6th Meeting, 2nd Session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Older Persons (IGWG)

Good morning, Excellencies and distinguished participants, colleagues, friends. I hereby declare open the sixth meeting of the second session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons. This morning, we will resume our plenary discussions under item 4. for a discussion on the catalogue of rights to be included in a legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons. The thing with delegates, we have reached one of the defining moments of our work, identifying the rights that should become part of the future legally binding instrument. The catalogue of rights is the backbone of any rights treaty. It transforms principles into concrete guarantees and offers guidance to states. The responsibility before us is considerable. We must respond to the specific needs of older persons and strengthen the protection of their rights in practice. Our work must be consistent with the existing international framework, but consistency does not mean a lack of ambition. It means building upon and strengthening what already exists, never taking a step backwards. In particular, the rights of older women should not enjoy less protection than that already recognized under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Nor should older persons with disabilities be left with standards of protection below those established by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The principle is simple, but fundamental: the passing of years should never mean the loss of rights. We know that different positions exist and that developing a clear, coherent, and workable catalogue of rights will be a demanding task. We need ambition, Certainly, but ambition must be accompanied by a sense of reality. A treaty that merely repeats generalities will not live up to the expectations of this process. And a treaty that ignores the conditions necessary for its implementation will not deliver the results we seek. This, then, is the balance we must strive to achieve: effective rights, respected international standards, and the broadest possible consensus we can build all together. Now, I will give the floor to the independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Mr. Zbynčan Pirtosek. The floor is yours.

Chair Rapporteur, Excellencies, distinguished delegates and dear colleagues, as we turn to the catalogue of rights, I would like to begin with a simple question: What difference should this future Convention make in the everyday life of an older person? We have a substantial foundation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and existing international human rights treaties establish rights that belong equally to all of us throughout our lives. But since the establishment of this mandate, successive independent experts, Rosa Kornfeld-Marte, Claudia Mahler, and myself, have examined ageism, autonomy, care, social exclusion, housing, violence and neglect, legal capacity, social protection, armed conflict, cognitive impairment, and situations of dependency. And a common concern runs through all of our reports. Rights that are universally recognized may become increasingly difficult to exercise, claim or enforce in older age. The rights, of course, remain the same. What changes very often in old age is the possibility of exercising them. The future Convention must therefore be comprehensive, specific, and non-regressive. Comprehensive, meaning covering all full range of human rights. Specific means addressing barriers encountered in older age, specifically. And non-regressive means preserving and strengthening existing protections under international law. Today, I would like to reflect on five interconnected domains of rights. I offer them as a framework for discussion without suggesting any particular structure or hierarchy for the convention. Throughout, I would ask us to keep in mind the people whose lives these guarantees are intended to protect: older persons. The first domain concerns fundamental conditions of human freedom: equality before the law, non-discrimination, legal capacity, liberty, security, and personal integrity. Ageism remains a profound, profound obstacle to these rights. It is reflected in legislation, institutional procedures, professional decisions, also medical decisions, social attitudes. Sometimes they are so deeply embedded in everyday practices that it goes almost unnoticed and very tragically, sometimes deeply internalized. The future convention should explicitly prohibit direct, indirect, multiple and intersecting forms of age discrimination. Equality must also be substantive. Equal enjoyment of rights may require changes to institutions, procedures and environments that systematically exclude older persons. And particular attention is needed to legal capacity. and respect for the person's will and preferences. The Convention should therefore affirm equal recognition before the law, protect liberty and security of the person, and establish effective safeguards against coercion, abuse, undue influence, arbitrary detention, and other unlawful restrictions of liberty, as well as access to appropriate decision-making support when this is needed. Second domain: autonomy, health, care, and support. A state and civil society have underscored this week All of our human rights are deeply interconnected in profound ways in our everyday lives. Civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights may all be undermined when health, care, and support systems fail to respect the dignity, autonomy, and agency of older persons. Older persons must enjoy the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and, very importantly, palliative care without age discrimination. They must also enjoy respect for informed consent, bodily integrity, privacy, and their will and preferences in health and care decisions. Yet care and support raise questions beyond the quality of medical treatment. A person may receive excellent clinical care and still lose control over daily life. Someone else may influence when they get up, what they eat, whom they see or where they live. Each decision may seem small, yet together they determine how much freedom remains. The need for assistance should never, never be mistaken for the loss of autonomy. The future Convention should address both access to appropriate care and support and the protection of human rights within those arrangements. This includes accessible, affordable and quality long-term support, freedom of choice concerning living arrangements, community inclusion, protection against unnecessary institutionalisation, and safeguards against coercive practices. Care and support must be organised around the person, respecting dignity, relationships, will and preferences. These guarantees should accompany us throughout life, including its final stages. Older persons should have access to palliative care, relief from avoidable suffering, and care that respects their wishes and personal values. We should also recognize older persons who provide extensive unpaid care to spouses, relatives, and others. Their rights and support matters too. Families and communities are indispensable partners, as emphasized by many, many of you, for ensuring human rights remain But the final responsibility, of course, for ensuring human rights remains with the state. Ultimately, the quality of care should be judged by the services provided and by the autonomy, dignity, and participation those services make possible. The third domain concerns the material conditions necessary for enjoying human rights. Autonomy, of course, becomes difficult to exercise when a person cannot afford adequate housing. food, essential services or necessary support. Freedom of choice also requires the means to make choices real. The rights guaranteed by the future Convention should therefore encompass social security, adequate income protection, housing, an adequate standard of living, protection against poverty and economic exploitation, and respect for property rights, inheritance rights and financial autonomy. It should also protect the right to work, fair working conditions, freedom from age discrimination in employment, and access to education and lifelong learning. An older person should not be forced to continue working because social protection is inadequate. Equally, retirement age or receipt of pension should not automatically justify exclusion from employment. A life course perspective here is essential. For many older women, as mentioned by Chair Rapporteur, economic insecurity reflects decades of unequal employment opportunities, lower earnings and pension entitlements, and unpaid care responsibilities. Disadvantages accumulated throughout life often become particularly visible in older age. Economic and social rights must therefore occupy the full place alongside civil and political rights. Any distinctions between obligations of immediate effect and those subject to progressive realization amidst resource constraints never justify discrimination or arbitrary exclusion. Fourth domain: participation, accessibility and social inclusion. Older persons have the right to remain a full and equal member of society, to contribute and to have a voice. Their human rights include participation in public, political, social and cultural life; freedom of expression and association; access to information; accessibility; and opportunities for education, creativity and lifelong learning. Meaningful participation must extend to developing, implementing and monitoring laws, policies and services affecting themselves. Older persons must be able to influence decisions while those decisions are being made, in the process of being made. And we must recognize the changing environments in which these rights are exercised. Digital technologies and artificial intelligence offer new opportunities, while inaccessible platforms, automated decisions, and age-related biases can create new forms of exclusion. When a pension, medical appointment, or public service becomes accessible only online, someone unable to use that platform may effectively lose access to an existing right. The future Convention should therefore address digital accessibility, discriminatory automated decision, privacy, and appropriate non-digital alternatives. A right to connect must not become a duty to be online. Social isolation and loneliness also deserve attention, particularly where reinforced by discrimination, inaccessible environments, or inadequate community support. Our objective should be a society in which older persons can maintain relationships, exercise choice, share their experience, and participate on an equal basis with others. And fifth, the last domain, protection, access to justice, accountability. Risks arise in everyday life. whether in relationships with families or institutions, and they may become particularly severe during armed conflict, displacement, humanitarian emergencies, climate-related disasters, deprivation of liberty, or extreme poverty, when support and legal protection may be difficult to access. Such circumstances require effective safeguards, accessible information, appropriate support, and meaningful involvement of older persons in preparedness, response, and recovery. Protection against violence, abuse, neglect, abandonment, and exploitation must be effective in public institutions, private care facilities, communities, and families. As many delegates have affirmed this week, the future Convention should establish clear State responsibilities, including guarantees of protection against violations committed by private actors. These guarantees must be accompanied by access to justice, effective remedies, and independent oversight. A right is of limited value to someone who has no realistic way to defend it. For older persons who depend on others for daily assistance, seeking justice may require accessible procedures, independent advice, and appropriate support. Chair, before concluding, let me briefly address coherence with existing human rights instruments. The Convention of the rights of persons with disabilities offer a valuable model for translating universal human rights into specific and enforceable guarantees, including legal capacity, accessibility, independent living, support, and community inclusion. Disability and older age are distinct, although frequently overlapping in our experience. Many older persons live with disabilities, and their rights under the CRPD must be fully preserved. Yet ageism and age-related barriers also affect older persons without disabilities. The future convention should therefore learn from the CRPD while developing its own age-specific framework, complementing existing treaties without diminishing their protections. The same principle applies to coherence with the other international and regional human rights instruments. Chair, in conclusion, as we consider the catalogue of rights, I would suggest three questions for each proposed provision. First, what protection does existing international human rights law already provide? Second, what barriers or gaps prevent older persons from enjoying that protection on an equal basis with others? And third, what should this Convention add, through greater legal specificity, appropriate safeguards, or, where justified, additional guarantees? These questions can guide us in building upon existing law while responding to the realities and specificities of older age. With those considerations in mind, I would like to end where I began: with the person whose life these provisions are intended to protect. Can an older person refuse unwanted treatment? Choose where and with whom to live? Have sufficient income to live with dignity? Participate in decisions that affect them? Obtain protection and an effective remedy when their rights are violated? These are ordinary questions about everyday life. They are also questions of fundamental human rights. Older persons bring their own histories, relationships, convictions and aspirations to this process. Their voices and experiences must help shape the future Convention. Its success will ultimately be measured in their lives, in the freedoms they can exercise, the choices they can make, and the dignity with which they can live. Our ambition should be a convention that makes human rights real and effective throughout the whole, whole life. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Petosek, for your statement. And I will now open the floor for an interactive discussion. I see very few name plates. Bring them up. Please, the very first one, a happy benefit to be the first one, is the distinguished representative of Malta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair Rapporte. And we would also like to thank the independent expert for his excellent opening remarks this morning. Malta maintains its position that this instrument should cater for the whole range of human rights, encompassing economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. In this sense, we see as two fundamental specific segments: liberty and equality. Protection of individual liberty is a necessary condition for the enjoyment of a dignified life. The instrument needs to be implementable by Member States in such a way that minimises restrictions on individual liberty in the physical, medical, civil, political, social, cultural and economic dimensions of older persons' lives. This is especially relevant for older persons who require high levels of care and are either homebound, residing in care homes, or have reduced capacity for independent decision-making. The instrument should also include provisions that empower states to ensure that older persons maintain independent access to state programmes and services across all fields. This should include, inter alia, maintaining agency for persons with dementia and other forms of cognitive decline. Malta notes the importance of care and care facilities relating to older persons, but does not consider this to be a main pillar on which this instrument should be based. We acknowledge that such services do require care workers who, without any doubt, are also rights holders themselves. However, we would like to underline The main focus of this instrument should be to protect the rights of older persons, and not to be diverted to focus on specific rights enjoyed by persons in forms of employment which are already governed by established international instruments, in particular ILO's Domestic Workers Convention of 2011, number 189. Chair, Malta underlines that these main priorities on this sub-item at this stage are what we are able to fit within two minutes. But we are ready to engage with all Member States and civil society on the whole plethora of proposals to be considered in the formulation of this Treaty. Our full statement will be uploaded by the Secretariat.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your understanding for the very short time for the statements, but we really want to accommodate as many member States and representatives of the civil society we can. I give the floor to the.

Distinguished representative of Ecuador.

Thank you very much, Chair. As we pointed out in our general statement, universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of human rights require a comprehensive catalogue without distinctions or hierarchies. For this purpose, a broad catalogue will only make sense if these rights are enforceable so that older persons can uphold them in various corresponding bodies and obtain effective compensation when there has been violation of those rights. Therefore, it is possible to take into account into the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the regional frameworks in this area without regression or going backwards from what has already been achieved, but rather developing the specificity of the future instrument. The right to a life free of violence, abandonment, abuse, or ill-treatment must be part of this catalogue, as well as the right to access to justice. sanctions and reparation when there have been violations of these rights. Likewise, technological progress requires guaranteeing digital inclusion as well as protection from risks of artificial intelligence so that automated systems do not reproduce age biases when it comes to access to work, credit, insurance, or any other service with human supervision of decisions which affect older persons. In addition, there must be the right to public participation of older persons and of their organizations to actively be involved in decisions affecting them, together with the right to privacy and protection of their personal data. Moreover, we consider that the catalogue should encompass the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, as recognized by the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. recognizing older persons as actors with full access to information, participation, and justice in environmental matters. In addition, in line with what was said in earlier statements, we would reaffirm that older persons are not a homogeneous group. Therefore, the catalogue should address specifically multiple forms and intersectional forms of discrimination, which face different groups of older persons. Lastly, Chair, access to justice must be both a right in the catalogue and a cross-cutting guarantee of all the others with rather accessible procedures which are adjusted to procedures in accordance with the age of the persons involved, without which the involvement of older persons as rights holders would be incomplete. Thank you very much.

Ecuador. And I now give the floor to the United Arab.

Thank you, Mr. President. Respect of other persons and maintaining their rights is a litmus test for the humanity of our societies and our commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter. to guarantee a future, a dignified future for every person. In this respect, the UAE would like to stress the following: one, human rights are interrelated and indivisible. The rights of the older persons is part and parcel of the human rights in general. In this respect, older persons have inalienable rights and they have the full rights to live independently and in dignity. Combating sexism is also important. Third, there are five main principles that need to be respected: autonomy, participation, care, self-realization, and dignity. My delegation believes that the instrument under discussion must be predicated on an approach specifically designed for the rights of the older persons and to upgrade their life and to protect their human rights, including social rights and privacy and medical care. Thank you.

Thank you. I give you the floor, distinguished representative of Serbia.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, rapporteur. Global agreements in the field of human rights are set of norms and rules relevant usually to the protection of specific population category. Consequently, it is likelihood that in a draft LBI, there will be referral clauses and a certain degree of a repetition of already existing rights provided above all from some of core international human rights instruments, such as rights related to education, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, access to justice. This fact indicates that older persons are not isolated group and that they must be recognized both in their generality or universality and in their particularity. One of these particularities referred to the report of the independent expert of September 2022, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council with recommendation addressed to older persons in detention, underlying following: States must recognize and codify the right to personal liberty and security of older persons as set out in international human rights instruments. Specific rights which are not found in other universal and regional sources of human rights law, such as right to have a full lives, the right to participate in all aspects of society, will create a challenge in the coming period in terms of codification. However, it should be always bear in mind that the future instrument can't be a catalog of rights only, but it should set up effective and sustainable protection system. Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights is regionally legal mechanism for effective protection of older persons, for instance on conditions of detention, insufficiency of old age pension to maintain adequate standard of living, involuntary transfer of residence, or right to respect for private and family life. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Turkmenistan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In considering the catalogue of rights, Turkey's approach is guided by the need to build upon the existing international human rights framework while addressing the specific protection and implementation gaps experienced by older persons. The future instrument should clarify and strengthen the application of universally recognized human rights in older age, rather than create a separate category or hierarchy of rights. The universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of all human rights must remain central to this endeavor. Among the areas deserving particular attention is the right to health, including access to affordable, accessible, and quality health services. Long-term care and support also warrant careful consideration with full respect for the dignity, autonomy, and preferences of older persons. Of equal importance are social security, economic security, and the right to an adequate standard of living, which enable older persons to live with dignity and participate fully in society. The future instrument should also provide a strong basis for protection from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Beyond these areas, emerging challenges such as digital transformation and climate change call for attention. Access to education and lifelong learning should likewise be appropriately reflected. In formulating substantive provisions, we would encourage reliance, wherever possible, on established terminology drawn from existing international human rights treaties, particularly CRPD. Such an approach would enhance legal certainty, prevent unnecessary duplication, and promote coherence across the international human rights system. A comprehensive, balanced, and practically implementable catalogue should ultimately reflect the equal importance of all human rights without implying any hierarchy among different categories. I thank you, Chair.

Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Chile.

You have the floor.

Thank you, Chair. We propose that the instrument should have a wide catalogue that is explicit, with basic standards that are aligned with pre-established rights and other instruments, and where possible, bolster them further. In this context, we believe that this includes at least the right to life, equality, non-discrimination, dignity, and good treatment, autonomy, and independence. We should ensure recognition of a person before law, on an equal footing, with access to support and safeguards that respect rights, will, and preference, a life free of abuse and interference and negligence, with access to justice, with procedural guarantees, due diligence, etc. Furthermore, it should guarantee the right to physical and mental health and free, prior informed consent. that is accessible, person-focused, respectful of their autonomy. That we should also promote participation in community and mobility. Finally, we should look at dignified work, equal opportunities, accessible, understandable information, freedom of opinion, cultural life, access to leisure, and inclusion in the digital arena. These rights should be possible, should be implementable, and we should ensure no restriction of rights or capacity or autonomy or access to services. We also maintain that the instrument should develop and guarantee the existing guarantees in the light of the barriers and vulnerabilities that particularly impact older persons, those that include explicit detail would be support for decision making, multiple and intersecting discrimination, effective access to justice, financial and inheritance abuse, abandonment and negligence, and inclusion in the digital world. In terms of health, there should be timely access to healthcare of quality. And there should be no attempt to restrict or deny service provision. In the digital world, we should look at accessibility, literacy, and non-digital alternatives to ensure that digitalization does not create additional barriers. On care, the state responsibility should include guarantees, finance, oversight, quality, and access with participation of the older person in the decisions that pertain to them. Finally, to guarantee within this LBI and other human rights treaties, ensuring that the provisions complement and strengthen international and regional human rights treaties. Its interpretation should respect universality, indivisibility, and independence, and promote the normative framework with existing standards, avoiding any provisions that try to reduce the standards that are already pre-established in other treaties. Thank you.

Thank you, Cile. I'd like to remind you that you have two minutes. I'm going to have to cut the microphone. Please read your statements out loud and sometimes do this in advance so that you're aware of how long it takes, because sometimes you think your speech might be two minutes, but it's actually four. I really want to make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to participate today, and I would call for your cooperation. Iran, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Iran believes that the catalogue of rights in the future instrument should build upon existing international human rights standards, particularly the two international conferences on human rights.

In this regard, we wish to highlight two points: first, the right to life and the prevention of avoidable deaths.

The right to life should not Be understood normally, while considerable attention is given to certain forms of deprivation to life, we should also pay attention to preventable deaths among older persons resulting from medical negligence, inadequate health.

Care, neglect, and lack of essential care. The right to life involves not only protection against arbitrary deprivation of life, but also positive obligation to protect life, including appropriate prevention, investigation.

And accountability.

These are among the.

Issues that deserve greater attention in the future instrument, particularly where existing human rights standards have not been effectively implemented.

Or where a specific protection gap remains.

Second, economic, social, and cultural rights.

The effective enjoyment of the right to life is closely connected to the right to health, social security, and adequate standard of living.

The future instrument should give due.

Attention to access to essential medicine, healthcare, long-term care, and social protection, particularly for older persons further facing poverty, isolation, or other difficult circumstances. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I give you the floor, distinguished representative of Iraq.

Thank you, Mr. President. With regard to the catalog of rights that must be included in the instrument, the Republic of Iraq affirms a comprehensive and inclusive approach based on the fact that all persons are human right holders and not beneficiaries of protection or care, therefore, we believe that the catalogue must include the respect of human dignity, equality, and the will of the older persons and their right to participate in their own decisions. We also reaffirm that the catalogue must reflect protection against all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, including financial, real estate abuse, legal protection and access to justice must also be guaranteed. We stress the right to medical care, social care, and providing all services to older persons while providing domestic care, we also reaffirm that the right to development must be integrated in the instrument so that older persons would effectively participate in the development process and will benefit equally from it like others. Iraq also believes that all persons must fully participate and integrate in the society so that their experience and contributions can be made use of. In conclusion, Iraq believes that the catalogue must be inclusive, balanced, and balanced along with the international human rights treaties, while considering the cultural and legislative specificities of the national countries. Thank you.

Thank you. Secretary has given me this paper to read. I think it's very appropriate. Participants are reminded to submit copies of their statement 48 hours prior to delivery. to ohchr-igwg-arop@un.org with speeches@un.org in copy to facilitate simultaneous interpretation. And all the statements received will be posted as received on the IGWG HROP website. I mean, none of your opinion will be actually dismissed. It will be all taken into account. But certainly, I understand the fact that you want to express your opinion. That's what we are here for. But I mean, I appeal for your understanding that it is impossible to accommodate everybody. You can submit all your papers, it's going to be all included, but you can make a synthesis and a summary of your statement in these two minutes, and thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Thailand.

Thailand reaffirms our support for a comprehensive LBI. The future instrument should be grounded in existing international human rights law and guided by a human rights-based approach, while recognizing older persons as rights holders entitled to dignity, autonomy, independence, equality, and non-discrimination, including protection against ageism. In this regard, we welcome the valuable.

Contributions of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, which has called for a comprehensive, inclusive, and rights-based approach.

To addressing existing protection gaps. Thailand wishes to highlight five priority areas. First, instruments should seek to ensure the right to social security and adequate income security, particularly.

Through a life-course approach to aging.

Second, the instrument should safeguard older persons’ right to health. This includes access to affordable, accessible, acceptable, and quality health care, including age-friendly primary health care, preventive services, long-term and palliative care. It should also promote community-based care services to support ageing in place, while recognizing the important role of formal and informal caregivers. Third, the instrument should seek to ensure the rights of older persons to meaningful participation in society, including through lifelong learning, digital literacy, and accessible technologies and services. Fourth, the instrument should promote adequate and accessible housing and age-friendly environments, including through universal design to support independent living. Fifth, the instrument should address the heightened risks faced by older persons in humanitarian crises, including disasters. Mr. Chair, Thailand believes that the future instrument should go beyond reaffirming existing rights while respecting national circumstances and recognizing the roles of families, communities, and intergenerational solidarity. I thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Germany. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for giving me the floor on this agenda item, and we fully align with Malta's statement. The Open-ended Working Group in its decision 14/1 has identified 14 areas which are pivotal to the full employment of human rights by older persons. equality and non-discrimination, freedom from violence, neglect and abuse, autonomy and independence, access to long-term care, palliative care, social protection and social security, education, training, lifelong learning and capacity building, access to justice, right to work, access to the labor market, economic security, contribution to sustainable development, right to the enjoyment of the fullest attainable standard of health, social inclusion, accessibility, infrastructure and habitat, participation in public life and decision making, and protection in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. Most of these areas are covered by universal treaties, thus the drafting must be very careful and avoid different interpretation of existing standards by the new instrument, bearing in mind that all the persons are adult persons covered by the existing treaties. Germany notes the importance of care and care facilities relating to older persons, but does not consider this as a main pillar on which this instrument should be based. We acknowledge that such services do require care workers who without any doubt are rights holders. However, we should underline that the main focus of the instrument should be to protect all rights of older persons. and not be diverted to focus on specific rights enjoyed by persons in forms of employment which are already governed by other established international instruments, in particular ILO's Domestic Workers Convention. I thank you for your attention.

I think I'll give you the floor, distinguished representative of the Philippines. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Philippines wishes to emphasize four fundamental rights that merit explicit recognition. First, the right to equality, non-discrimination, and autonomy. The instrument must guarantee protection against age-based discrimination and affirm the right of older persons to independence, equal recognition before the law, and the exercise of legal capacity. Their autonomy and right to make informed decisions concerning their lives, property, and health care must be fully respected. Second, the right to freedom from violence, abuse, and neglect. States must be obligated to prevent and address all forms of violence, exploitation, and neglect against older persons, including degrading or coercive practices in institutional or other care settings. Human dignity, bodily integrity, and informed consent must remain paramount. Third, the rights of older persons in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. The Convention must ensure inclusive, accessible, and age-responsive protection during armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, pandemics, and climate-related disasters. Older persons must likewise be recognized as active participants in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Fourth, the right to an adequate standard of living, social protection, health, and quality care. The Convention must guarantee access to adequate social protection. affordable health care and quality, person-centered care and support services that uphold dignity, autonomy, and independence. The Philippines emphasizes that protecting the rights of older persons necessarily entails protecting those who care for them. The Convention should recognize the importance of fair remuneration, decent working conditions, adequate training, and appropriate labor protection for caregivers, including migrant care workers.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Gabor, for the distinguished representation of Austria. Austria.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Austria sees the catalogue of rights as the interconnected rooms of a house. Each room serves a different purpose, but together they form a coherent whole. A barrier in one area can affect the enjoyment of rights in others. Let me illustrate this with a real case reported by the Austrian motor mobile club, the ÖAMTC. A 72-year-old member was refused a rental car in Corsica, simply because the rental company applied an upper age limit of 69. What appears to be a simple restriction on access to a service can have wider consequences. It can limit independent mobility, undermine personal autonomy, and restrict social participation. This illustrates how different human rights are interconnected, different rooms of the same house. Our objective should not simply be to repeat existing human rights treaties, but to clarify their application in older age and address persistent normative and implementation gaps. The future convention must build on existing international and regional standards, never lower them. The work of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, OHCHR, and the independent experts provide a valuable foundation for identifying where stronger protection is needed. First, equality and non-discrimination must remain central, including direct, indirect and intersectional discrimination. Second, meaningful participation deserves particular attention. Loneliness and social isolation can reveal structural barriers to participation. Protection from violence, abuse and neglect, as well as effective access to justice and remedies, are equally indispensable. Third, autonomy and self-determination are essential. Older persons must be able to make decisions about their own lives. with their will and preferences respected. Additionally, we want to second Malta by highlighting that care and support services play important roles in enabling older persons to exercise these rights. Care workers are also rights holders in their own right. However, their employment-related rights are addressed through established labour law frameworks and international standards. Our Convention must remain focused on protecting the human rights of older persons.

I'm sorry, but I mean, we're exceeding by far the two minutes. It was really very interesting statement, but I mean, unfortunately, we cannot continue. Maybe the representative of Guatemala?

I call on Guatemala.

Thank you, Chair. Autonomy and care for adult older people requires a very dovetailed approach. The catalogue should include the provision that these people have a right to a participatory life free of violence. We think that this catalogue should consider the capacity of older people to decide on the care and attention that they receive, giving into the need to take into account cultural and linguistic diversity, and above all, changes in different parts of the country which create differences in access to rights. Also, it is necessary to consider the area of health and respect for wishes in care services on the long term, because it is important to have the right to privacy and the belief that the particular needs of each person should be taken into account. The provision of Support should take into account respect for their rights and their decisions. Also, my delegation thinks it is important to pay attention to the carers, because their support has an impact on the quality and sustainability of care, always keeping the dignity of the older person at the heart of these provisions. Chair, the five pillars of the principles put forward by the United Nations for older persons help us to interrelate the access to care with rights and also to ensure that the right kind of care is given to the person requiring them. Also, participation includes the possibility of intervening in public decisions which affect these people and to continue supplying services to the life of their communities. Self-realization requires cultural, educational, and spiritual activities, and there must be protection from violence and take into account.

Guatemala, thank you for your statement. It is limited to two minutes. I give the floor to the delegate of Japan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, colleagues, distinguished delegates. Regarding the catalogue of rights to be included in the legally binding instrument and the essential task of ensuring coherence with existing international standards, my delegation wishes to submit the following. First, concerning the scope of rights and addressing emerging issues, my delegation believes our starting point must be the recognition that multiple rights of older persons are already firmly guaranteed under the existing international human rights treaties. Therefore, rather than attempting to redefine universally recognized rights, it would be highly desirable for any new legally binding instrument to focus precisely on addressing the specific gaps in current protection and implementation, while ensuring consistency and complementarity with existing framework. Second, in doing so, we must adopt an intersectoral approach, recognizing that the various challenges faced by older persons are complex and deeply interconnected. Finally, we support an approach where the new legally binding instrument explains the specific characteristics and needs of older persons, much like the CRPD did, while building upon elements already recognized in existing human rights treaties. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of The Gambia.

We thank the independent expert for helping frame this discussion. The Gambia supports a comprehensive catalogue of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for older persons and wish to highlight the five priorities. First, social protection and income security. The instrument should address how older persons can maintain a secure income, particularly those who have worked in the informal economy and have no access to a pension. Second, property and inheritance rights, particularly for older women. Older persons must be protected against dispossession and financial exploitation. They should receive the inheritance due to them under applicable laws, including religious laws, with access to justice and remedies. Third, protection against violence, abuse and neglect, or exploitation and abandonment in all settings. Complaints and procedures must be accessible, including where older persons depend on those responsible for the abuse. Fourth, the right to health. Older persons should have access to affordable, quality and health care services that responds to their needs. The instrument should also recognize the role of families and communities in providing care and support they need. Fifth, participation in public, religious, cultural and community life. Older persons should be consulted on decisions affecting them and be able to contribute to society. They should also be able to practice their faith, maintain their cultural identities and share their knowledge across generations. Chair, we thank you for your excellent work in guiding this process.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Distinguished representative of China.

China believes that the following rights should be included in the list: First, the right to life. Older persons should enjoy their right to life. This is the foremost fundamental human right. The basic livelihood, medical care, and elderly care should be guaranteed by the state and society. Their personal safety and dignity should be protected by law. Second, the right to health, an important basis for the survival and development. States should carry out health education for older persons, prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases, and progressively improve the level of health service. Third, the right to support and maintenance. Older persons should have the right to receive financial support, daily care, and emotional support from their families. Family members should respect, care for, Fourth, the right to social participation. Older persons should have the right to participate in social development. States and societies should create conditions and attach importance to making full use of their knowledge, skills, and experiences. At the same time, older persons should enjoy the right to share the benefits of development. States should progressively improve the conditions for older persons' participation in social development. Older persons should enjoy the right to equal participation without discrimination. Fifth, the right to judicial protection. The personal safety and dignity should be protected by law and safeguarded from all forms of violence and abuse. When the lawful rights and interests of older persons are infringed, they should have the right to legal proceedings in accordance with the law and obtain judicial protection. Thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished.

Representative of Cabo Verde.

Thank you, Chair. Concerning the catalogue of rights, Cabo Verde, first of all, believes that it should enshrine a whole array of rights based on equality, so autonomy and participation it should guarantee. legal capacity and free and informed consent for social protection and decent housing, access to health and to long-term care, and protection from violence, abuse, negligence, and exploitation. It should also foster participation in public and cultural life, access to information related to digital matters. Also, it should supplement existing international law without weakening the key already made and allow for proper implementation. And these rights should be accompanied by appropriate social benefits and access to qualified professional assistance and mechanisms for quality control. Also, it should respond to age-based discrimination and financial implications of being placed in homes and for Cabo Verde, for small island developing countries, the dispersion of our territory sometimes disrupts continuity of care, and we should have, therefore, adaptations to national conditions without compromising the universality of rights. Thirdly, Cabo Verde fully agrees that The future instrument should respect universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of human rights and guarantee complementarity with existing treaties, in particular those relating to the rights of women, persons with disabilities. Thank you.

I give you the floor, distinguished representative of Malaysia.

Mr. Chair, rapporteur, thank you for giving us the floor. Malaysia believes that the catalogue of rights should clarify how existing human rights apply in older age and address areas where protection remains insufficient. Priority areas include equality and non-discrimination, health, social security, and adequate standard of living, access to justice, and protection from violence, abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Care and support require particular attention. Provisions should promote access to affordable, quality services across home-based, community-based, and residential settings. They should also uphold privacy, informed consent, and participation in decisions concerning care. Mr. Chair Repertoire, older persons experiencing cognitive impairment must continue to be treated with dignity and supported to exercise their rights. Accessible communication, appropriate decision-making support, and safeguards against abuse are important considerations. In this regard, the catalogue of rights should also address opportunities for participation, including lifelong learning, decent work, and digital inclusion. As services increasingly move online, older persons need accessible technologies, digital literacy, and protection from fraud. However, essential services should remain accessible to those unable to use digital platforms. Throughout these provisions, we should also recognize the different circumstances of older persons and avoid assumptions that all have the same needs. To conclude, Malaysia supports a coherent catalogue that strengthens protection, guides national implementation, and remains consistent with existing international human rights standards. I thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to distinguished representative of Qatar.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would like to reiterate what we have submitted in our written submission, namely when it comes to the catalogue of rights, we think that it should include clear indications that older persons should enjoy full rights on equal basis with others, while taking into account their needs, promote their protection of their rights. We also reiterate that there should be no discrimination based on age. Support services should be provided, as well as a decent living and social protection, protection from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, as well as ensuring access to all types of services, justice, and lifelong learning. We consider that it is very important to take into account emerging issues that were not tackled in a sufficient manner earlier. It is also important to highlight the role of the family and the community in providing care and support to older persons. The LBI should be based on existing human rights instruments and should be coherent with them while tackling the gaps when it comes to protection, implementation, and preventing double standards. It is very important to respect the scope of the LBI that should be based on internationally recognized principles without adding principles and ideas that do not enjoy international consensus. We will submit our full written statement Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In Brazil perspective, the future instrument should include a comprehensive catalogue of rights that reflects the realities of ageing and address the specific barriers older persons face in the enjoyment of their human rights. This catalogue should be interpreted in an open manner, allowing to respond to new challenges as society evolve. In this regard, we would like to highlight the following key areas. The right to occupancy care included long-term care. The right to autonomy, independence, ensure that older person can make their own decisions. Protection against all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, including financial, institutional, and digital violence. Sorry. The right to social, political, and community participation, including family and community life. The right to decent work, free from age discrimination, should equal opportunities. Accessibility and mobility based on universal design, the removal of physical communication and digital barriers. Digital inclusion and lifelong learning. Access to justice, including accessible procedures, appropriate assistance, and effective remedies. dignity at end of life, including access to palliative care, the right to comprehensive health, including mental health, preventive care, and service that responds to specific needs of older persons, the right to social protection, the right to adequate housing, the appreciation and protection of cultural identities and expressions, and climate justice. This comprehensive approach would strengthen existing human rights guarantees while addressing protection gaps and ensuring that the rights of older persons I effectively realize. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mexico proposes that the catalog, in accordance with other treaties and conventions and standards of the United Nations includes the avoidance of discrimination based on age and multiple and intersectional discrimination, autonomy, independence, and legal capacity, including the decision about one's life plans, residence, personal property, and health relations, care and support, a comprehensive approach is taking into account gender, aspects, regulation, and support for the carers. Life free of violence, abuse, and exploitation with mechanisms for access to justice, reparation, and punishment. Access to non-discriminatory education, rehabilitation, health, reproductive health, and palliative care and chronic disease care, decent work and labor social protection, recognizing the conditions of older persons, including non-paid activities, property protection, including digital education, information, and training, and participation culture, and housing, and environment with measures against social exclusion. These proposals do not claim to be an exhaustive catalogue, but rather a set of priorities we would like to see reflected in the text. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Mexico.

In the interest of time, I will turn directly to the areas that, in our view, should be reflected in the catalogue of rights, which should be comprehensive, specific, and non-regressive, as the independent expert said, without prejudice to further contributions at a later stage. These are autonomy and the free development of personality, participation, accessibility, freedom from violence, abuse, and neglect, access to justice, health, long-term care, and education, lifelong learning. Independent living and the avoidance of institutionalization also deserve a place, as do economic security and social protection, including adequate pensions, in conjunction with the right to work and protection situations of risk. The treatment of care as a human rights question for older persons would be welcome, and I support the approach taken by Malta, Germany, and Austria in this respect, as are the Life Course perspective and active ageing. Non-discrimination merits particular emphasis to close a significant gap in the present architecture. As to emerging issues, the digital dimension stands out, as well as the continued availability of non-digital channels for essential services. Finally, as coherence is an important consideration, a non-regression clause at consistency with core treaties, including the CRPD, would avoid fragmentation and ensure complementarity. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Algeria.

Mr. Chair, the Algerian delegation wishes to share its position regarding structure and substance of the catalogue of rights in the future instrument. For our delegation, the definition of the rights enshrined in this future instrument must respond to a balanced, holistic, and pragmatic approach. First, the catalogue of rights must reaffirm the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, giving equal attention to economic, social, and cultural rights, such as the right to health, social protection, and adequate standard of living, alongside civil and political rights. For developing countries, securing these economic and social rights is an indispensable prerequisite for the true dignity and autonomy for our elders. Second, the exercise of the individual right must be understood within a family and community perspective, the right to be protected against abuse, neglect, and abandonment, as well as the right to live in the community, must recognize the central role of the family as the primary natural environment for the support and well-being of older persons. Finally, Mr. Chair, regarding the introduction of new rights or specific normative concepts, we call for a realistic, balanced, and progressive approach. Provisions related to assistance and support must articulate flexibly with national solidarity systems and State budgetary capacities. without imposing rigid legal models that would contradict the national protection mechanism already established under our domestic legislations. Algeria reiterates its readiness to contribute actively to drafting a catalogue of rights that is protective, inclusive, and adapted to the realities of all nations. I thank you.

Thank you. We give the floor to His Excellency, the representative of Kenya.

Chairperson, Kenya reaffirms the catalogue of rights in its earlier submission of 16 April 2026.

Namely: non-discrimination and equality; life and personal integrity; liberty and security; freedom from torture and ill-treatment; privacy; legal capacity; access to justice; freedom of expression and opinion; participation in public and political life; education; health; long-term care; social protection; an adequate standard of living; work; housing; cultural rights; and freedom from all violence.

Each right should be elaborated in the older person's context, and in particular attention should be given to the following issues.

Firstly, access to palliative care, pain, and relief, and the right to be free from unwanted and non-consensual medical treatment. Second, social security and an adequate standard of living. Third, health, including affordable, accessible, and age-appropriate services, medicine, assistive devices, and rehabilitation.

Fourth, work and retirement, including protection from age-based discrimination in recruitment, promotion, and retrenchment. Fifth, property, land, and inheritance.

Sixth, legal capacity and access to justice. Seventh, independent living and community inclusion, including the right to choose one's place of residence and living arrangements, and the protection against arbitrary institutionalization. Kenya further wishes to draw attention, the intergovernmental working group's attention to the following six issue.

The protection of older persons in humanitarian emergencies, conflict displacement, and the effects of climate change.

Secondly, financial exploitation, including through digital financial services. Third, ageism and bias in artificial intelligence.

Fourth, the situation of older caregivers of older persons raising grandchildren.

Fifth, the rights of older persons deprived of liberty.

And sixth, the situation of older persons in situations of displacement. We submit. Thank you, Chairperson.

Thank you, distinguished representative of India.

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson. My delegation believes that the protection of older persons must translate into tangible improvements in their everyday lives. In this backdrop, the Indian draft articulates a comprehensive range of rights and protections. These include equality and non-discrimination, dignity, autonomy, and independence, legal capacity and access to justice, freedom from violence, abuse, neglect, abandonment, and exploitation, and respect for privacy and family life. These rights must be supported by effective remedies, accessible procedures, and safeguards that protect older persons without diminishing their agency or freedom of choice. We must also ensure the right to meaningful participation and inclusion in political, economic, social, and cultural life. The right to the highest attainable standards of health and the right to social security and an adequate standard of living, including access to maintenance, food, housing, and essential medical care. The right to work and pursue livelihoods, access to safe housing and accessible environments, and protection against exclusion in an increasingly digital world are equally important. Digitalization must empower older persons, not disadvantage them. Protection against cybercrime, digital fraud, and exploitation must go hand in hand with accessible technology, digital literacy, and appropriate non-digital alternatives. Particular attention must be given to the right to appropriate care and support. This requires accessible home-based, community-based, and residential care services, professional standards, and trained care workers. We must equally recognize and support the contribution of families, informal caregivers, and communities. Mr. Chair, we must combine immediate protection against discrimination, abuse, and exclusion with the progressive development of sustainable health care, social protection, care infrastructure, and age-friendly environments, taking account of national circumstances and available resources. In this spirit, India invites all States to engage constructively and substantively with the Indian draft model convention on the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons submitted to the Secretariat and circulated to all missions. We offer this draft in the spirit of openness and partnership as a practical contribution to our collective deliberations. We encourage delegations to examine its provisions, share their perspectives, and build upon its proposals. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Chair, Peru believes that the catalogue of rights of the future instrument should correspond to the specific gaps facing older persons in the effective exercise of their rights, which are recognized, avoiding a simple reiteration of existing standards. We think it is of priority importance to give attention to comprehensive care and long-term care, participation by the community, a life free of violence. autonomy, accessible environments, a decent access to palliative medicine. Chair, for my delegation, autonomy and care should be dealt with in a complementary fashion. The need for support should not undermine the capacity of the older person to express their wishes. and to participate in society, also protection from violence should include abuse, negligence, and property problems and financial difficulties, also there should be an inclusion of digital matters. and emerging issues, particularly relating to older people, particularly in rural areas where there is greater vulnerability and access to services can be lesser. We think it's important to ensure consistency with the main human rights treaties that take into account regional aspects. For Peru, the protection of the human rights of older persons is an important reference point for ensuring autonomy, care, participation, and dignity in our country. The objective should be to complement in the existing framework and to recognize that older persons still have barriers when it comes to access to their rights and trying to find ways to overcome them. Thank you very much.

Distinguished representative of Ghana.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the list of rights, Ghana supports comprehensive protection of the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of older persons. We wish to highlight four interconnected priorities. First, equality, autonomy, and independence. Older persons must be protected from ageism and discrimination. Age should never be treated as grounds for exclusion or presumed incapacity. Older persons should enjoy equality before the law, retain their legal capacity, and receive support to make decisions about their lives when needed. Second, health care and healthy longevity. The right to health is fundamental to healthy longevity. Older persons should have equitable access to quality, affordable, and age-responsive health care, including preventive, curative, rehabilitative, palliative, and mental health services, as well as essential medicines, assistive technologies, and appropriate long-term care. Third, social protection and economic security. Social protection and income security help older persons live with This is especially important in developing countries, where informal work and limited pension coverage can leave many people vulnerable later in life. Adequate protection should help prevent poverty, financial hardship, and avoidable deprivation. Fourth, protection, care and participation. Older persons must be protected from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in all settings. Those who need care should have access to affordable, person-centred support that respects their dignity, autonomy and participation. Ghana supports a continuum of care, from family and home-based supports to community and formal long-term care, with safeguards for both older persons and caregivers. Finally, we reaffirm that nothing about older persons should be decided without their meaningful participation. I thank you.

Thank you.

I now call on the distinguished representative of Paraguay.

Thank you, Chair. Paraguay believes that the catalog of rights in the future convention should restate the universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of all human rights. and also recognize the specific protection needs of older persons. Along these lines, we believe that the Inter-American Convention is a valuable reference point when it comes to taking into account a broad array of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Inter alia, we'd like to highlight particularly the right inherent to life, the inherent right rather, to life, equality, and non-discrimination, security, and protection from all forms of violence, abuse, negligence, abandonment, and exploitation. We also think it's fundamental that these rights be guaranteed in equality of conditions regardless of age, In addition, we believe it's important that the future instrument recognizes explicitly the right to the enjoyment of the highest possible level of physical and mental health, including access to comprehensive care and palliative care, as well as rights to social security participation and inclusion in family and community life. Against this backdrop, we think it's important to stress the importance of intergenerational solidarity and the strengthening of families and communities as sources of assistance and support. Lastly, we believe that the catalog should be built on existing international standards. making it possible to bridge the specific gaps in protection, avoiding unnecessary duplication, promoting a balanced, coherent instrument. Thank you very much.

Representative of Israel.

Thank you, Chair. Israel welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the deliberations.

Please could the speaker move the microphone to her mouth? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Chair. Israel welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the deliberation of the working group on the catalogue of rights to be included in the legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons, and is pleased to share the following views. The future rights set out in this instrument will ultimately reflect the shared commitments of states towards older persons, and their scope and content will guide national legislation, policy, and practice for years to come. Israel considers that the LBI should reaffirm in the specific context of older persons, the spectrum of older persons' age, the rights to equality and non-discrimination, to independent and autonomous living, enabling older persons to maintain the greatest possible degree of independence, the right of access to quality, available, and accessible services, such as adapted health care, the right to life, physical integrity, safety, and dignity. and the right to participation in all areas of life, including employment and culture. In doing so, the instrument should build upon existing instruments while focusing on the particular manner in which these rights apply to older persons. ISRA further considers that in our discussions, particular attention should be given to the rights that are not sufficiently articulated with respect to older persons in existing instruments, such as participation in the digital sphere and the protection of rights in the transition to digital services, encompassing access to information, privacy, and informed consent with regard to the sharing of financial and health data. The maintenance of family, sorry, the maintenance of family, social, and intergenerational ties, and the protection from economic exploitation. The negotiations of the instrument should also address the rights of older persons residing in institutional care and of those living with cognitive decline. Israel also proposes that, being mindful of the element of time in this session.

Thank you. To give the floor to the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom. You have the floor.

I thank the independent expert for his insights this morning. The United Kingdom is committed to protecting and promoting the human rights of older persons. As we consider the content of a possible new instrument, our starting point should be clear: older persons should already enjoy the full range of human rights on an equal basis with others. Many of the rights relevant to older persons are firmly established in the international human rights framework, including the two covenants. A treaty should not duplicate or recreate those rights, nor should it reopen settled standards in ways that risk narrowing their scope and weakening existing protections. Instead, the process would draw on the existing framework and identify where greater clarity, specificity, or more effective implementation would add value for older persons.

Any new language should be consistent with established international law and should preserve the strongest applicable standard where protections overlap.

The instrument should also support the autonomy, independence and full and meaningful participation of older persons.

Including in decisions affecting their lives, while recognising the diversity of their circumstances and avoiding assumptions based solely on age.

Our objective should therefore be an instrument that strengthens implementation, addresses genuine protection gaps, and complements existing obligations.

It should bring coherence and practical.

Benefit without creating conflicting standards or diminishing the protections that older persons should already enjoy under international law.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I recognize the distinguished representative of Uruguay.

Thank you, Chair Rapporteur. The Catalogue of Rights of the Future Convention should address economic, social, cultural, and civil and political rights and develop specific guarantees in the face of barriers that hamper their full enjoyment. older age. It's essential to establish non-discrimination on the grounds of age, legal capacity, the right to independent life within the community. The need for support should not justify undue restrictions to legal capacity, and the right to decide with whom and where they want to live should be preserved. We should ensure the preservation of security and personal freedom. On health, we should focus on comprehensive quality healthcare, including physical and mental healthcare, free prior informed consent, and access to palliative care. And furthermore, we should bear in mind the advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which recognizes the right to care as a standalone human right, and the right to care, be cared for, and self-care. We should ensure that this is explicit in the instrument and that protection should be afforded in the case of non-desired institutionalisation. We should also guarantee political, public and community participation, as well as opportunities for education and lifelong learning, recognising the contribution of older persons to society, as to digital transformation, access should be provided in an appropriate fashion, avoiding discrimination and guaranteeing privacy and protection of personal data. Justice should be guaranteed, eradicating barriers, ensuring appropriate legal aid, and accommodation of procedures to allow for effective participation of older persons. Thank you.

Thank you. I recognize the distinguished representative of Spain.

Chair, Spain advocates for the future UN Convention on older persons. Older persons should be active rights holders with the right to decide on the course of their life. They're not just figures for protection, but also rights holders, and it requires support from public powers. They should enjoy welfare not just within family, but also in the community. We should reaffirm rights that are already enshrined in international laws, such as healthcare, housing, education, life within the community, but all through the prism of living as an older person. recognise ageism as a structural form of discrimination that impacts the full enjoyment of rights and is something we must combat. Spain reiterates the need for the instrument to include in a cross-cutting fashion a gender perspective, including disability, and guarantee equal treatment and respect for sexual orientation and gender equality. This will contribute to building equal societies for all ages. We believe that it's essential that the systems for care and support are focused on a human rights approach and that we focus on policies for deinstitutionalization and care in the community. It's fundamental to establish the effective ties, the and their full participation in society. Spain reiterates the need to have a sufficient pension and health and labour security. Technological transformation should also be included, should guarantee that the development and the use of these technologies respects dignity, autonomy of older persons, avoiding new forms of discrimination.

Thank you, Chair. As indicated in our previous intervention, any catalogue of rights should be founded on the indivisibility, independence nature of all human rights. The existing conventions of human rights provide a robust framework for protection of the rights of older persons and should be drawn upon to integrate an age perspective in the work. For this segment, allow me to place the emphasis on digital inclusion. Digital technologies can provide significant opportunities to older persons, promoting their independence, social participation, and access to services. However, they can also represent practical challenges and accentuate certain forms of exclusion. Therefore, we should adopt inclusive approaches, bearing in mind the obstacles connected to age. Furthermore, older persons can be exposed to diverse forms of violence and mistreatment, fraud and abuse, and exploitation. facilitated by digital technology, we believe also that guaranteeing digital security and protection of private life are prerequisites for the full effective participation of older persons in the digital realm. Any future legally binding instrument must promote both digital inclusion and the protection of older persons from any harms that might be facilitated by technology, while supporting their autonomy, independence, and empowerment in an increasingly digital world. I thank you.

Thank you, Gwilym, for the distinguished representative of South Africa.

Thank you, Chair. South Africa supports the inclusion of a comprehensive and balanced catalogue of rights in the future Convention on the Rights of Older Persons. The catalogue should reaffirm that older persons are entitled to the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others, without discrimination of any kind. In our view, the Convention should incorporate both civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights, recognizing their universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness. Particular attention should also be given to rights that respond to the specific barriers and vulnerabilities experienced by older persons, including the right to equality and non-discrimination, access to health care, long-term and palliative care, social protection, digital inclusion, and access to justice, as well as abuse and neglect. South Africa further underscores the importance of recognizing older persons as active rights holders and contributors to society, rather than merely beneficiaries of care and assistance. The Convention should therefore promote dignity, autonomy, participation and inclusion across all spheres of life. Finally, the catalogue of rights should be sufficiently comprehensive to address current and emerging challenges faced by older persons, while allowing States the necessary policy space for effective national implementation. I thank you, Chair.

Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Pakistan.

Chair Rapporteur, on the catalogue of rights, Pakistan’s approach is guided by one principle: it should reaffirm and clarify existing rights under international humanitarian law as they apply in old age. Normative development, where due, should be limited to clearly identified protection gaps while remaining coherent within the ICCPR, ICESCR, and other core treaties. The instrument should affirm the inherent right to life of older persons on an equal basis with others, including in illness, frailty, and dependency. Given its non-derogable character, no provision, including on health and autonomy, should be construed as diminishing it. We support a clear provision on protection from violence, abuse, neglect, abandonment, and exploitation, including undue influence, and all setting and addressing underlying conditions such as isolation and inadequate support. Palliative care forms part of the right to health. The instrument should draw on WHO's understanding of palliative care as in WHA Resolution 67.19 and provide access that is comprehensive, culturally appropriate, respectful of medical ethics, and life-affirming. The family as the natural and fundamental group unity of society is the first source of care for the older person. The catalogue should recognize its role and promote intergenerational solidarity. Obligation must be realistic, framed in terms of progressive realization and national capacities, supported by international cooperation, technology transfer, and capacity building. We are cautious about contested concepts or stand-alone rights lacking consensus, and a savings clause should preserve existing obligations and more protective domestic provisions. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished Ambassador of Pakistan. Now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Australia.

Thank you, Chair.

Australia supports the development of a legally binding international instrument that recognizes older persons as right holders. As we've already addressed, we think key concepts should relate to the elimination of ageism and age discrimination. We also think the new convention should uphold the autonomy and independence of older persons. to make and communicate their own decisions, and to have their will and preferences respected.

Accessibility and participation are equally important.

Older persons and their representative organisations must be involved in developing, implementing, and monitoring the measures that affect them.

This Convention must also address long-term care, palliative care, and end-of-life care. Older persons must have timely access to high quality, person-centered care that supports autonomy, independence, participation, and equality of life. Australia looks forward to working constructively with other states, older persons, and civil society to develop a convention grounded in dignity, equality, autonomy, participation, and inclusion.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. The representative of South Africa Human Rights Commission.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you so much, Chair, for the opportunity. At the heart of our discussion, a simple principle: human rights belong to every person throughout their lives. They do not diminish with age. They do not expire upon retirement. They do not depend on a person's income, health, independence, or ability to contribute economically. An older person remains a person with dignity, choices, aspirations, responsibilities, and rights. Our task is to ensure that this principle is reflected in law, in public policy, in services, and in everyday treatment. For the Republic of South Africa, this discussion is particularly meaningful. Our constitutional democracy is founded on human dignity, equality, and freedom. These values require us to confront exclusion, wherever it occurs, including exclusion based on age. We therefore approach the development of an international convention with both confidence and humility. We have progress to share. We also have lessons to learn. Allow me first to express appreciation for the work that has already been done, Chair, in drafting the catalogue of rights. Preparing a framework of this nature requires careful thought, it requires engagement with the experiences of older persons, consideration of different legal systems, and understanding of how discrimination operates in practice. We appreciate the moment, the commitment of those who have contributed to this work, including older persons themselves, the representatives of different organizations, the legal aspect, the civil society, the nature rights institutions, and other public institutions. The drafting work provides an important opportunity to bring greater clarity and visibility.

To the rights of all persons. Thank you.

I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Thailand National Human Rights Commission. I appeal to your understanding. We have more than 40-something interventions to go, so we have to speed up. Thank you. Go ahead.

Thank you.

For a catalogue of rights, we have six points. First, life and dignity. The Convention must affirm the right to life and dignity. It must ensure equal protection in health care and long-term care settings. Their autonomy, choices, and informed consent must be respected. Second, equality and non-discrimination. The Convention should combat ageism and intersecting discrimination, substantive equality and reasonable accommodation are vital to remove barriers to enjoy their rights. Third, the right to work and employment. Many older persons wish or need to work, but face age-based barriers. The Convention must promote equal opportunities, flexible arrangements, and suitable employment that fits their abilities. Fourth, social security. It should be recognized as a distinct substantive right. Adequate pensions and robust social protection are vital, especially for older persons in the informal economy and those providing unpaid caregiving. Fifth, the right to access information. The Convention should promote digital literacy, accessible information, and support to ensure that older persons can use technology safely and make informed decisions. Sixth, protection and care. The Convention must protect older persons from violence, abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation, it must guarantee quality long-term care and community-based services for independent living. In closing, the NHRCT encourages the working group to develop a coherent, inclusive catalogue of rights that protects the dignity and independence of all older persons.

I thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to Uganda Human Rights Commission.

Honourable Chairperson, Uganda Human Rights Commission commends the United Nations for the ongoing process of developing a dedicated international legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons. We believe that the main objective of this instrument should be to enhance the respect, to protect, fulfil and promote the rights of older persons. Uganda Human Rights Commission, therefore, recommends that the new proposed international convention on the rights of older persons should emphasize the following in its catalog of rights. First, the instrument should affirm equality before the law and expressly prohibit age discrimination.

It should also.

Recognize the legal capacity and require supported decision making so that older persons are not wrongfully presumed incapable of making their own choices. In addition, it should guarantee freedom from violence, abuse, and ensure access to justice through accessible procedures, legal aid, and effective remedies. The instrument, secondly, should protect the right to health, including access to affordable and quality health care services, with attention to age-related needs and geriatric care. The right to social protection should also be explicitly recognized. Third, the instrument should guarantee participation in community life so that older persons remain visible, heard, and included in decision-making processes, and ensure affordable digital inclusion for older persons, as well as the necessary skills and support to participate fully in civic, social, and community life. Fourth, the instrument should categorize older persons according to their vulnerabilities and special protection requirements. For example, older persons with disabilities, older persons in places of detention, older persons that are migrant and refugees, older persons living with HIV and AIDS, among others. Fifth, and in conclusion.

Thank you. I give the floor to distinguished representative of Amnesty International.

Mr. President, distinguished delegates, in view of time constraints, Amnesty International wishes to highlight one critical area based on our evidence-based documentation of systemic protection failures affecting older persons: the rights of older persons in situations of armed conflict, disaster, and other humanitarian emergencies. We conducted extensive research on the situation of older persons in armed conflict and emergency situations around the world. They are often overlooked in evacuation efforts. They might struggle due to disabilities to flee dangerous areas, or might choose to stay behind in conflict-affected areas out of economic necessity or a social attachment to their land and homes. As a result, our research finds that older persons die at disproportionately high rates during many armed conflict, and those who stay behind in conflict-affected areas often have limited access to healthcare, deepening this risk. Furthermore, once they are displaced, many older persons are overlooked or excluded from humanitarian assistance, health care, work placement, or skill training schemes. The new instrument must address the situation of older persons during armed conflict and emergencies, including the recent phase of violence, as well as the harm and neglect often experienced in displacement, and affirm the Treaty's full application in all circumstances, including in situations of armed conflict and other emergencies. Given the limited time available, we will not elaborate on other critical areas included in the original longer version of this statement, which are also informed by our evidence-based documentation. This includes the right to adequate housing, water and sanitation, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the right to health, the right to social security and access to justice, and the right to an effective remedy. Thank you.

Thank you. The Finnish National Human Rights Institution.

Thank you, Chair. I'm delivering this statement on behalf of the National Human Rights Institution of Finland, Germany, Georgia, Poland, and Republic of Korea. We believe that the new LBI should cover the full range of human rights recognized in existing UN international human rights instruments. The catalogue should include, but not to be limited to, equality and non-discrimination, including provision on reasonable accommodation, autonomy, freedom from violence, abuse and neglect, education, timely access to information, equitable access to healthcare, right to adequate services and support for daily activities, social protection, adequate standard of living, participation, and access to justice and effective remedies. The new LBI should further develop international standards where needed to better address the experiences and challenges of older persons. For example, the new LBI could recognize the right to be free from ageism, addressing stereotypes, prejudices, and discriminatory practices that undermine older persons' rights. It should also consider how to better protect social inclusion and meaningful participation in society, going beyond existing approaches to participation. The rights are interdependent and the catalogue should take into account the diverse and intersecting characteristics of older person. It should also address emerging human rights challenges, such as digital inclusion and the protection of older persons' rights in the context of climate change and emergencies, armed conflicts and peacemaking. Thank you.

Thank you. You give the floor distinguished representative of Age Platform Europe.

Chair, delegates, colleagues, and everyone who watches at home, I'm speaking on behalf of Age Platform Europe, the largest regional network bringing together more than 100 organizations of older persons. And our member organization, BUCSO, OLDUP, and my own GNF50+ from the Netherlands. As founding member of the GARAP, we also align with its statement and its discussion paper, which include a draft list of rights as a basis for reflection on the content of the forthcoming legal binding instrument. We would like to highlight two priorities. Firstly, we fully agree with you, Chair, that the treaty must uphold existing protection and strengthen them wherever necessary. It could clarify how established human rights apply in older age and address the gaps in law and practice that have left older persons insufficiently protected. Secondly, the treaty must provide a comprehensive catalogue of rights that reflects the interconnected and interdependent nature of all human rights and the realities of older persons' life. The treaty must address both longstanding and emerging challenges, ensuring that older persons can enjoy their rights in a rapidly changing world, particularly attention should be given to the human rights implications of digitalization, including the use of artificial intelligence, all across the areas of life. The treaty must ensure that technology development do not reinforce ageism, create new forms of discrimination, or exclude older persons from essential services and participation in society. It should also recognize the significant risk that climate change poses to older persons and require States to take effective measures to protect their rights.

Thank you, Magda, for this wonderful presentation.

Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch has documented a wide range of human rights violations against older persons. The treaty should address the full range of human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political, and social.

At the same time, the treaty should guarantee older persons' right to equality and non-discrimination.

Human Rights Watch's intervention today focuses on key elements of this right.

The treaty should prohibit discrimination against older persons on the basis of age. Prohibition should include direct and indirect discrimination, discrimination based on perception or association, cumulative discrimination, intersectional discrimination.

On two or more grounds, and systemic discrimination. The denial of reasonable accommodation should also be explicitly recognized as a form of discrimination. Any differential treatment based on age should be justified in compliance with international human rights law. Justification for differential treatment based on ageist or other stereotypes should not be permitted.

States' obligations to eliminate age discrimination should apply in both the public and private sectors.

States should have an obligation to eliminate.

Prejudice and practices, particularly those based on misconceptions of older persons' lesser value and worth, or on stereotyped.

Roles of older persons. States should also have an obligation to take positive measures to ensure equality in practice.

Finally, the treaty should not allow any exceptions, limitations, or restrictions that reduce the level of protection.

Against discrimination guaranteed under international human rights law.

Nor perpetuate any discriminatory age-based limitations on the equal enjoyment of rights by older persons.

Thank you.

Thank you. I give you the floor, Mr. Representative, National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Thank you, Chair. Community Legal Centres Australia endorses GAROP's approach set out in its discussion paper number four on the catalogue of rights and the attached list of possible rights. We also appreciate the independent expert's clear and helpful analysis of how to proceed. Some delegations have expressed concern about the need to avoid unnecessary duplication when deciding which rights to include. However, it's not clear what this notion means in practice. Where older persons experience violations of existing rights that are not adequately captured under the existing treaty framework, then the relevant right should be included, both reaffirmed and appropriately tailored to the circumstances of older persons. This is not unnecessary duplication, but rather necessary reinforcement and supplementation. Let me mention two rights that the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing did not explicitly identify in its decision 14/1 as involving possible gaps. First, the right to life. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions recently examined structural conditions that rendered potentially unlawful deaths of older persons overlooked, unaccounted for, and under-investigated, thereby threatening their right to life. He considered that this treaty drafting process presents an excellent opportunity to clarify state obligations in relation to the right to life of older persons. The second example is the right of older persons in prison to be treated humanely and with respect for their inherent dignity. There are significant old age-related human rights concerns in this area, as the work of the former independent expert Claudia Mahler has shown, and as is highlighted by a 2022 advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In short, nearly every human right has specific relevance for older persons, and for that reason, we need a comprehensive and inclusive convention. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Ana, for the International Federation on Aging.

The International Federation on Aging aligns itself with the statement of the Global Alliance of the Rights of Older People and welcomes its discussion paper on the catalog of rights. To complement other contributions, IFA will focus on social security, social protection, income security, and their contribution to sustainable development. issues raised by Member States, civil society, and the independent expert. The ILO Social Security Minimum Standard Convention 102 covers old age pensions and medical care, and it's a subject of an ongoing global ratification campaign supported by most Member States. As mentioned in previous interventions, other ILO instruments on social security and social protection provide further standards for older persons. Importantly, ILO standards have been adopted through a tripartite process involving governments, workers, and employers. This distinctive consensus deserves careful consideration. The catalogue should draw on UN and regional human rights instruments, as well as relevant standards developed and agreed and adopted at ILO and other UN agencies, including WHO and ITU. while reflecting the 2030 Agenda commitment to leave no one behind, in particular older persons. It is essential to distinguish a catalogue of rights from a catalogue of policies and strategies needed to implement them and close identified protection gaps. This objective should be built on existing agreements and strengthen the protection of older persons. Mr. Chair Rapporteur, within my remaining time, And as this might be my last intervention on behalf of IFAE, allow me to express our sincere appreciation for your effective, diplomatic, and elegant leadership. Thank you, Chair Rapporteur.

Thank you. And now I give it to the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse.

Thank you, Chair. INPEA aligns with GAROP's statements and welcomes its discussion paper on this topic. The Convention should contain a full, holistic and comprehensive list of rights, whilst enabling mechanisms for further addition should these prove necessary, recognising the dynamic nature of ageing in the human life course. It should contain all human rights and freedoms as these are relevant to older persons across different contexts, but there should not be a predominant emphasis on rights relating to care and support, health or social protection, including pensions. Whilst these are often of central importance to people as they age, such rights are wholly interdependent on others. Older persons' rights and lives must be acknowledged as holistic and seen in their totality. A cluster of rights relating to autonomy, independence and personal integrity would include the right to be free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, but also, inter alia, contain rights to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or torture, abandonment and other harmful practices. Protection from violence and abuse must maintain the individual's autonomy and legal capacity, including access to support for decision making that respects the person's will and preferences. The Convention must ensure that older persons can exercise the full enjoyment of their rights and obtain appropriate redress when needed. This is of central importance when considering the violations of rights that older people globally may face every day concerning violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. At this time of increasing polarization and tensions globally, we must rise above any ideological and/or political differences. In acknowledging the universality of the human rights of older persons and the absolute and urgent need for these to be secured, it is essential that we remain focused and work together towards our common goal: a new legally binding instrument for the benefit of all. Thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to the Icelandic representative of PACSO.

I speak on behalf of Silbernetz in Germany, member of the German National Association of Senior Citizens Organizations and member of GEROP.

For eight years now, Silbernetz has run a telephone hotline for older people experiencing loneliness and isolation.

Loneliness is not only a private feeling. Isolation isn't just due to personal behavior either. Both are also human rights issues. Both affect dignity, health, participation, including in democratic processes, as well as autonomy. Loneliness and isolation are often caused by ageism and age discrimination. The right to not be subject to ageism must be a central concern of the legally binding instrument. The right to equality and non-discrimination must include protection against all forms of discrimination on the grounds of older age. Loneliness and isolation are also caused by lack of information and, more specifically, a lack of.

Access to essential information people need to organize their own lives and maintain independence, dignity, involvement, and participation.

The legally binding instrument should therefore include the right to access information, resources, and support services so that every older person can exercise their rights.

People who, for whatever reason, do not have access to digital information and services must.

Also have the right to receive such information and access essential services through non-digital means. And as organizations supporting older persons living in loneliness or isolation, we call upon states to ensure that the rights defined by the legally binding instrument consider the perspectives and lived experiences of those older persons that live in loneliness or isolation.

Older persons' experiences, loneliness or isolation have the same human rights as everyone else.

To claim and exercise those rights, they must know about them and be able to access them in practice. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Liberation.

Thank you. Liberation is representing the Centre for the Human Rights Abusers and Survivors of Psychiatry during this second IGWG session. This statement will focus on the sheer level of abuse and violence which older persons experience, both behind closed doors and overtly. on the grounds that we don't really matter because we've outlived our worth and are now a burden on society. The continuing prevalence of institutions is also a risk factor for older persons, given the extent to which institutions can be a breeding ground for abuse. Such abuse can be taken for granted to an extent which doesn't occur with persons who are valued more highly by society. even becomes accepted by older persons themselves, if they then internalise others’ low regard for them. For older persons with psychosocial disabilities, there is yet another issue. In our case, not only do we too experience the forms of abuse and violence described above, but violence against us is actually authorised by many states, through discriminatory mental health and mental capacity legislation. Disability-based institutionalisation and disability-based involuntary treatment are both types of disability-based violence, as the UNCRPD’s guidance on disability-based violence makes very clear. The unequivocal right of all older persons to live without abuse and violence, and have the same rights as others to be free of these, should therefore be an intrinsic part of the catalogue of rights in the forthcoming LBI. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Age International is a founding member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People and highly commends its excellent discussion papers to all Member States and stakeholders. We highlight four things relevant to elaborating the catalogue of rights.

First, we recall that what has.

Already been established in the first session of this working group, that we are not starting from scratch. It is vital that evidence collected through the open-ended working group, the Human Rights Council, and the analytical papers from the OHCHR are synthesised to contribute to the language that will go into the zero draft. Second, this treaty needs to act as a guide for states, as duty bearers, as a guide for other stakeholders who have responsibility for the protection of the rights of older persons, and as a guide for older persons themselves. With this in mind, the instrument must be comprehensive and holistic and provide signposting on to how rights already articulated under existing treaties can be better implemented to protect older persons. It is not enough to name or list these rights, it requires additional language on how the implementation of existing rights can be made more effective for older persons. Third, member states should fully embrace the task of capturing the experience of being older in all its diversity. This requires asking critical questions of where the existing catalog of rights fails to deliver the protections that all older persons are entitled to. As part of this, we should elevate our ambitions and articulate new rights where necessary. This also requires being specific about the context in which older persons are at greatest risk, such as humanitarian crises. And finally, a specific point on making this treaty durable so it serves the needs of generations to come. We have seen how the introduction of new technologies, such as digital technology and artificial intelligence, can both advance the protection of our rights and act as a barrier to older persons accessing essential services and participating fully in society. This treaty must include a provision that recognizes the right of older persons.

Thank you. I give the floor to distinguished representatives of Alliance Defending Freedom.

Gracias, señor presidente relator.

Thank you, Chair, Rapporteur.

Approach in which the catalogue of rights to be enumerated in the legally binding instrument clarifies how existing rights apply to older persons rather than create new ones and focuses on protection gaps arising from the circumstances of ageing. On the right to life, we propose that the legally binding instrument reaffirm that older persons have the inherent right to life and that this right shall be protected by law. The instrument should further specify that the right to life of older persons is held on an equal basis with others, irrespective of age or of any condition that may accompany it, including dependency, disability, and the approach of death. Because, as also noted by previous speakers, the right to life is non-derogable, this and other relevant provisions, such as those relating to health, privacy, and autonomy, must be drafted so as not to impair or nullify the enjoyment by older persons of this fundamental human right. On protection from harm in all its forms, we recommend that the instrument recognize the rights of older persons to security and to protection from violence, abuse, neglect, including abandonment, and exploitation, whether committed by state or non-state actors, and in both private and public settings, including institutional ones. The instrument should also require Parties to ensure accountability and effective access to justice for older persons subjected to such harm, including through accessible and age-sensitive reporting mechanisms, the effective investigation and prosecution of such acts, and adequate remedies and redress. We remain at the disposal of delegations to elaborate on these and other suggestions concerning the catalogue of rights. Thank you.

I give the floor to Helge Peich, Deutschland.

In Germany, we have a saying: "Everything has already been said, but not by me." Hence, I will try to bring up some additional points in today's discussions. The rights must be formulated in such a way that they are robust and will endure into the future because values change and are subject to trends. Following the approach of the CRPD, it should reaffirm all human rights, clarify their application in older age, and close protection gaps. Where protection gaps are well documented, the Convention must be explicit. We highlight six areas.

First.

Freedom from violence, abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation in all settings, including care environments and online, with protection against digital fraud. Second, social security is a right to an adequate income in old age, including non-contributory pensions for those without contributory entitlements. Third, the highest attainable standard of health and access to health care, as well as support from and for family carers of all types and assistance schemes. Article 19 of the CRPD provides a good example and can lead the way forward on this. Fourth, autonomy and self-determination, full legal capacity and the right to decide about one's life, including in its final phase. Fifth, full, meaningful and equal participation in political and public life and in all decisions affecting the person. Digital inclusion, including lifelong learning and protection from digital and algorithmic age discrimination and a guaranteed human analogue alternative. In addition, we encourage delegations to build on the working list already submitted by Age Platform Europe, GAROP and others, rather than starting from a blank page. Thank you.

I give you the floor to distinguished representative of International Disability Alliance.

Thank you, Chair.

IDA believes the catalogue of rights needs to be broad, covering all categories of rights. Existing international human rights law and CRPD standards in particular are the minimum floor for further developments. On legal, IDA calls for strong protection against all forms of discrimination, including notably intersectional discrimination. On legal capacity, IDA calls for supported decision making regimes. The principle of best interpretation of will and preferences of the person concerned, developed by the CRPD Committee's General Comment number 1 on Article 12 of the CRPD, should be considered. In addition, the use, when relevant, of advance directive could be promoted. This process needs to uphold autonomy in choosing where and with whom to live and control over support services required. This requires, in turn, clear legal provisions, but also concrete support service provision in practice. Supportive living arrangements within the community for all the persons who require them need to be available. If not, there is no real choice and people can be forced to accept institutional settings. Referring to Unnecessary institutionalization can be misleading, as institutionalization should never be considered necessary. To ensure an adequate standard of living and social protection, older persons should have covered basic income security and also disability-related extra costs when relevant. We need non-contributory schemes to ensure basic income security to older persons, given unpaid work and the high exclusion of formal employment, notably among persons with disabilities, and we need to prevent incompatibilities of benefits based on disability with those on older age and to ensure continued provision of benefits and services.

Thank you for your attention.

Foundation, Jerome Lejeune.

Good morning. I am suffering from the Down syndrome. I am 43 years old. I would like to talk to you about the health of people with Down syndrome as we get older. We grow older too, and we may also need more care and help. We have the right to receive good health care. We have the right to be listened to and respected, but above all, we must not be forgotten as we grow older. Sometimes people with Down syndrome find it difficult to get the right care. Sometimes they are not listened to enough. Sometimes they find themselves alone. But no one should be abandoned because of their age or disability. As we grow older, we need doctors who understand our needs. We also need people who support us and help us in our daily lives. Needing help does not mean being a burden. I ask governments and the United Nations to do more to protect us. We need better health care. We need support for the people who care for us. And we must make sure that no one is left alone. We are not asking for special privileges, we are asking for our rights to be respected. Growing old with Down syndrome means having the right to health care, the right to support and to be surrounded by others, not to be abandoned. Thank you for listening to me, and please remember, nothing about us without us.

Thank you. I give you the floor, International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care.

The IHPC aligns with GAROP's list of rights and thanks the many member states who included palliative care in the catalog. We support their call for the LBI to explicitly recognize palliative care as an integral part of the right to health for older persons, rather than just subsuming it under long-term care. Doing so reinforces the existing international human rights framework and addresses a critical gap. Despite progress in health service development for older persons, palliative care remains underdeveloped in many countries. The LBI should stipulate that ageism, discrimination, and other societal barriers must not deny older persons access to palliative care. It should affirm the rights to live and to age with dignity, including at the end of life, on an equal basis with other segments of the population. We encourage language requiring States Parties to ensure that public and private institutions provide older persons with non-discriminatory access to comprehensive care, including palliative care, that addresses pain and other sources of suffering, provides spiritual, emotional, and psychological support, and helps prevent isolation and loneliness. It must respect older persons' right to informed consent, including in decisions concerning treatments that may be medically futile or non-beneficial. Distinguished delegates, the LBI should reaffirm palliative care's role in ensuring that the rights to health, dignity, and care are upheld throughout life, including at its end. The IHPC stands ready through our global professional membership to support national delegations in addressing the palliative care needs of older persons. I thank you.

Thank you, Gilda. International Longevity Center Canada.

Every day, policies and assumptions tell older people that our rights matter less. This is ageism, and it must end. I am Margaret Gillis. I'm the founder and president emerita of the International Longevity Center Canada. We align with the opening statements by Garip. I speak to you as an activist and an older person. We are rights holders, and states are duty bearers. A new treaty must be impactful. It must build on and not regress from existing treaties, and it must have a comprehensive catalog of human rights with the ability to adapt and innovate to reflect the needs of older people. Through our Older Persons Human Rights Roundtable, ILC Canada listens to older Canadians. Its human rights framework guides our call for a comprehensive catalogue of rights. That catalogue must guarantee equity and freedom from age discrimination, autonomy and legal capacity, community living, health and care, income security, protection from violence, abuse, and neglect, and access to justice, information, education, work, and public life. Human rights protections must hold as services move online, artificial intelligence shapes decisions, and climate change emergencies strike. New challenges cannot excuse exclusion. Older people must help shape the treaty and hold states accountable. Obligations must be specific, resourced, and reach those facing overlapping barriers. Canada and all member states must make responsibility impossible to evade in law, policy, budgets, and services. We older people call for full human rights. We need a binding treaty that delivers those rights in our homes, our communities, and every decision affecting our life. Anything less would be a failure of our human rights. Don't fail. Thank you.

Thank you. I refer to Age Well Foundation.

Thank you, Chair.

We are becoming very good at giving people more years and applaud it as longevity, though we are still learning to give those years a shape worth living. A catalogue of rights that overlooks this gap will be elegant but not of much use. The rights that matter most the Global South are the ones that speak to empty rooms, unpaid care, vanishing pensions, and the feeling of having overstayed one's welcome. We ask that the catalogue include in clear and enforceable language the right to care and support at home, in the community, not only in institutions that most countries cannot build; the right to social protection, and an adequate standard of living. The right to live free from neglect, abuse, and isolation. Much of it happens inside the home. Right to work and to leave work with dignity. The right to participate and be heard, including in this very process. We are grateful that this working group has opened the doors to civil society, and we hope that participation will keep widening so that older persons from the global south can speak for themselves, and rights framed so that older women who live longer are seen and not assumed. The Americas and Africa have codified rights of older persons Asia has not. In July, we asked for rights that smell of real life. We are still asking, and we are encouraged by the discussions we are having here. Let us write the rights that extra years actually need. Shall we make it sure?

The University of Peace, United Nations. Thank you, Chair. I have already sent in a long list for the catalogue, and I think for effective protection, it is necessary to have normative technology and defining the rights, the obligations of the States, and also the exercise of rights by older persons. I'm going to just highlight a few rights in particular. the right to a healthy environment, secondly, the right to a life free of violence, abuse, ill-treatment, abandonment, and abuse, and the right to an autonomous, independent life, and being included in one's community, otherwise, not being institutionalized against one's will or being subjected to forced institutionalization, and also palliative care. Thank you for your momentum provided to the work on this respect. It's also essential to talk about the rights of older persons not to be deprived of their property, their private property, which they may possess either because of a mistake or by force or by a criminal intent. And then to go on, digital rights, which have already been mentioned here. Legal capacity, of course, and also the right to accessibility in its broadest understanding. And lastly, the right to reasonable accommodation and adjustments to procedures, as well as personalized care. Thank you very much.

Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro.

Thank you, Chair. First of all, let me thank the independent expert for the excellent introduction, which we strongly endorse, and we will respond to your question that you kindly gave us at the end. Because of the timing, I will just give a couple of points on two issues: securing quality employment for older workers Equal opportunity and intergenerational mentoring ensure not only decent work, but establishes competencies and priorities for products and services for age-friendly society. We think that building blocks on this line should be right to employment or economic participation, including non-discrimination, lifelong learning, support for retraining, and recognition of previously acquired competencies, employment security, remuneration for work of equal value, payment of social security and welfare benefits, adapted conditions of work, including occupational safety and health, with attention to heat and climate change, access to housing, social services, and health institutions related to occupational activities of employment, in particular, the creation of quality jobs in public services and social and solidarity economy can benefit older persons and society. Regarding social security benefits, pension coverage remains unavailable or very limited in many countries. The right to strong public social security systems should extend social protection floors that progressively ensure old age, disability, and survivors' pensions. contributory and universal pillars financed through progressive taxation and employment contributions transform social protection in enforceable entitlement, including for migrant workers. It is also important to provide mechanisms to ensure annual adjustment.

Distinguished representative of H, Nobel Consulting.

Thank you, Chair. Age Nobel endorses Garrett's discussion paper on the catalog of rights. We highlight four catalog priorities. First, universality and established protections. Human rights belongs to everyone throughout life. The catalog must build on international standards without weakening existing protections. Second, scope and comprehensiveness. The catalogue must include all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including those recognized and further developed since the two international covenants. It should clarify, adapt, and strengthen rights based on older persons' lived realities, recognizing additional protections or new rights where warranted. Third, substantive protections. Naming rights is insufficient. provisions must define older persons' entitlements and corresponding state obligations, distinguishing legal guarantees from implementing policies and programs. Fourth, coherence and interpretation. The catalog must complement existing human rights treaties and standards. General principles must guide the interpretation and application of existing rights, and the development and application of emerging rights, ensuring consistency and interdependence. Older persons in all the diversities must shape the catalogue from affirming protection gaps to formulating and reviewing proposed rights with their contributions reflected in drafting. Thank you.

I give the floor to distinguished representative of Council, Swiss Desanez.

Chair,

I'm taking the floor on behalf of the Swiss Council, which cares for older persons in Switzerland. The future instrument should guarantee all rights, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of older persons. in all of their diversity. These rights are interdependent and should go hand in hand with concrete guarantees. I would like to underscore five such rights: equality and non-discrimination on grounds of age, including multiple and cross-cutting forms of discrimination, particularly that affect older women. Accessibility and appropriate accommodation should ensure effective equality. Secondly, the right to life in equality, security and integrity, as well as protection against torture, violence, mistreatment, negligence and exploitation at home or in residential care. Thirdly, self-determination, legal capacity on an equal footing with others, supported decision making, with respect for will and preferences and free informed consent, including private family life and choice of living place. right to health, including palliative healthcare and right to social security and an appropriate level of living condition. And then fifthly, freedom of expression and access to political, public, social, and cultural participation. These rights must also meet the digital challenges and ensure alternative opportunities for essential service provisions, data protection, and ensure there's no algorithmic discrimination. Thank you.

Good morning, Chair, distinguished delegates.

I am Dr. Karolina Mendecka, attorney in law, member of the European Commission Expert Group on Accessibility and Director of Business Accessibility Forum, a coalition established by the Pigioli Foundation, an NGO working on digital accessibility. Today, I would like to bring one world to this table, and I'm sure you've already

I guess it, accessibility.

Everything is moving online. For older persons, that can mean more independence, but only if digital services are accessible.

If they're not, it means exclusion and isolation. For over a year now, the European

Accessibility Act has required key services such as banking and online shopping to be accessible also for older persons. And we now know

for a fact that accessibility is achievable and benefits everyone only if it's built from the start.

Therefore, we encourage the working group to recognize accessibility, including digital accessibility, as an essential element of the new

We also want to highlight that it is necessary to build on existing solutions, such as the European

Accessibility Act and recognized accessibility standards.

We also want to draw attention to practical experience necessary when it comes to this field.

We strongly believe that accessibility is a precondition for independence at every age. But it requires joint effort. Therefore, we stand ready to offer our expert knowledge and experience in the work on the draft of the Convention.

Thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to Batisca Platform. I don't know what was not interpretation in some languages because it was absolutely clear, the statement. I give the floor to Batisca.

I read this statement on behalf of Patiska. When a treaty does not explicitly name a situation or a group, it often fails to protect them. This is the case for older persons, and especially older women, in most existing human rights treaties. With gender equality as a cross-cutting lens, we propose three priorities. First, the LBI must explicitly recognize age as a ground of discrimination and define ageism, including gendered ageism, as a distinct form of discrimination. It must guarantee substantive and transformative equality, including the right of older women, in all their diversity, to make their own decisions about their bodies, care, income, property, and where they live, to have those decisions respected, and to receive support only when and as they choose. Second, the right to life must mean a life of dignity, including protection of older women from femicide and gender-based violence, and of all older persons from violence based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Third, economic and social rights across the life course. This means an adequate pension with credits for unpaid care, so that a lifetime of care work is never punished with poverty in old age, long-term and palliative care, right to digital inclusion, and the right to work, to own and inherit property, and to access justice, among others. CEDAW General Recommendation No. 27 remains the only standard dedicated to older women, but it leaves gaps that this LVI must close. Thank you.

Thank you, Agi from Disabled Peoples International.

Regarding legal capacity, we urge to build upon Article 12 CRPD and codify legal capacity as a

human right which is not dependent on corporal or mental decision-making standards.

Legal capacity is a right which must not be denied or restricted on the basis of

impairment nor age, but must be respected, protected and fulfilled by non-discriminatory systems, including supported decision-making.

Regarding long-term care, we emphasize the importance of the right to independent living as enshrined in Article 19 CRPD. Old persons need to have the right to choose where and with whom to live.

They have a right to long-term senior-specific services and the right to general community services, which are free of barriers and age-sensitive.

Older persons must be protected not to be forced to live in institutions.

We are also hopeful that a future old age convention will address unfinished human rights issues the CRPD could not address, notably artificial intelligence and climate crisis.

Thank you to the distinguished representatives of the Longines Forum.

Distinguished delegates, as you negotiate this historic convention, we have an opportunity to do more than protect older persons' rights. We have an opportunity to build societies where older people truly belong. Belonging means knowing that you matter. It means feeling valued, heard, and connected, and that you have the chance to contribute. Many of the rights under discussion are pathways to belonging. We strongly support the call for a comprehensive and holistic approach that recognizes the interdependence of rights and explores innovative concepts such as social inclusion. Belonging provides a unifying lens through which many of these rights can be understood and advanced. This is especially true when it comes to care. Care should not only meet people's physical needs, but also uphold their dignity, autonomy, and connection to others. An older person can have access to health care, housing, and income, yet still experience profound exclusion and isolation. Belonging challenges us to ask deeper questions.

Do older people feel that they matter?

Are they included in decisions that affect their lives? Do they have a meaningful place in society? Ageism is not only discrimination, it is also a signal about who belongs and who does not. This Convention is a transformative opportunity to affirm the rights, dignity, and equal worth of every person, at every age, and whatever the circumstances. If older persons remain isolated, invisible, or disconnected from their communities, their rights are not being fully realized. Every person, by simple virtue of the fact that we are born, has the right to belong.

Next we have the Japan Support Centre for Activity and Research for all people.

Thank you for the opportunity. The Japan Support Centre for Activity and Research for older persons would like to advocate, first, the Convention must establish equality before the law and non-discrimination as core right. Older persons have the right to equal recognition before the law, and to enjoy legal capacity on the equal basis with others. Second, the Convention should guarantee the right to life, dignity, liberty, and security. Protection from violence, abuse, and the right to privacy must be fully ensured. Third, the right to self-determination and decision-making support are essential. State parties should ensure access to support that respects their will and preferences. Fourth, the Convention should guarantee the right to participation in society. Older persons must be able to participate in political, administrative, judicial, employment, educational, cultural, and community life. Nothing about older persons should be decided without older persons. Social protection, health and care must be central. Adequate living standard, social security, health care, long-term care, housing, and access to information are human rights. Finally, older persons must have the right to an effective remedy. Human rights become real only when human rights violation can be effectively remedied. Thank you.

Thank you, Givernor. To the European Network of Equality Bodies.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the European Network of Equality Bodies, we would like to contribute with three points. First, the future LBI should have a free-standing, strong equality and non-discrimination article modelled on the structure of CRPD Article 5. The right must include a prohibition of discrimination on the basis of age. and a guarantee to other persons of equal and effective legal protections against discrimination on all grounds. Building on previously set definitions, it should cover direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, discrimination by associations, instructions to discriminate, segregation, and public advocacy of hatred or discrimination based on age. The article must recognize deniable or reasonable accommodation as a form of discrimination. It should provide that affirmative measures for the fact equality are not discriminatory when proportionate and aimed at addressing existing disadvantage. Second, intersectionality must be operationalized as a distinct and autonomous form of discrimination. It should be linked to adjusted remedies and sanctions without requiring a specific comparator to prove unequal treatment. Third, A possible access to justice article should include older persons' effective access to independent enforcement bodies, equality bodies, and NHRIs, with age-appropriate accommodation, free legal assistance for discrimination, and accessible non-digital procedures. Remedies must include compensation for material and non-material harm. They should include cessation, guarantees of non-repetition, and structural redress. since compensation alone can make discrimination economically rational. Sanctions must be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, and enforcement must also reach systemic violations and protect complainants against retaliation. Thank you.

Thank you, Vilforto, National Pensioners Federation.

Chair, distinguished delegates, dear colleagues.

The National Pensioners Federation was called upon to provide an intervention to the Canadian Government Standing Committee on the Status of Women concerning the abuse and economic vulnerability of older women, and subsequently, it is directly relevant to the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of Older Persons. Economic insecurity in older age cannot be separated from the conditions experienced throughout a woman's life. Gender-based wage disparities, precarious employment, barriers to unionization, interrupted employment histories, and the disproportionate burden of unpaid caregiving can all contribute to inadequate retirement income and economic dependence. This dependence can increase vulnerability to abuse and exploitation, including economic abuse within intimate relationships, families, and caregiving arrangements. Where older women lack independent income, adequate housing, or access to social protection, her ability to escape abuse and exercise autonomy may be severely constrained. States therefore must recognize that protecting older women from abuse requires more than responding to individual incidents after they occur. It requires addressing the structural and economic conditions that can create or perpetuate vulnerability. The Convention should establish clear State obligations to protect the rights of decent work, fair remuneration, freedom of association, collective bargaining, and universal social protection throughout the life course. It must also ensure adequate pensions, independent income, safe and affordable housing, legal assistance, and accessible to support services for older women experiencing abuse. These protections must extend to women whose contributions have been made throughout unpaid caregiving, informal work, or employment that has not provided adequate pension coverage.

Thank you. I now give you the floor to a distinguished representative of HelpAge International.

Thank you, Chair. We align to the opening statement by GAROP and to its discussion paper on this topic. In addition to reaffirming that older persons enjoy the same human rights as everyone else, this treaty must articulate how those rights apply in older age and establish clear obligations on states as primary duty bearers to address discrimination and barriers that prevent their full and equal enjoyment. It must be grounded in fundamental principles of dignity, autonomy, equality, and non-discrimination, participation, and diversity, as well as in intersectionality and the life course approach. It should explicitly recognize and protect comprehensive set of rights, including, but not limited to, equality and non-discrimination rights, including protection against multiple and cumulative discrimination, specific measures to achieve equality in practice, as well as specific protections in humanitarian emergencies and situations of armed conflict. Rights of personal integrity, autonomy, and independence, including the right to make decisions about one's life, health, finances, care, and living arrangements, with access to support that respects one's will and preferences. Freedom from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including in family, care, and institutional settings, and situations of detentions. Finally, rights relating to material conditions of life, including physical and mental well-being, economic security, social and cultural inclusion, and participation, such as the right to health, social protection, adequate standard of living, digital inclusion, and right to healthy, clean, safe, and sustainable environment. The treaty must also recognize the particular experience of older persons facing intersecting forms of discrimination, for example, older women, older persons with disabilities.

Thank you, Mr. O'Neill, for the distinguished representative of Uganda, Reach the Age Association.

Thank you, Chairperson. I want to start by stating that aging is a diverse issue. experience shaped by the intersection of age, gender, disability, poverty, social status, and other circumstances. Older women may experience intersecting discrimination based on age and gender, particularly in accessing property, income, health care, and protection from violence. Economic exclusion is another concern. Older persons, particularly women and persons with disabilities, may be denied credit because the financial institutions perceive them as risky borrowers. The new convention should guarantee equal access to financial services and economic activities without discrimination based on age or other intersecting circumstances. Property ownership, inheritance, and succession also demand attention. The convention should also address digital exclusion, ensuring that technological advancement does not create new forms of discrimination. Finally, I urge this working group to ensure that the proposed convention recognizes intersectionality as a central principle. and close existing protection gaps while responding to emerging challenges throughout the life course. I thank you for listening.

I think I'll give the floor to Fusako Seki.

Chair, I'm Fusako Seki of Kanagawa University.

Last night, a participant here told me, "I like your idea that older persons need a key concept." like the best interest of the child or reasonable accommodation for a person with disabilities. But what is it?

I cannot name one.

My tentative answer is protection without exclusion and equality without neglect. Too long for a key term, I know. I'm still searching.

Yeah.

Reasonable accommodation addresses too little protection for older persons. Protection can also go too far. Yet age-based measures such as pensions cannot simply be prohibited. We need one yardstick for both directions. I call this tool, with its three steps, an age justification test. Is it ageist? Is it proportionate, neither too little nor too much? Was the person heard and can it be reviewed? Take care home visit. Ignoring infection risks fail older residents. Banning all visits for their own good fails them too. finds the path between. So, every right proposed for the catalogue should be read through this test. Thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to CNS.

Thank you, Chair, for allowing me to speak on behalf of CNS, Development Justice for Older Persons and She/En Rights. As an older woman myself, and my journey of asserting my gender, economic, and health rights, I would like to urge the Member States to consider prioritizing economic and property rights, gender and health rights, including sexual health rights, right to equality and non-discrimination, and the right to breathe clean air. It is not acceptable that public health systems fail to prevent infections that are preventable among older persons, or even worse, antimicrobial resistance or drug-resistant infections, which often result in their untimely deaths. UHC is not enough because commercial determinants of health will keep escalating our risk of preventable infections and non-communicable diseases. We need to ensure that the fundamental human right to health fully translates into healthy aging for all older persons with a life course approach. This also echoes the critical importance of firewalling LBI process from corporate interference in public policy, including, but not limited to, corporations related to tobacco or nicotine, alcohol, junk food, oil, and other polluters. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by 183 countries, offers two relevant lessons: protecting public health policies from industry interference under Article 5.3, and addressing corporate liability, including compensation where appropriate, under Article 19. Older persons must have access to prevention, justice, and effective remedies. LBI should reinforce commitments for gender equality, human rights, public health, climate and other agreements that have been agreed upon by member states in other treaties, including LBI on business and human rights, CEDAW, the UNFCCC.

Thank you, Ana, for your advocacy.

Distinguished delegates, imagine being an older person living with dementia in the home you have loved for decades. Your memory may falter, but you remain the same person, with the same values, hopes, and the right to shape your own life. Yet, your wishes are disregarded, your voice is overridden, and decisions are made for you. Now, imagine being admitted to hospital and remaining there for months, not because you need acute care, but because support to return home does not exist. With no real choice, you are moved to a nursing home far from your community and the people who matter to you. Then imagine discovering that while you were away from home and didn't have access to your correspondence, people you trusted emptied your bank accounts. Your voice, home, and security have been taken from you. Where do you turn for clear information, trusted support, independent advocacy, and protection of your rights? Every day, our SAGE advocates support all the persons facing realities like this in Ireland. Occasionally, in the nursing homes we visit, we see fundamental rights denied in practice: the right to liberty, the right to bodily integrity, including in the management of continence care, the right to consent to medication and surveillance technology, support for mobility and freedom of movement. This Convention needs to include cross-sectoral adult safeguarding legislation. Older persons, whether or not they have reduced decision-making capacity, must be heard, safeguarded, and supported to retain autonomy, dignity, and control of their assets. They must be free to make fundamental choices: where to live, how to be cared for, and how to remain connected to their communities. We are here in Geneva with a shared purpose: to recognize older persons as equal citizens, rights holders, and contributors, not as a social problem.

Thank you, dear FORTU Center for Global Non-killing.

Dear human beings, Mr. President, as we did not take the floor on the preamble, there are a few key words we care to see therein: conscience, well-being, and future generations. As we did not take the floor on definitions regarding age, we recall that there are persons with progeroid syndromes, early aging. They need to be covered by the Treaty. Regarding the catalogue of rights, longevity is a right. It derives from a combination of the rights to life, health, best possible standards of living, and to be free from violence. Longevity should be mentioned in the treaty. The right to peace is a standalone right. It is also a right enabling the enjoyment of all other human rights.

Older persons may contribute to peace all the more if their peace is rightfully assured.

The Center for Global Non-Killing addresses all issues that shorten lives, including prevention of suicides. We presently run through the Universal Periodic Review a campaign addressed at all states still criminalizing suicide, a successful campaign enabling greater prevention, calls for help to be heard, and better support for both concerned persons and caregivers. Combining the rights to life, to longevity, and to peace, when the time comes, There is a right to die in peace and to face death in an autonomous manner. There is a right to die in dignity. Until then, may we all lead very fulfilled lives. Muchas gracias, señor Presidente.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. I give the floor to SGA Africa.

Distinguished delegates, colleagues, SGA Africa welcomes the development of a catalogue of rights grounded universal human rights and responsive to the diverse realities of older persons across Africa. Building on the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Older Persons, we emphasize four priorities. First, agency, participation, and contribution. The Convention must affirm older persons' rights to autonomy, personal self-determination, equal participation. recognition before the law and meaningful participation in economic, social, cultural, and political life, including the right to continue contributing to society on an equal basis with others. Second, economic and social security. The Convention must affirm older persons' rights to work, lifelong learning, and social security, including universal social pensions. These rights must extend to those whose lifetime work in informal economies and unpaid caregiving has excluded them from contributory pension systems. Third, health care and independence rights to universal health care, geriatric care, long-term care, palliative care, care and support, independent living, and community inclusion must be guaranteed without shifting state obligations onto families. Fourth, protection and justice rights must protect against violence, exploitation, harmful practices, including witchcraft accusations, property dispossession, and violations during conflict and displacement, with effective access to justice and remedies. Across all rights, equality and non-discrimination must address intersecting ageism, sexism, and cumulative life course inequalities, particularly affecting older women. The Convention must affirm older Africans as equal rights holders with dignity, agency, and full participation throughout older age. Thank you.

Thank you. I now give the floor to distinguished representative of the National Older Women Network.

NAM aligns itself with the opening statements of Garap, and as we can see and hear, there's considerable discussion, commitment, passion, and convergence surrounding the development of a legally binding instrument on human rights of older persons. In our enthusiasm to address the complexities of growing older in a rapidly changing environment, and ensuring our human rights can adapt, we must not overlook the simplest and most fundamental principle.

Will this provision make a real and enforceable difference in the lives of older people?

Rights are not special privileges to be granted because a person has reached a particular age. They are universal human rights that are too often diminished or denied as people age.

Noone.

Believes that the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to freedom of association, the right to be free of all forms of torture and ageism, together with all forms of physical, emotional, and financial abuse by individuals, families, institutions, and in particular, the policy and practices of governments, must be affirmed and articulated in this LBI.

Together with the rights to participate in all decisions pertaining to the people as they age.

Nothing about us, without us. Thank you, Chair.

The last speaker, Safeguard Ireland.

Ireland is aware that older persons' rights can be undermined in their own home, in the community, online, in financial relationships, in legal processes and in health and social care settings. The Convention, therefore, should guarantee in clear and enforceable terms the right of older persons to equal recognition before the law, supported decision-making, freedom from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, liberty and security, privacy, independent living and inclusion in the community, accessible health, social care and long-term support, and effective access to justice. These guarantees must be matched by practical duties on States: comprehensive adult safeguarding legislation not limited to health and social care; independent oversight; accessible reporting and response pathways; timely access to independent advocacy, legal advice and representation; safeguards against financial abuse and coercive control, reliable safeguarding data shared appropriately among relevant authorities, and properly trained workforces. Any intervention done in the interest of safeguarding a person must be lawful, necessary, proportionate, time-limited, and subject to review. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. This afternoon, we will resume our session at 3:00 for discussion element relating to implementation, monitoring and international cooperation. I hereby declare this meeting closed. Thank you for interpretations.