WHRF - Human rights in older age: A transformative agenda by Silvia Stefanoni
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Présentation de Silvia Stefanoni sur "Human rights in older age: A transformative agenda" lors du Forum Mondial des Droits de l'Homme, Novembre 2014. Pour plus d'informations : - Site web : http://fmdh-2014.org/fr/ - Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/FMDH2014 - Twitter : https://twitter.com/FMDH2014 - Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/user/FMDH2014
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WHRF - Human rights in older age: A transformative agenda by Silvia Stefanoni
- 1. © Waqas A. Qureshi/ HelpAge International
- 2. What are the current social norms and practice?
- 3. What are the current social norms and practice? (2) The socio-cultural context in which demographic ageing is taking place is on where older women and men are seen as less equal, less deserving of respect, less part of mainstream society and less capable than other age groups.
- 4. a. Ageism Older people are (and feel) ostracised, degraded, devalued and rendered socially powerless We see ageism in: • Belittling, degrading and humiliating treatment of older people • Gradual denial of people’s autonomy in older age • Patronising and infantilising attitudes towards older people in language • A culture of impunity around all forms of violence and abuse against older people • The media, e.g. constant advertising of anti-aging products
- 5. b. Direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of older age • Health care: denial of services or treatment based on older age • Employment: Mandatory retirement ages or discrimination in employment based on older age • Access to financial services: financial services can have upper age limits or be denied or not made available to older people • Invisibility in data: statistics on violence against women, HIV prevalence and STIs, for example, are only collected, disaggregated and used for ages 15 - 49
- 6. c. Intersectional discrimination © Frederic Dupoux/ HelpAge International
- 7. d. Accumulated discrimination Risk of poverty examples Croatia 22% for all women 30% for women over 65 Estonia + Slovenia Twice as high for women over 65 than men over 65
- 8. e. Violations of human rights in old age • Social security: the vast majority of older people have no access to social security in older age • Equal recognition before the law: Guardianship regimes that remove legal capacity (equating it automatically with mental capacity) and are based on best interests rather than on will and preference in breach of Article 12 of the CRPD • Freedom from inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment: denial of holistic palliative care, that includes pain relief • Violence and abuse: different forms of violence that older people are subjected to, particularly by family members, remains an issue that is taboo and unspoken and unaddressed in law
- 9. What are the benefits of looking at older age from a human rights perspective? Reconceptualise older age • Embrace the notion of older people as rights holder than recipient of ‘charity’ • Challenge stigma and prejudice • Address current deficit policy making -> identify and understand barriers and constraints of existing framework
- 10. Why we need a convention on the rights of older people The lack of specific standards around what human rights mean for older people and in the context of old age means there is very little understanding or attention to older people’s rights.
- 11. Why we need a convention on the rights of older people (2) • Develop our understanding of how human rights apply throughout our entire lives • Contribute to changing the way we conceptualise older age • Be a powerful advocacy tool for older people and those that work with them to claim their rights • Improve promotion and protection of human rights in older age in both law and practice
- 12. Key messages • Re-conceptualising older age helps us to consider older as continued personal development and flourishing where people continue to live dignified and fulfilled lives • a new convention on the rights of older people would serve as benchmark for better policy/ legislation A guide for better service delivery and a practical advocacy tool
- 13. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- 1. What are the current social norms and practice? a. Ageism The socio-cultural context in which demographic ageing is taking place is one where older women and men are seen as less equal, less deserving of respect, less part of mainstream society and less capable than other age groups. This prejudice and stigma against older age and older people is rooted in deep-seated fears of growing old and of dying but also in social phobias and bigotry about anyone who does not fit the desirable social norm in terms of, for example, their ethnic origin, their economic status, their sexual orientation, their mental or physical health status, their caste, their productivity, their age. As a result of this stigma and prejudice, this ageism, older people are (and feel) ostracised, degraded, devalued and rendered socially powerless.
- Ageism can be insidious, intangible and often goes unrecognised, when people are not aware that it is happening around them, particularly in societies where there is a strong rhetoric around respect for elders based on religious or other cultural traditional. We see ageism in: Belittling, degrading and humiliating treatment of older people Gradual denial of people’s autonomy in older age, where younger family members begin to think they know better and take decision on behalf of their older relatives without their permission or consent Patronising and infantilising attitudes towards older people in the language that we use to talk to, or describe, older people A culture of impunity around all forms of violence and abuse against older people The media, for example, constant advertising of the beauty industry of anti-aging products
- b. Direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of older age We also see it in direct and indirect discrimination, in law and in practice, based on either known or assumed older age: Health care: denial of services or treatment based on older age Example: In a survey of 100 older people in Peru in 2012, 30% said they had been refused or denied medical treatment and 37% said they had been refused health insurance because of their age. 34% said their health and medical needs were neglected and 41% that they had experienced worse treatment by health professionals because if their age. Source: The rights of older people in Peru, HelpAge International, 2013 Employment: Mandatory retirement ages or discrimination in employment based on older age Example: In a survey of 100 older people in Peru in 2012, 43% of respondents said they been refused work because of their age since the age of 50. Source: The rights of older people in Peru, HelpAge International, 2013 Access to financial services: financial services can have upper age limits or, even when they do not, be denied or not made available to older people as they are assumed to be a risk in terms of repayment. Example: In a survey of 104 older people in Mozambique in 2012, 27% said they had been refused a loan because of their age. Source: The rights of older people in Mozambique, HelpAge International, 2013 Invisibility in data: statistics on violence against women, HIV prevalence and STIs, for example, are only collected, disaggregated and used for ages 15 - 49
- c. Intersectional discrimination We are beginning to better understand how intersectional discrimination affects people in older age, when discrimination is based on two or more different characteristics resulting in a unique form of discrimination: Older women in the media Older people in situations of heightened state control can be particularly at risk of discrimination / denial of their rights for example older prisoners, older people in residential or other care facilities, older people in conflict, displacement or other humanitarian situations Example: In Kyrgyzstan, where the Resource Centre for the Elderly, a member organisation of the HelpAge Network, monitored conditions in four prisons, older prisoners were living in unsanitary conditions with unglazed windows, were denied access to health care and medicines and adequate nutrition and had little communication with family outside the prison. They were also prevented from claiming their social security payments, which they are legally entitled to whilst they are in prison, and faced particular challenges re-integrating into society on their release. Source: Report on the situation with older prisoners’ rights in the Kyrgyz Republic, Resource Center for Elderly, Citizens against corruption, 2011
- d. Accumulated discrimination We are also beginning to understand how the accumulation of disadvantage and discrimination throughout younger ages has an impact in older age: Poverty levels of older women: Example: In Croatia, for example, the risk of poverty for all women is 22% but for women over 65, it is 30%. In Estonia and Slovenia, the risk of poverty for women over 65 is twice that for men over 65. In Finland, the gender pay gap is biggest in the age group 60–70 although they say the reasons for this are not fully clear. Source: Beijing+20 national reviews submitted to UN Women see http://www.unwomen.org/lo/csw/csw59-2015/preparations
- e. Violations of human rights in older age As individuals, living longer lives is giving rise to areas of discrimination and potential rights violations that have had little consideration to date. For example, our right to choose where we live, to privacy and a family life within different living arrangements in older age or the forced institutionalisation of older people in residential care facilities as a deprivation of liberty. Other rights are routinely denied: Social security: the vast majority of older people have no access to social security in older age Equal recognition before the law: Guardianship regimes that remove legal capacity (equating it automatically with mental capacity) and are based on best interests rather than on will and preference in breach of Article 12 of the CRPD Freedom from inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment: millions of people approach their death in acute but unnecessary pain and suffering through the denial of holistic palliative care, that includes pain relief. Violence and abuse: different forms of violence that older people are subjected to, particularly by family members, remains an issue that is taboo and unspoken and unaddressed in law. As a result perpetrators often act with impunity and victims are unable to access or redress and support services.
- 2. What are the benefits of looking at older age from a human rights perspective? Obviously this discrimination and these rights violations must be addressed but looking at older age from a rights perspective has other transformative benefits: a. From stigma and prejudice to respect and dignity Looking at older women and men and older age from a rights perspective enables us to: Look at older people as individual people, with different and multiple identities and not just as an “older person” only defined by their chronological age. See older people as rights holders and not only as recipients of charity and welfare that can be taken away at any time. Challenge and tackle prevailing ageism and ageist attitudes because a rights perspective forces us to recognise that older people themselves are not inherently vulnerable and that old age itself is not the problem. Rather poverty or ill-health, exclusion and disadvantage are not inevitable consequences of being older but are the result of barriers, constraints and discriminatory attitudes and practices that older people face in the world around them. Respond to the will and preferences, i.e. the autonomy, the choice and voice, of older people themselves not what we/others think is in their best interests. Move away from using chronological age as a (discriminatory) proxy for capacity or function. b. Reconceptualise older age If society is to adapt to demographic ageing in a way that benefits both the individual and society more broadly, then policy development needs to be more creative, more innovative. A human rights perspective can contribute to this. From our draft 2020 strategy: We believe that everyone is equal, with equal right to lives of dignity and continued development, at every stage of life and physical or mental condition. We therefore have to go beyond policies that only seek to compensate for loss. Current deficit policy making, i.e. policies that just address loss, e.g. loss of income, of employment opportunities, of care provided by family members, of function etc. without doing anything beyond this to transform older people’s lives, is inadequate. This is because policies that merely address or mitigate against such loss continue to reinforce negative social norms where older age is considered a time where continued personal development and human flourishing are no longer important and, by extension, that older people are less important, less equal, less deserving of respect, less part of mainstream society, less capable than other members of society. The value added of addressing policy related to older age is that it forces us to think about how policies related to ageing can be transformative and do more than just address loss. c. Policy development based on human rights, inter alia: Forces us to stop reinforcing the misplaced view that older people are inherently vulnerable within in policy design. Helps us identify and understand what the barriers and constraints are (policy, practice, social norms etc.) that older people face with regard to enjoyment of their rights and how to eliminate them through better policy design, implementation, monitoring and accountability. Helps us explore how policies exclude or disadvantage older people, particularly when looking at the intersection between different forms of discrimination that people can face in their older age. Enables us to identify who is responsible for ensuring older people enjoy their rights.
- Discrimination on the basis of old age is not specifically prohibited in any of the existing international conventions, except that on migrant workers. There are no specific human rights standards on issues like elder abuse, long-term and palliative care. And while general provisions in the two international covenants do apply to everyone, the lack of specific standards around what these rights mean for older people and in the context of old age means there is very little understanding or attention to older people’s rights. As a result national laws and policies are patchy and inconsistent and ageism and discrimination on the basis of old age continue to be unrecognised or tolerated and go unchallenged.
- A convention would: a. Develop our understanding of how human rights apply throughout our entire lives, right up to our death. There are a number of areas of our lives that have yet to be fully examined in terms of human rights and the principles of universality, equality and non-discrimination. The process of developing a new international instrument will enable a dedicated examination of these issues, an examination that has failed to come out of application of generic human rights standards. Enable us to interpret existing universal human rights standards in terms of how they apply to older people and in older age, or to put it another way, interpret universal human rights norms universally which is not happening at the moment e.g. freedom from violence is usually interpreted as freedom of children and women until the age of 49 from sexual and physical violence; the right to health is predominantly interpreted as the right to child and maternal primary health care. Understand and make visible the particular and unique forms of discrimination and human rights challenges that older people face have been largely ignored in the application of existing generic human rights standards. b. Contribute to changing the way we conceptualise older age, from ageist attitudes that consider older age only as a time of loss and decline to one of continued personal development and flourishing A set of international norms that establish the equal and inherent dignity and rights of older people will challenge prevailing societal norms that treat older people as less equal, less human than other age groups. c. Be a powerful advocacy tool for older people and those that work with them to claim their rights A dedicated set of international human rights standards will make it much easier for older people to identify what their rights are, how they are being violated and who is responsible for their realisation. d. Improve promotion and protection of human rights in older age in both law and practice A new convention would clarify how human rights apply to people in older age and provide governments with a legal framework, guidance and support to help them develop policies that protect and promote older people’s rights in our increasingly ageing societies. This would directly impact on the situation of older people on the ground through domestic implementation of its provisions. A new convention would oblige governments to adopt non-discriminatory laws and policies to protect against age discrimination. For example, removal of discriminatory provisions in employment law would allow older people to continue to work in dignity. A new convention would require governments to disaggregate all data by age and gender and collect data on age-specific indicators. This would give legislators the tools they need to create policy that is more appropriate and better aligned to the specific challenges faced by individuals at different ages. In many countries, data is only collected by age ranges (e.g. 50–54, 55-59) up to 60. Data on people aged 60 and above is therefore merged with data on those aged 100, if collected at all.
- Key messages: Looking at older age and ageing from a human rights perspective enables us to re-conceptualise older age, no longer treating it only as a time of loss and decline but instead a time of continued personal development and flourishing where people continue to live dignified and fulfilled lives A new convention on the rights of older people would have great utility as a norm setter for better policy/legislation, a guide for better service delivery and a practical advocacy tool