CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

ALLA TYMOFEYEVA CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ and to first give the opportunity to CoE member states to regulate the issue in accordance with their own traditions and economic prosperity. The case law of the ECtHR may serve as guidance for the states, but the primary steps should be taken on the local level. On the subject of the idea of the adoption of a new international treaty on the human rights of older persons, this was expressed for the first time in the Recommendation 2104 (2017) titled Human rights of older persons and their comprehensive care. 108 Here the CoE Parliamentary Assembly observes that other regional organisations have recently opted for a legally binding instrument devoted to the rights of older persons with reference to the Inter- American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa. In the light of this, it recommends that the Committee of Ministers thoroughly examine the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)2 by involving civil society and, based upon the results, consider the necessity of drawing up a legally binding instrument in this field. In its reply of 16 February 2018 109 the Committee of Ministers announced that a workshop involving the various national human rights institutions will be organised by the CDDH in June 2018, 110 and based on the results, they would explore the possibility of a specific legally binding instrument. The workshop took place on 21 June 2018 in Strasbourg. The thoughts expressed on the subject during the workshop were very divergent and depended upon who was speaking. All the representatives of the non-governmental organisations strongly lobbied for the new treaty. On the other hand, the state agents were very restrained in their speeches. Given these differing opinions, it was not surprising that the CDDH, in the report adopted later that year, decided not to discuss the question of a new CoE binding instrument. In view of the fact that the modern era of international law demonstrates a more general unwillingness by the states to cooperate and to accept new obligations, this approach by the CDDH is quite understandable.

108 Recommendation 2104 (2017). Human rights of older persons and their comprehensive care. Parliamentary Assembly. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 30 May 2017. 109 Human rights of older persons and their comprehensive care. Reply to Recommendation 2104 (2017). Committee of Ministers. Doc. 14500 of 16 February 2018. 110 The author of this article had the honour of being present at this workshop.

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