CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ TOWARDS A NEW CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTON OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS Only one sectoral human rights treaty speaks expressly about older persons – the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It does so in two provisions which relate to the right to health (Article 25 40 ) and the right to adequate standard of living and social protection (Article 28 41 ). In addition, the CRPD encourages States to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life” [Article 8(1)(b), emphasis added]. It also invokes the need for age-appropriate accommodations and age-sensitive assistance and support when granting the right to access to justice [Article 13(1)] and the right to freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse [Article 16(2)]. Finally, age is cited among the grounds that in the terms of one of the preambular paragraphs of the Convention often add to disability and result in “multiple and aggravated forms of discrimination” (par. p of the preamble) of people with disabilities. At the moment, however paradoxical this may seem, the CRPD contains the most comprehensive set of explicit legal rules relating to older persons (disabled older persons, more exactly) that is available at the universal level. 42 Despite the scarcity of references to older persons in universal treaties, UN human rights monitoring bodies have repeatedly commented on the rights of such persons in their case-law and in more general documents. 43 The most important in this respect are General Comment No. 6, issued by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1995, 44 and General Recommendation No. 27, adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2010. 45 The former, entitled The economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, takes account of the phenomenon of ageing and recalls that under the ICESCR State parties have a general duty to protect the vulnerable members of society, including 40 Article 25 declares the obligation of States to “provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons” (par. b, emphasis added). 41 Article 28 declares that States shall “ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes” (par. 2(b), emphasis added). 42 See also KANTER, Arlene S., The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Implications for the Rights of Elderly People under International Law, Georgia State University Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2009, pp. 527-573. 43 In addition to the two documents mentioned in the text, General Comment No. 29 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, dealing with Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights, merits attention, as it explicitly ranks age among prohibited grounds of discrimination. See UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/20, General Comment No. 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights, 2 July 2009, par. 29. 44 UN Doc. E/1996/22, General Comment No. 6: The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Older Persons, 8 December 1995. 45 UN Doc. CEDAW/C/2010/47/CG.1, General recommendation No. 27 on older women and protection of their human rights, 19 October 2010.

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