Our thoughts to the UN Convention for older adults

Text: Robert Crivit

Towards a UN convention on the human rights of older persons?

Can the European Green Party mobilise some additional support?

At the congress in Riga (2022), the European Green Party called for a new UN convention on respect for the human rights of older people.

But the European Union and a number of Member States remain cautious about the new UN convention. However, other states, such as Slovenia or Portugal, are strongly in favour.

There is a need for a European core group and more pressure across party boundaries. The EGP and the Green Group could play a pioneering role in this. The Green Group is already investing in the Intergenerational Forum. But the question is how those efforts can be strengthened. With more support from the EGP, including in communication, or at the upcoming congress in Warsaw.

What’s it all about?

The heart of the problem: Ageism and exclusion

Human rights violations: Older people regularly face discrimination and exclusion in the labour market, education, healthcare, the public sector or the justice system.
COVID-19 in 2020 painfully exposed major gaps. Worldwide, there was mass excess mortality among older people in tragic circumstances, blatant age discrimination in healthcare, social isolation and stigmatisation, both in public opinion and in policy (with measures that only applied to those over 65).
Ageism as a cause: The basis of these violations lies in ‘ageism’: stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination based on age. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), half of the world’s population has negative prejudices about older people. In Europe, one in three older people has experienced ageism themselves. Due to a lack of social awareness, age is often used in legislation and policy as a criterion to structure society.

The existing international framework is inadequate

Invisibility: The existing human rights treaties do not explicitly consider the factor of ‘age’ as a ground for discrimination. Specific rights of older people — such as the right to palliative care, the right to support or a ban on elder abuse — are missing from the current framework.
Lack of attention in practice: Because there is no explicit prohibition of age discrimination, UN treaty bodies and monitoring mechanisms pay little attention to it. Until 2018, less than 1% of all UN recommendations concerned the rights of older people.
Consequences for national policy: The lack of international guidelines has consequences for shortcomings at the national and regional level. For example, the Belgian Anti-Discrimination Act (Article 12) allows specific grounds for exception for age discrimination that do not apply to any other grounds for discrimination.
Lack of capacity: Existing UN committees have too little capacity and expertise to properly assess the specific, often intersectional, issues of older people (such as the combination of age with gender or disability).

Restrictions at European and regional level

EU legislation: The European Directive against age discrimination (Directive 2000/78) protects older people only in the workplace and in vocational training. There is no prohibition in other areas (such as care or education).
European Court of Human Rights: The European Convention on Human Rights does not contain an explicit prohibition on age discrimination, and the Court does not take strict action against it because it does not consider age to be a ‘suspect ground of discrimination’.
European Social Charter: Although Article 23 protects the rights of older people, this is an optional provision. For example, Belgium has not accepted this provision.

The UN and the human rights of older people

The UN has been drawing attention to global ageing since the 1970s. The Madrid Plan of Action in 2002 promotes a positive approach to ageing and the integration of older people into society. This did not lead to the hoped-for adjustment. To identify the gaps in respect for the human rights of older people and formulate a response, an Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWGA) was established.
After 14 years of consultation and a Covid crisis, the international Working Group unanimously decided in 2024 that there is a need for an internationally legally binding instrument to strengthen the human rights of older people, legally prohibit age discrimination, and promote the autonomy and inclusion of older people. Progress has been so slow because member states are divided: Latin American and African countries are in favour of a convention, while most European countries are holding back.
Regional conventions as an example: In other regions, a legally binding framework already exists, such as the Inter-American Convention on the Rights of Older Persons (entered into force in 2017) and the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Older Persons (2016, pending sufficient ratifications).
The UN General Assembly followed the working group’s decision in August 2024. In February 2026, an intergovernmental working group (IGWG) began drafting the convention. Human rights and older people’s organisations are participating in this process at all levels. Organisations such as AGE Platform Europe, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are actively lobbying for a convention.

Significance and impact of the UN Convention

Paradigm shift: As with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), this convention should lead to older people no longer being seen as ‘vulnerable objects of care’, but as equal citizens with the right to autonomy, inclusion and social participation.
Impact on policy and legislation: As with other human rights conventions, this would have a profound impact on state policy: governments (both federal and regional) would be obliged to abolish discriminatory laws and to include the human rights of older people in all policy areas. The convention would enable older people to claim their rights. Some provisions will have direct effect, allowing citizens to invoke them directly before the courts.
Monitoring mechanism: An independent UN Committee to be established will monitor compliance with and application of the convention. Governments commit to reporting periodically. And civil society is also involved in the evaluations.