The UN Secretariat refers to General Assembly resolution 67/139 of 20 December 2012, entitled “Towards a comprehensive and integral international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons” that decides in its operative paragraph 1 that the open-ended working group on ageing, shall, as part of its mandate, and starting from its upcoming fourth session to be held in 2013, consider proposals for an international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons, based on the holistic approach in the work carried out in the fields of social development, human rights and non-discrimination, as well as gender equality and the empowerment of women, as well as the contributions from the second global review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002.
Operative paragraph 2 requests the Working Group to present to the General Assembly a proposal containing, inter alia, the main elements that should be included in said legal instrument which are not currently addressed sufficiently by existing mechanisms. Relevant non-governmental organizations are invited to provide inputs on the issues referred to in General Assembly resolution 67/139 – and in particular on such main elements as: (a) purpose; (b) general principles; (c) definitions – particularly of old age/older persons; (d) equality and non-discrimination as applied to older persons; (e) specific human rights to be included; and (f) national and international supervisory mechanisms.
Non-governmental organizations that wish to provide such in puts may kindly submit a brief summary by 15 May 2013 in electronic format to:
Focal point on ageing
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Division for Social Policy and Development
Email: dspd-ageing@un.org
SOURCE: UNESCO