Meeting of co-sponsorsing countries for the follow-up of the Resolution A/67/139 “Towards a comprehensive and integral international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons” , , april 22 y 23, 2013

Chair's Summary

As an initiative of the Secretary for Social Inclusion and First Lady of the Republic of El Salvador, Dr. Vanda Pignato, a meeting of countries who co-sponsored General Assembly Resolution A/RES/67/139, entitled " Towards a comprehensive and integral international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons ", was held in San Salvador on April 22 and 23 2013, with the primary purpose of identifying a set of possible actions to take, vis-a-vis the 4th meeting of the Working Group on Ageing to be held in August 2013, New York and which, in accordance to Resolution 57/139, will start the process of multilateral talks aimed at an international legal instrument on older persons.

The meeting was attended by 17 of the 26 countries that co-sponsored Resolution A/RES/67/139, along with Argentina as Presidency of the Working Group on Ageing. The participating countries were Bolivia, , Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, , , Haiti, Nicaragua, Senegal, Venezuela and El Salvador.

This meeting allowed conversations on a possible roadmap for the short, medium and long term implementation of Resolution A/RES/67/139, entitled " Towards a comprehensive and integral international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older persons ", as well as to how to encourage other countries to promote parallel actions aimed at increasing the level of discussion on this issue within the .

The opening ceremony featured welcoming remarks by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan Jose Garcia, a welcoming statement by Mrs. Elena Zúñiga, representative in El Salvador for the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, and a key-note speech by the First Lady and Secretary of Social Inclusion, Dr. Vanda Pignato.

Subsequently, the working sessions took place as contained in the concept paper prepared and distributed by El Salvador, as host and organizer of the event.

As part of the event, the progress made since the adoption of Resolution A/RES/67/139 (December 2012) was analyzed, with special emphasis being placed on OP1, which opens the door to for the Working Group on Ageing to receive inputs and proceed in the discussions towards an international instrument that protects the human rights of older persons. Paragraph OP1 was recognized as the most important political element contained in the Resolution to move forward the discussions on the subject.

Considering the OP1 of Resolution 67/139, participating countries expect to support discussions generated in the Working Group. The existence of a persistent low level of participation in the meetings of the Working Group by the Member States was recognized, and participating countries were encouraged to promote greater participation by the various regional groups.

Participants considered it necessary to nurture the work of the Working Group, through various bodies of the System, such as ECOSOC, the General Assembly itself, or as it has already been done this year, through the Commission for Social Development (February 2013), with the negotiation of the Resolution regarding the appraisal of the Madrid International Action.

It was recalled that some countries consider the Plan of Action of Madrid as a sufficient instrument to address issues affecting older persons. However, it was also recognized that Madrid, while being a political instrument that contains guidelines for the implementation of public policies by governments, is not a binding instrument. In this sense, a Convention would signify a commitment of implementation by States Parties. This is the crux of the political discussions regarding this possibility.

Another important element that emerged in the discussions on the results of the recent Commission for Social Development, was the empowerment of all vulnerable groups and how they should be connected conceptually with the work of defining the post-2015 development agenda, the role that older persons play in this discussion, and how that might link the development agenda with a possible International Convention on the subject.

Also, as part of the follow-up efforts of Resolution A/RES/67/139, the progress made in the framework of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (March 2013) was highlighted, especially the fact that the resulting "Agreed Conclusions" include relevant paragraphs regarded the prevention and elimination of discrimination and violence against the elderly woman, as an input, which is expected to feed the discussions of the Working Group, in its 4th meeting to be held in August 2013.

The recently adopted common position of the African Union on the human rights of older persons in Africa was also raised, as a window of possibility for joining forces with the entire membership of that regional organization.

Moreover, it was considered important to continue efforts to build consensus on the issue within the group of the G77 + China, which has not had the expected success, due to Reservations expressed by some members of the Group. Such reservations would not be concerned so much with the substance of a possible Convention, but rather with the jurisprudence of the process itself.

Specially, the need to get China more involved was recognized, given its leverage in the context of the G77 + China and also due to its important population size.

Regarding future efforts ahead of the next 4th meeting of the Working Group on Ageing, the following possible actions were identified:

1. ECOSOC substantive session in Geneva (July 2013), which could provide an opportunity to support a draft text, which, without pointing directly at a possible Convention, could be drafted in a way so that it would address substantive elements that would nourish the discussions of the Working Group in August 2013.

2. To reiterate in every possible forum the nine (9) existing implementation gaps identified by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in its report presented to ECOSOC in July 2012, as well as to respond to the note sent by the Secretary requesting inputs for the Working Group, as a follow-up to Resolution A/RES/67/139, asking for States to provide their views on six elements that an international legal instrument should include, namely: Purpose, General Principles, Definitions-particularly the elderly and seniors -, Equality and Non-Discrimination, specific Human Rights to be included, and National and International Monitoring Mechanisms.

Regarding this specific request by the Secretariat, most participating countries recommended that deadline for submission of inputs be extended, since these should be developed by their respective capitals.i

Subsequently, as part of the event, participating countries made presentations on their own national experiences.

In their interventions, countries considered the need for an international instrument for older persons, as well as the need to generate a broad discussion to visualize the way forward. Several of the participants mentioned that, among others, the recent experience within the Organization of American States in the preparation of a draft Convention could be taken into account in this process.

The experts from ECLAC and UNFPA who joined the meeting were requested to provide their views on the work and the issues that should be addressed by the Working Group session in August 2013.

The ECLAC representative considered important to understand what stage of the process we are in, and noted that there is currently no conceptual debate on the subject. While in the case of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, issues such as legal autonomy were clearly identified, in the case of the older persons, it is still unclear what the central niche to work on would be. (Example: the issue of age discrimination, autonomy, etc.). It was reiterated that for the case of Latin America and Africa the issue is discussed from a human rights and development perspective. Also, the need for more active participation by civil society in generating discussions on the subject was identified.

As one specific example, it was considered that the Uruguayan Presidency of the Human Rights Council (Geneva) presents an important opportunity to tackle and give greater visibility to the issue of the protection of rights and the establishment of standards in issues affecting older persons.

It was also noted that the elderly population is heterogeneous, including older persons deprived of liberty, older persons in emergency situations, older women, etc. ECLAC also announced that it is planning a follow-up meeting to the San Jose Charter (adopted in 2012 at the Latin America and Caribbean level) from July 3 to 5, 2013 in Costa Rica, which could also be an opportunity to consolidate a position to bring to the United Nations.

The representative of the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, noted in particular two aspects: The need for further technical discussions on the matter and the need for further inclusion of civil society, as a way to promote dialogue and political awareness.

At the meeting, delegations were urged to share the spirit of this meeting in San Salvador with their capitals and other delegations, and to send the inputs requested by Secretary for the meeting of Working Group in August 2013. Also, they were requested to accompany actions to boost and keep the momemtum on the subject.

Similarly, another element that was present in the discussions was the need to urge civil society organizations of older persons to participate actively in this issue.

It was considered important that the Working Group on Ageing can define the substantive issues and a roadmap to continue promoting the development of an international instrument, taking into account the various positions expressed by the entire UN membership, in order to create conditions so that, within possible, a Convention joining the human rights and development perspectives can be brought to existence.

In this sense, it is important to analyze the different opinions and arguments against this initiative.

Finally, and as a good practice, participants had the opportunity to visit "Ciudad Mujer - Santa Ana", a model for promoting and encouraging the empowerment of women throughout the life cycle, run by the Government of El Salvador through the Secretary of Social Inclusion and First Lady of the Republic, Dr. Vanda Pignato. This visit added a practical input on how the inclusion of a gender perspective can add strength to the achievement of a broad vision for older persons.

i the deadline at the time of preparing this report had been moved to May 20, 2013