Human Rights Watch Submission to the Intergovernmental Working Group on Older Persons

Introduction

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s decision to pursue an international treaty on the rights of older persons creates the opportunity to codify and fill gaps in international standards for the full enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, and provide a framework for a world free from ageism and age discrimination. 

Human Rights Watch has documented a wide range of human rights violations against older persons. Drawing on its findings, Human Rights Watch makes the following proposals for the treaty’s overarching framework, core principles and overall structure or architecture.

1. What overarching framework should guide the international legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons? Additionally, how can it best reflect and reinforce the recognition that older persons are rights-holders entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms?

The overarching framework of the treaty rests on its purpose, conceptual basis and scope.

Purpose

The purpose of the treaty should be to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by older persons on an equal basis with others. 

Conceptual Basis

The treaty should be based on the principle that older persons have the right to full legal personhood, autonomy, and substantive equality in the enjoyment of their rights, and as such, be premised on the need to prohibit and eliminate discrimination against older persons, recognizing the diversity of older persons and the different forms of discrimination they experience. 

The treaty can best reflect and reinforce the recognition that older persons are rights-holders entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by recognizing ageism against older people and older age as a key driver of rights violations against older persons. The World Health Organization has defined ageism as the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel), and discrimination (how we behave) toward people based on their age. Ageist stereotypes and prejudices around older persons as less able, less productive, and of less value than younger people threaten older persons’ dignity and often underpin laws, policies and practices that discriminate against them or deny their rights.

Ageism often intersects with stereotypes and prejudices based on other grounds such as gender, race, disability, and socio-economic status to produce particular forms of intersectional discrimination. Discrimination can be cumulative as its negative impact accumulates compounds over the course of a person’s life, the impact of which can be felt acutely in older age. Older women in particular feel the accumulated impact of gender discrimination throughout their lives, which can then be compounded by age discrimination and intersecting gender and ageist stereotypes about older women. Discrimination can be systemic, embedded in laws, policies and practices rather than directed at any single individual, creating unequal outcomes for older persons.

The treaty should recognize that older age is socially constructed. Perceptions of when older age starts and markers of what constitutes older age are influenced by social and cultural norms and expectations, and vary across different social, economic and cultural contexts. There is no single chronological age at which people begin to be subjected to ageism, discriminated against, or denied their rights on the basis of their known or perceived older age.

The treaty should also recognize the particular impacts on older persons of factors such as other drivers of rights violations, including economic inequality and climate change.

Scope

The treaty should apply to all people who are denied, or at risk of being denied, their rights and of being subjected to ageism and age discrimination on the basis of their known or perceived older age, alone or in combination with other grounds.

Setting an arbitrary chronological age to define who the treaty applies to would ignore the social construction of older age and intersecting factors that threaten older persons’ enjoyment of their rights. It would also risk excluding people below that age who are denied, or at risk of being denied, their rights or being discriminated against because of their known or perceived older age. In describing the purpose of the treaty, any description of who it applies to should recognize the social construction of older age and intersecting factors.

2. What core principles should underpin the legally binding instrument, to ensure it effectively protects the rights of older persons? In addition, how can the legally binding instrument both reaffirm existing human rights for older persons and clearly identify and address gaps where further normative development is required?

The treaty should include a set of principles that are reflected in the content of the rights within it, and will underpin their interpretation and implementation. These should include, but not be limited to: 

• Non-discrimination 
• Substantive equality, which includes among all older persons
• Gender equality and elimination of gender-based discrimination across the life course
• Respect for inherent dignity, and a person’s own decisions
• Bodily autonomy and integrity, which includes freedom from violence, abuse, and neglect, and harmful practices
• Full and equal participation and inclusion in society
• Accessibility
• The interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights
• No regression on existing human rights standards.

The treaty can reaffirm existing human rights for older persons and identify and address gaps where further normative development is required by complementing and building on existing international human rights standards. It should articulate how the rights apply to older persons and in the context of older age. Each right should be formulated in the text to include: an affirmation stating what older persons have the right to; the scope of the right, for example that it applies in both public and private settings; and measures states should take in order to respect, protect and fulfill the right.

Older persons face violations of their human rights across many aspects of their lives. Human Rights Watch has documented a wide range of human rights violations against older persons including discriminatory restrictions of movement during the Covid 19 pandemic; ageist justifications for differential treatment in employment; occupational segregation; abuses in armed conflict; exclusion from responses to climate crisis; denial of informed consent and legal capacity; and inadequate social security. Human Rights Watch has also documented the distinct and compounded harms older women face; the disproportionate impact of healthcare policies on older Black women; the use of chemical restraint in nursing homes; inadequate care and support services to live independently within the community; abuse of older prisoners; and deprivation of liberty.

The treaty should address the full range of human rights–civil, cultural, economic, political, and social–so that older persons can enjoy all human rights and participate in society on an equal basis with others. 

The treaty should include the prohibition of discrimination against older persons on the basis of older age and age-specific roles assigned to older persons, including those based on social or cultural norms. This should include a definition of direct and indirect discrimination, discrimination based on perception or association, cumulative discrimination, intersectional discrimination on two or more grounds, and systemic discrimination. The denial of reasonable accommodation should also be included as a form of discrimination. Differential treatment based on age should be justified in compliance with international human rights law. Justification for differential treatment based on ageist or other stereotypes should not be permitted. State responsibility for eliminating age discrimination should apply in both the public and private sector. States should also have an obligation to take positive measures to ensure equality in practice. 

The treaty should also obligate states to take steps to raise awareness of and eliminate ageism in all its forms. Ageist attitudes and practices may manifest differently across different economic, social and cultural contexts. The treaty should recognize such differences to ensure older persons’ universal enjoyment of their human rights no matter where they live.

The treaty should not allow any exceptions, limitations or restrictions that reduce the level of protection for human rights guaranteed under other international human rights treaties, nor take forward any existing limitations on older persons’ enjoyment of their rights on an equal basis with others. 

3. What overall structure or architecture should the legally binding instrument adopt to ensure clarity and effectiveness? For example, should it include a preamble, definitions, general principles, general obligations, specific rights, and implementation provisions?

The structure or architecture of the treaty should include a preamble, definitions, general principles, general obligations, specific rights, and implementation provisions. 

In relation to general obligations, the treaty should recognize state obligation and accountability to protect, respect and fulfil the rights within the treaty. It should include general obligations on states that apply to all rights within the treaty. These should include, but not be limited to, state obligations to: 

• Refrain from violations of older persons’ human rights and take steps to fulfil them, including through the provision of necessary resources. 
• Take all necessary measures to prevent and deter violations of older persons’ human rights by private actors, including by fulfilling procedural obligations to investigate and punish such harms.
• Adopt all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the treaty. 
• Prohibit and eliminate all forms of discrimination against older persons, including modifying or abolishing existing laws, regulations, and practices that constitute discrimination against older persons. 
• Take special measures to ensure equality in practice, including among all older persons. 
• Take all appropriate measures to allow for older persons’ full and effective participation in society and decision-making processes. 
• Provide older persons the right to a remedy under domestic law for violations of the rights guaranteed by the treaty irrespective of the violator.
• Consult civil society, especially older persons and their representative organizations.

1. ^ UN Human Rights Council, “Open-ended intergovernmental working group for the elaboration of a legally binding instrument on the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons,” Resolution 58/13, A/HRC/RES/58/13.
2. ^ “Rights of Older People,” Human Rights Watch, accessed April 20, 2026, https://www.hrw.org/topic/rights-older-people.
3. ^ World Health Organization, “Global Report on Ageism,” March 18, 2021, https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240016866 (accessed April 20, 2026), p. 2.
4. ^ Human Rights Watch, Punished For Getting Older: South Korea’s Age-based Policies and Older Workers’ Rights, July 2025, https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/07/08/punished-for-getting-older/south-koreas-age-based-policies-and-older-workers.
5. ^ UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 27 on Older Women and Protection of Their Human Rights, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/27 (2010), https://www.refworld.org/legal/general/cedaw/2010/en/27430 (accessed February 3, 2025), para. 9.
6. ^ UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation No. 27 on Older Women and Protection of Their Human Rights, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/27 (2010), https://www.refworld.org/legal/general/cedaw/2010/en/27430 (accessed April 22, 2026), para. 11.
7. ^ Human Rights Watch, Punished For Getting Older: South Korea’s Age-based Policies and Older Workers’ Rights, July 2025, https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/07/08/punished-for-getting-older/south-koreas-age-based-policies-and-older-workers.
8. ^ Sasha Johfre and Aliya Saperstein, “The Social Construction of Age: Concepts and Measurement,” Annual Review of Sociology 49 (2023):339-358, accessed April 2026, doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-031021-121020.
9. ^ Substantive equality goes beyond “formal equality” in law and policy and is about equality of opportunity and outcome, i.e., equality in practice. The treaty should build on the work done by other treaty committees, for example in their general comments, to articulate the scope of the obligation of non-discrimination, and on how to achieve substantive equality, such as identifying measures that may be needed, including in the form of positive action or reasonable accommodation.
10. ^ Emina Ćerimović and Margaret Wurth, “Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Coronavirus Curbs on Children and Older People Are Ill-Conceived,” April 2, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/02/bosnia-and-herzegovinas-coronavirus-curbs-children-and-older-people-are-ill.
11. ^ Human Rights Watch, Punished For Getting Older.
12. ^ Ibid.
13. ^ Human Rights Watch, No One is Spared: Abuses Against Older People in Armed Conflict, February 2022, https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/02/23/no-one-spared/abuses-against-older-people-armed-conflict.
14. ^ Human Rights Watch, “Canada: Disastrous Impact of Extreme Heat: Failure to Protect Older People, People with Disabilities in British Columbia,” October 5, 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/05/canada-disastrous-impact-extreme-heat.
15. ^ Human Rights Watch, “Submission to the Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of All Human Rights by Older Persons on Legal Capacity and Informed Consent,” February 23, 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/23/submission-to-the-independent-expert-on-the-enjoyment-of-all-human-rights-by-0.
16. ^ Human Rights Watch, “It Tears You Apart”: Poverty and Gender in Germany’s Social Security System, March 2025, https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/03/24/it-tears-you-apart/poverty-and-gender-germanys-social-security-system.
17. ^ Human Rights Watch, “The human rights of older women: Submission to the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons,” April 16, 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/16/human-rights-older-women.
18. ^ Human Rights Watch, “We Need Access”: Ending Preventable Deaths from Cervical Cancer in Rural Georgia, January 2022, https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/01/20/we-need-access/ending-preventable-deaths-cervical-cancer-rural-georgia.
19. ^ Human Rights Watch, “Fading Away”: How Aged Care Facilities in Australia Chemically Restrain Older People with Dementia, October 2019, https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/10/15/fading-away/how-aged-care-facilities-australia-chemically-restrain-older-people.
20. ^ Human Rights Watch, “This Government is Failing Me Too”: South Africa Compounds Legacy of Apartheid for Older People, June 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/06/27/government-failing-me-too/south-africa-compounds-legacy-apartheid-older-people.
21. ^ Human Rights Watch, “They Don’t Treat Us like Human Beings”: Abuse of Imprisoned Women in Japan, November 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/11/14/they-dont-treat-us-human-beings/abuse-imprisoned-women-japan.
22. ^ Human Rights Watch, “Submission to the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons: Older persons deprived of their liberty,” April 1, 2022, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/22/submission-independent-expert-enjoyment-all-human-rights-older-persons.