia

Estonia

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Twice as high for women over 65 than men over 65

Risk of poverty examples

e. Violations of human rights in old age

• Social security: the vast majority of older people have no access to social security in older age

• Equal recognition before the law: Guardianship regimes that remove legal capacity (equating it automatically with mental capacity) and are based on best interests rather than on will and preference in breach of Article 12 of the CRPD

• Freedom from inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment: denial of holistic palliative care, that includes pain relief

• Violence and abuse: different forms of violence that older people are subjected to, particularly by family members, remains an issue that is taboo and unspoken and unaddressed in law

What are the benefits of looking at older age from a human rights perspective?

Reconceptualise older age

• Embrace the notion of older people as rights holder than recipient of ‘charity’

• Challenge stigma and prejudice

• Address current deficit policy making -> identify and understand barriers and constraints of existing framework

Why we need a convention on the rights of older people

The lack of specific standards around what human rights mean for older people and in the context of old age means there is very little understanding or attention to older people’s rights.

Why we need a convention on the rights of older people (2)

• Be a powerful advocacy tool for older people and those that work with them to claim their rights

• Contribute to changing the way we conceptualise older age

• Improve promotion and protection of human rights in older age in both law and practice

• Develop our understanding of how human rights apply throughout our entire lives

Key messages

• Re-conceptualising older age helps us to consider older as continued personal developmentand flourishing where people continue to live dignified and fulfilled lives

• a new convention on the rights of older people would serve as benchmark for better policy/ legislation A guide for better service delivery and a

practical advocacy tool

Thank you!