Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

308. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will instruct the permanent mission to the UN in New York to become a member of a group (details supplied) and to continue to attend the OEWG sessions at the UN and make constructive comments regarding the content of a new convention on ageing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21489/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The promotion and protection of human rights is a key foreign policy priority for Ireland, and one which is largely expressed through our strong support for the international human rights framework. Binding obligations to protect the rights of older persons without discrimination are implicit in the core international human rights treaties, including the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as in European human rights law. The international community has sought to address the situation of older people in particular through the adoption of the United Nations Principles for Older Persons in 1991 and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in 2002. More recently, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly identifies human rights, including those of older people, as integral to development and social policy. Ireland recognises that there are some shortcomings in the implementation of existing instruments and believes that efforts to improve the situation of older people should focus in the first instance on the better implementation of the existing human rights framework. In this regard, I believe it is more effective to engage in the established mechanism of the Open Ended Working Group on Ageing rather than diverting limited resources to the Group of Friends which was established following the fourth session of the Working Group in 2013 and which currently comprises Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Slovenia, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and Uruguay.

Non-membership of this Group of Friends should not be misconstrued as an indication of a lack of commitment to advancing the situation of older people. In September 2016, Ireland was a co-sponsor of a resolution on the rights of older persons, adopted by the Human Rights Council, which aims to contribute to the substantive understanding of how human rights standards apply to older persons and provides for the consideration of the possible elaboration of a multilateral legal instrument on the rights of older people.

The elaboration of such an instrument was discussed at the most recent seventh session of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Ageing in December 2016, which Ireland attended. It was agreed that certain areas, including non-discrimination, ageism and social inclusion, need to be addressed in order to allow older people to fully enjoy their rights. Ireland will continue to engage in these discussions, and will participate in the next OEWG meeting in July 2017.