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PRIORITYMEASURE20
“Design policies at the national, federal and local levels toguarantee quality of life, the development of potential and the full participation of older persons,
takingaccount of the need for intellectual, emotional and physical interactionand the different situation of menandwomen, with emphasis on the groups
that aremost susceptible todiscrimination, such as older personswith disabilities, thosewithout economic resources or pension coverage,
or thosewho live alone or lack a support network.”
Possible lines of action
1. Prepare 5-year or 10-year plans for defining intervention priorities and action strategies on behalf of older persons; 2. Prepare and apply
programmes and deliver services for fostering the independence of older persons in rural and forest areas, including persons with disabilities;
3. Strengthen the administrative powers and capabilities and the inter-agency links of public agencies serving older persons; 4. Guarantee the
effective provision of the budgets and resources needed to pursue actions that should be undertaken on behalf of older persons; 5. Strengthen the
technical capacity of government personnel through training and upgrading of working teams and facilitate the sustainability and retention of
specialized human resources; 6. Conduct periodic assessments of government-implemented programmes, projects and services targeted at older
people; 7. Guarantee participation by older persons in institutional consultation and accountability processes at all levels; 8. Ensure that older
persons, in particular older women, are included and represented in planning for rural and urban development; 9. Promote the ratification of the
Inter-AmericanConvention onprotecting the human rights of older persons, if it has not already been ratified.
Targets
1. All older persons have access to public policies and programmes designed to increase their autonomy and quality of life, according to their
needs and aspirations; 2. Achieve ratification of the Inter-AmericanConvention onprotecting the human rights of older persons.
Tentative indicators
1. The percentage of older persons indifferent situations of vulnerability (disabilities, lack of economic resources and/or social security coverage,
living alone) who are the beneficiaries of public policies and programmes designed to increase their autonomy and quality of life; 2. Percentage
of consultation and institutional accountability processes related to ageing and the older adult population in which older persons participate;
3. The countryhas ratified the Inter-AmericanConvention on protecting the human rights of older persons.
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
Political Declaration of theSecondWorldAssemblyonAgeing, article 8 (detailed under prioritymeasure 19).
Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, which incorporates specific recommendations for the development of policies related to
employment, migrants, gender equality, education, poverty reduction, health, disabilities and care. It also includes recommendations on the
institutional structure in its sectionon implementationmeasures.
The mainstreaming of the gender perspective in policies pertaining to older persons is addressed in the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979, United Nations, Treaty series, volume 1249, page 13 . Entry into force on 3September 1981);
General AssemblyResolution 47/5, “Proclamation onAgeing”, of 16October 1992; General AssemblyResolution 57/117, on “The situation of
older women in society”, of 18 December 2002; as well as the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and the Political Declaration
adopted at theWorldAssemblyonAgeing,Madrid, 8 to 12April, 2002.
TheCommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination againstWomen also addresses the topic in itsDecision 26/III, “EliminatingDiscrimination
against Older Women through the Convention” (A/57/38, part I), of 7May 2002, and General Recommendation No. 27 on older women and
protection of their human rights, of 16December 2010.
In the ECLAC sphere, the 2003 Regional Strategy for the Implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing contains a
particular reference to the development of policies and programmes in its priority areas. In the section on Implementation and Follow-up of the
Regional Strategy it establishes, as the first objective, “Incorporation of the issue of ageing into all spheres of public policy in order to adjust
State actions to reflect demographic changes and the aim of building a society for all ages.”
The 2012 San JoséCharter on the rights of older persons also contains a specific section on this topic, stressing the creation and strengthening of
institutions responsible for older persons at the national level (http://www.cepal.org/celade/noticias/paginas/1/44901/CR_Carta_ESP.pdf).
Comments
Thismeasure is related toPM 18, which calls on countries to “Formulate policieswith a gender perspective to ensure a good quality of life in old
age, not only for urban dwellers, but also for thosewho live in rural and forest areas.”
