UN Convention: A major step forward for Older People’s Rights may be near – Latest updates

26 March 2025

At the ongoing 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the call for a new UN convention to protect the rights of older persons is gaining support by Member States. AGE is participating in the negotiations, and the Council is close to establishing a working group for the new convention.

Over the last 14 years, growing evidence has shown that the current human rights system has systematically ignored how ageism drives violations and failed to equally protect our rights in old age.

After hundreds of documents were submitted to the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWGA) by UN Member States, UN Agencies, National Human Rights Institutions, civil society organisations, and experts over the course of 14 sessions, including AGE Platform Europe and its Members, it was agreed by consensus that a new UN convention should be part of the response to the existing protection gaps. In 2024, the UN General Assembly reiterated this decision and invited other UN bodies to consider and act on its findings.

What is a UN Convention?

Older people still lack dedicated international legal protection for their human rights. Right now, there is no specific UN convention to safeguard our dignity, autonomy, and equality in older age.
This is important to all of us, younger and older generations.

A UN Convention would help:

Protect older persons from ageism
Promote dignity and autonomy
Ensure inclusion in decision-making
Build #AWorld4AllAges

The support from EU countries is increasing

As a follow-up, in the past weeks, the UN Human Rights Council has been negotiating a draft resolution that would establish an intergovernmental working group tasked with elaborating a new legally binding instrument (i.e., convention) on the human rights of older persons.

The informal negotiations have been well attended, with active participation from many member states, National Human Rights Institutions, and Civil Society Organisations.

Most governments supported the draft resolution prepared by Argentina, Slovenia, Brazil, Gambia, and the Philippines. While no EU member state opposed the establishment of a new working group, Germany and France drew attention to the need to continue implementing existing instruments and follow up on the rest of the recommendations included in the 2024 OEWG decision.

Czechia, Finland, Croatia, Cyprus, and Italy voiced their support for drafting a new UN convention for the first time. Some member states raised concerns about cost implications and procedural issues, which are common when negotiating such resolutions and should not act as a barrier to its adoption.

Ina Voelcker (BAGSO, Germany and Co-chair of GAROP) presents the GAROP joint statement at the 58th session of the Human Rights Council.

Members of civil society met with the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.

AGE Participation at the negotiations

Our Human Rights Manager, Nena Georgantzi, travelled to Geneva to participate in the negotiations. She delivered a statement stressing the need for the full, meaningful, and effective participation of older people and their representative organisations in the drafting process.

Quote

“This resolution will not prevent other parts of the UN system and Member states to advance on other recommendations of the OEWG and the UN General Assembly, none of which require a Human Rights Council resolution. This is why the language of this resolution needs to remain focused on the mandate of elaborating a new instrument, as the most effective way to address injustices and protection gaps so that all of us can equally enjoy all our human rights when we are older”.

Nena Georgantzi

Human Rights Manager

Based on these discussions, a new draft was proposed to accommodate the most important issues raised, aiming to achieve consensus for the resolution to be tabled for adoption by the Human Rights Council by the 4th of April.
We are pleased that the draft retained the stronger language. However, the resolution is not yet adopted, and States may still submit amendments or call for a vote.

Several members of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the mandate of the new resolution remains focused on elaborating the text for a new international convention.

Our German member organisation, BAGSO, delivered the joint statement of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) at the General Debate of the 58th Session.

More updates will come for sure until the 4th of April. We will update this article as new information becomes available. Stay tuned!

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