Since 2018 AGE has been running a human rights campaign to raise awareness of prevalent ageism and mobilize to take action against it.
Support the #AgeingEqual campaign against ageism!
> Why is ageism a human rights issue?
Ageism is the systematic discrimination of persons on the ground of their age. As other discriminations, it takes various forms ranging from stereotypes to mistreatment and abuse.
Ageism is often ‘structural’, i.e. sustained by our society and its institutions in laws, policies, practices or culture. This leads to many violations of human rights on the ground of age going unnoticed or being generally accepted, including by older people themselves who are often not aware of their rights being breached. In this context, the negative effects of ageism tend to be denied or are not considered as serious and harmful as other forms of discrimination, and we fail to take effective action to counter it. Read AGE position on Structural Ageism
Yet, ageism is a major obstacle to the social inclusion and equal participation of older persons. And ageist stereotypes and discriminations ingrained in our society lead to inequalities that undermine people’s enjoyment of their human rights as they age.
> An awareness-raising campaign AND a call for action
Building on the progress achieved at United Nations’ level in promoting human rights in old age, our ‘Ageing Equal’ campaign aims to spread the word about how ageism affects or will affect each of us across the whole life span. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of ageism – and its very negative impact on individuals and society – as the first step to take action against it.
The key messages are straight forward:
- Ageism is everywhere
- Ageism affects or will affect everyone
- Ageism is as harmful as any other form of discrimination
- We must change our mindset about ageing
You can learn about ageism and its consequences on the campaign website, or through the various blogposts authored by experts, researchers, and NGOs working on ageism.
See the previous editions of the campaign: 2018 | 2019
> What can you do?
- Share our campaign guide within your network
- Send us testimonies from older persons of your community
- Spread our key messages on social media using our hashtag #AgeingEqual and ready-to-use posts from our social media guide
Learn how to take action against ageism on the campaign website, and let yourself inspired by the many good practices already existing all over the world to protect our rights in older age and defend age equality.
> Useful links
- AgeingEqual campaign site
- Campaign communication toolkit
- Older Persons’ Self-Advocacy Handbook on human rights
For more information on this campaign, please contact Estelle Huchet, estelle.huchet@age-platform.eu
