More Ageism research

- Countries sponsoring UNIDOP 2016 – cosponsors, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,

Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Trinidad, Tobago,
Turkey, Uruguay
- Permanent Mission: Spain, Thailand, US
- WHO – Co-sponsor of these events (UNIDOP)
- 23rd Agenda – in the ageing community
- Stereotypes can be incredibly powerful in producing prejudices against old
people
- United Nations principles for older principles 4691 December 1991 –
continue to work towards those goals – gvt create policies that enhance
independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity of older persons
- Committee on ageing
- UN 2030 sustainable development goals for older persons
- NGO committee on ageing – summary on activities it does for that year
- Sub-Committee report – intergenerational report
- Resource list related to issues related to ageing
- Should be a universally legally binding scheme against ageism
- The INPEA exists (International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse)
- In many developing countries, women are primary breadwinners due to
factors such as conflicts, poverty, lack of education and health crisis. In many
developed countries, ageism compounds this gender injustice extending its
impact into retirement plan participation, funding rates and ultimately
available retirement options.
- Manifesto against ageism Ashton Applewhite – age is a criterion for diversity
- Ageism is as unacceptable as sexism or racism
- Human rights should not diminish with age
- Socially constructed ideas that change over time and serve a socio economic
purpose
- How people in power assign meaning to how people look
- Media and popular culture – wrinkles are ugly, sad to be old – need to
challenge them
- Because there is so much stigmatism against age, many older people become
depressed at work and quit, becoming dependent on the government,
furthering ageism and its views

Algeria – has a pension fund

October 1994 – put in place social principles in favour of impoverished older people

Ageism – Algeria – ECOSOC research

Source: International rights of older persons: what difference would a new

convention make to the lives of older people?
Link:
http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/marqelad11&div=18&id=&
page=&collection=journals
- What difference would a new international convention for elderly rights
make to the lives of older persons? Has different responses:
o Would cause harm and reduce existing rights
o Would not make any difference
o Would improve rights and status of older persons
- Will cause harm:
o While goals are ambitious, results are often disappointing and
counterproductive. Some argue this is the case with CEDAW
(Convention on the Eliminations of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women) as it failed in eradicating global discrimination
against women. Feminists argue that CEDAW ignores past
discrimination and that women face unique realities. It only ensures
superficial equality, rather than focusing on remedying past wrongs.

Algeria is no longer a country torn by violence, but a country resolutely moving

forward.

1st October – United Nations observes International Day of Older Persons. Takes a
stand against ageism
Millions of older people face unequal treatment
Navi Pillay – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said 1st October 2010:
“Millions of older persons face unequal treatment, isolation, chronic poverty,
unemployment, violence and abuse, limited access to justice and lack of social and
political mechanisms to ensure their participation.’
Demographics – the number of people aged 60 and above is expected to reach 1.4
billion in 2030 and 2 billion in 2050. We need to ensure that these people live in
economically and socially sound circumstances by this time. Women aged 50 and
above represent nearly one-quarter (23.6%) of women around the world, most of
which live in low and middle income countries and outnumbering men as they age.

In Algeria, adults aged over 55 formulate over 10% of the population, and this is
bound to increase given the proportional rise of the population that is predicted to
occur over the next few years.

In Moldova, UNDP is working with UN Women on a programme to subsidize the cost

of biomass heating in poor households,
Algeria believes in improving the efficiency and quality of priority social sectors –
public spending is a useful tool for reducing poverty, and we have recently increased
our taxes to deal with the drop in the price of oil, so why couldn’t we do it to help
the elderly population? In addition, schemes such as taking more income and
putting it towards retirement can be implemented, however this should be taken as
a long term concession, and we need immediate action at the moment.