PILPG Circle of Former Ambassadors of the UN Human Rights Council Statement on the Rights of Older Persons and Commitment to an Age-Friendly Future

February 11, 2025

PILPG's Circle of Former Ambassadors to the UN Human Rights Council has released a Statement in response to the conclusion of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing. The Group presented its recommendations in August 2024 after 14 years of deliberation, notably proposing an international, legally binding instrument to safeguard the human rights of older persons.

Such a convention is considered crucial for ensuring that peoples’ rights, well-being, and dignity are protected now and in the future. The inherent rights of persons do not diminish with age, and indeed older persons experience particular challenges and forms of discrimination that the existing international and regional human rights frameworks do not explicitly recognize nor comprehensively address.

The Circle affirms that the time has come for the global community to ensure that older persons are not merely passive beneficiaries but active contributors to and participants in shaping societies that respect their dignity and fulfill their potential, and that the adopting of this convention would represent a significant step toward building a genuinely age-inclusive world.

PILPG’s Circle of Former Ambassadors have released a Statement supporting the efforts and findings of the Open-Ended Working Group and reiterating the call for a proposed instrument to protect and promote the rights of older persons.

Click here to read their Statement.