A personal learning journey
By Mervat Rishmawi
One of the benefits of being a human rights consultant is the opportunity to work on new issues from time to time, allowing me to continue to learn and expand my horizons. In the last couple of years, I have undertaken several pieces of work with HelpAge International, a worldwide alliance of 158 members and country offices across 86 countries, promoting the rights of older people, a subject I had hitherto not explored. A number of the members are in Arab countries (see HelpAge International – Middle East) where I have often focused my work.
The work started with authorship of a guide providing practical guidance on ensuring the development of human rights-based policies for older persons at the national level. This resulted in the publication Right to Dignified Ageing: A guide to establishing rights-based policies for older people, published by HelpAge International and the UN Population Fund in 2021. The guide uses examples from the Arab region but applies a global framework to discuss how policy makers can integrate the voice and participation of older persons in the process of developing appropriate laws, policies and programs to realise their rights.
Although there are various international and regional frameworks that protect the rights of older persons, (See Right to Dignified Ageing, p. 18), since 2010 there have been ongoing efforts to examine the necessity of additional dedicated international standards and mechanisms. In this regard the work of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons and the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons are particularly important.
However, while to date there is no international treaty solely devoted to the rights of older persons, governments must still develop national laws, strategies, policies and programmes to ensure their rights are guaranteed under existing international human rights obligations. Further, while they of course must be ensured the same range of human rights as everyone else, 10 human rights are seen to be particularly important to empower older persons and enable them to live their life with dignity. These are the rights to: equality and non-discrimination; autonomy; freedom from violence, abuse and neglect; care and support for independent living; health; access to justice; social protection and social security; work; education and life-long learning; and participation in society. (see “Report of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing on its seventh working session”, Section IV, para 29, A/AC.278/2016/2, 23 December 2016). The Guide on the Right to Dignified Ageing elaborates briefly on the content of each of these rights. (See Right to Dignified Ageing, p. 30)
The Guide stresses the importance of ensuring that the views of older persons are central to policy development efforts, arguing that “older persons often remain invisible in laws, policies and programmes, which can exclude them either directly or indirectly, and are frequently based on ageist presumptions and stereotypes.” (The Right to Dignified Ageing, p. 10) It is important to note that, contrary to the approach of many national laws and policies, older persons do not constitute a homogenous group In reality, older persons represent various age groups, and come from diverse backgrounds; with different needs, hopes and ambitions. This diversity must be integrated and reflected in the design of the consultation process prior to and during the process of development of laws and policies, as well as in the monitoring and evaluation phase. This will not only ensure an inclusive approach but also avoid stereotyping and discrimination against particular groups.
To enhance this participatory approach, HelpAge International has developed a very useful tool, the Voice framework, which includes five domains of voice activity: ensuring older people’s voice is being engaged, informed and empowered, shared and combined, amplified, and heard (See “HelpAge Voice framework: An Introduction”, 2021). The Guide on the Right to Dignified Ageing includes examples on how the voice of older persons can be included in the various steps of the policy development cycle: 1. Designation of leadership and national mechanism; 2. Agenda setting; 3. Data collection and analysis; 4. Policy elaboration and design; 5. Planning; 6. Budgeting; 7. Approval; 8. Financing; 9. Implementation; and 10. Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.
In ensuring the voices of older persons and their representatives have a paramount place in identifying policy areas, choices and priorities it is vital that thorough, meaningful and effective consultation with them takes place from the start of the process. For example, older persons and their representative organisations must have direct participation in national mechanisms mandated to develop rights-based policies and that they are involved in the design of the agenda and priorities. Not only should such a process be robust and comprehensive, but it also must provide older persons and representative organisations with the necessary support to participate meaningfully. Further, rights holders must be at the centre of both the focus of the information to be collected and the design of how it is to be collected. Information must reflect older persons’ realities, concerns, aspirations and solutions through their own voices. Therefore, older persons themselves must inform what type of information needs to be collected, what questions need to be asked, and the analysis of such information and data.
As with other processes, consultation can take various forms including focus group discussions, forums or meetings, direct interviews, surveys, peer conversations among older persons themselves, as well as reference groups to provide regular feedback.
Finally, the guide emphasises the importance of integrating intersectionality and life-cycle approaches, which allow for recognising the particularly aggravated impact of discrimination in older age.
After the issuance of the guide, a number of discussions and trainings took place with various stakeholders which re-confirmed the need for a rights-based approach to developing appropriate laws and policies. I sincerely hope that this contributes to a better understanding of rights of older persons, and a real shift from a needs-based approach to a human rights one to laws, policies and programmes related to and affecting older persons. The work continues!
