Ms Bridget Sleap:

Ageism is a harmful social norm. It has a deeply negative impact on older people's lives and results in their exclusion and marginalisation. Older people throughout the world are subjected to discrimination and denial of rights across every aspect of their lives. Existing international human rights mechanisms are not effectively protecting older people's rights. They lack the necessary specificity on how human rights apply in older age and what attention there is to older people is confined to only a few areas of their lives. As a result, older people remain unaware of their rights and states fail to report on how they are implementing international human rights treaties in relation to them. National legislation protecting rights is often inconsistent across different jurisdictions and this patchwork of protection undermines the universality of human rights. The UN open-ended working group, OEWG, on aging was established in 2010 to identify possible gaps in the existing international human rights framework and how to address them, including through new instruments. After six sessions the working group has reached a consensus that there are serious human rights implementation and protection gaps that need to be urgently addressed.

During the same period we have seen the appointment of a new UN independent expert and the establishment of various regional instruments including the adoption of the Council of Europe's recommendation on the promotion of the human rights of older persons. Most recently, a UN resolution recognised that the diversity of international policies, standards and mechanisms aimed at protecting older people's rights may lead to inconsistent protection as well as gaps in the reporting and monitoring of existing treaty obligations to older people. Adopted by consensus and co-sponsored by a broad range of member states, the resolution reaffirms the mandate of OEWG to discuss and present proposals for a new multilateral instrument.

A new international convention has an advantage over other options in that it would establish universal norms and standards that challenge ageism, prohibit discrimination and promote dignity and autonomy in older age. It would clarify states' human rights obligations and, in doing so, enables us to better understand and claim our rights. It would provide a more effective way to hold governments to account for their human rights obligations. Just as important, it would help change our attitudes towards older people and to older age, including our own, to see it as a time of continued human flourishing rather than just a time of loss and decline. This would be transformative and something that generic human rights instruments have failed to do.