|
|
|
General Assembly
Sessions
The General
Assembly is the most inclusive organ of the UN, comprising all
countries of the world, and meets annually in New York from late
September to the end of December. Its crowded agenda includes an item
on the follow-up to the World Assembly on Ageing.
The item is taken
up first in the committee on social and humanitarian questions (the Third Committee),
where most of the debate takes place and draft resolutions are
submitted and negotiated. The resolutions adopted in committee then go
to the plenary for final endorsement. They provide the necessary
mandates to the international system for future action.
Non-governmental organizations are not allowed to participate in the
Assembly, but they are often active informally by submitting
documentation to the Secretariat for its reports, and lobbying
governmental delegations for inclusion of desired wording in the
resolutions.
Sixty-fourth
session (2009) | Sixty-third session (2008)
| Sixty-second session (2007)
Sixth-first session (2006) | Sixtieth session (2005) | Fifty-ninth
session (2004)
Fifty-eighth session (2003)
UN Rapporteurs
| Links
Sixty-fourth session
(2009)
Third Committee Urges UN Member States to
Protect the Rights of Older Women in Rural Areas (November 2009)
The UN General Assembly Third Committee recently urged
Member States to protect the rights of older women living in rural
areas. The 2009 draft resolution focuses on improving the situation of
rural women, highlighting the vulnerability of indigenous older women.
Many older women in rural areas do not enjoy the right to health care,
freedom from violence, property and inheritance, water, food, and
political participation.
Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing (October 22, 2009)
After many debates, the Third Committee adopted its
resolution A/C.3/64/L.6 on aging. In it, Member States request the
Secretary-General to “submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth
session, […], a comprehensive report on the current status of the
social situation, wellbeing, development and rights of older persons at
the national and regional levels.” Committee members re-affirmed the
importance of the UN, its Regional Commissions, as well as national and
international non-governmental organizations in assuring the rights of
older persons.
Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing; Report of the
Secretary-General (July 6, 2009)
(Report also available in French,
Chinese,
and Spanish)
On July 6, 2009, the Secretary General’s Report, a follow-up to the
Second World Assembly on Ageing, was released. It notes that questions
related to promoting, protecting and ensuring the rights of older
persons have come more to the center of national and international
attention. However, the UN has not sufficiently addressed effective
ways to guarantee older persons’ rights. While the international plans
of action on ageing as well as the UN Principles for Older Persons
attempted to fill this gap, they contain no binding language. Results
have been mixed. The report lists recommendations for Member States.
Sixty-third session (2008)
Follow-up
to the Second World Assembly on Ageing (December 18, 2008)
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution
(A/RES/63/151) which encourages member states to take a more active
involvement in the eradication poverty amongst older persons, and
particularly older women. Most importantly, the Resolution requests the
Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth
session a report on the implementation of the present resolution,
including information on the promotion and protection of human rights
as they pertain to older persons.
Follow-up to the Second World
Assembly on Ageing - Report of the Secretary-General (A/63/95) (July 1,
2008)
(Report also available in French,
Spanish, Russian, Chinese
and Arabic)
This document reviews, appraises and recommends policies
for the future implementation of the Madrid International Plan of
Action on Aging (2002). The document notes which aspects of MIPAA have
had the most global success: new social protection mechanisms;
extending health-care benefits to older persons; increasing the
participation of older persons. The report also notes common obstacles:
limited coverage of older persons in formal social protection schemes,
particularly in developing countries; lack of access to adequate care
and health services for older persons; lack of education and training
opportunities; insufficient participation of older persons in
political, economic, social, and cultural areas of social life. The
authors also review the implementation framework and capacity building
exercises. In conclusion, they recommend that Member States “devise
strategies for overcoming obstacles to the implementation of the Madrid
Plan.”
Sixty-second session (2007)
Follow-up
to the Second World Assembly on Ageing - Report of the
Secretary-General (A/62/131) (July 23, 2007) (A/62/131/Corr.1)
In his report to the 62nd session of the General Assembly, the UN
Secretary General gives examples of implementation efforts as well as
lessons learned during the first cycle of the Madrid Plan of Action on
Ageing. Examples encompass legal frameworks, such as legislation
focused on older persons in Brazil, social protection systems, such as
the establishment of non-contributory social pensions in many poor
countries and the development of human resources that particularly deal
with aging issues. Calling progress made since 2002 , “remarkable,” the
Secretary General concludes with recommendations, such as improving
capacity building. The report does not, however, identify ways to build
financial capacity for poor countries to implement aging programs.
Sixty-first session (2006)
Follow-up
to the World Assembly on Ageing – Resolution Adopted by the General
Assembly (A/RES/61/142) (January 30, 2007)
The General Assembly, on December 19, 2006, accepted the draft
resolution submitted by the Third Committee with only one change in the
original text. Article 9 of the resolution invites Member States to
submit policy recommendations to enhance Madrid Plan implementation in
addition to their reports on the implementation progress.
Follow-up
to the Second World Assembly on Ageing -
Draft
Resolution Presented by South Africa (A/C.3/61/L.6) (October 4, 2006)
South Africa presented this draft resolution, co-sponsored by the
Russian Federation, to follow-up on the Second World Assembly on Ageing
on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. The resolution calls on the
international community for greater support for national efforts to
implement MIPAA, including adequate support for research and
data-collection, particularly on gender and aging, and the UN Trust
Fund for Ageing. The resolution also encourages governments to pay
greater attention to “building capacity to eradicate poverty among
older persons, particularly older women, by mainstreaming ageing issues
into poverty eradication strategies and national development plans,”
and recommends to ECOSOC the “integration of ageing into the
monitoring, review and appraisal exercises of other major international
development initiatives and policy frameworks,” such as the UN
Millennium Development Declaration.
Follow-up to the Second World
Assembly on Ageing - Report of the Secretary-General (A/61/167) (July
19, 2006)
In this report, the UN Secretary General presents
“merely a snapshot of national capacity” to implement the Madrid Plan
of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). The Secretariat could not rely on
comprehensive information from Member States, because MIPAA is not a
legally binding document. The UN cannot require Member States to report
on the implementation progress on a regular basis. The report,
responding to General Assembly resolution 60/135, highlights several
national capacity building and implementation efforts, such as the
introduction of social pension programs to support older persons, in
poor countries, such as in South Africa. The report criticizes the “low
profile” of aging issues exemplified by the” insufficient political
attention and inadequate financial support geared towards building
national capacity for implementing the Madrid Plan of Action.”
Sixtieth session (2005)
Follow-up to the
Second World Assembly on Ageing - Resolution Adopted by the General
Assembly (A/RES/60/135) (February 2, 2006)
This resolution,
passed by the General Assembly on December 16, 2005, recognizes
that in many countries around the world “awareness of the Madrid Plan
of Action remains limited or non-existent.” The resolution stresses the
“need for additional capacity-building at the national level” for MIPAA
implementation and encourages
Governments to support the United Nations Trust Fund for Ageing to
enable the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat
to provide expanded assistance to countries, upon their
request.” The resolution further stresses “the importance of the
collection of data and population statistics disaggregated by age and
sex on all aspects of policy formulation by all countries, and
encourages the relevant entities of the United Nations system to
support national efforts in capacity-building, especially those of
developing countries and countries with economies in transition.”
Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on
Ageing- Report of the Secretary-General (A/60/151) (July 22, 2005)
In this report, the Secretary General assesses UN internal and
national follow-up activities to the Second World Assembly on Aging in
2004/2005. The report underlines the "general lack of awareness" of the
Assembly's Plan of Action and urges raising its visibility. The report
also describes governmental, regional as well as UN and NGO efforts to
mainstream ageing issues into international programs and activities and
provides recommendations for the General Assembly to consider.
Fifty-ninth
session (2004)
Follow-up to the Second
World Assembly on Ageing - Report of the Secretary-General (A/59/164) (July 21, 2004)
As requested by the General Assembly in 2003, the
Secretary-General submitted this report on UN activities to implement
the Madrid Plan of Action, based on contributions received from 14 UN
system organizations and major NGOs working in the field of ageing. The report concludes that some progress has been
achieved since 2002 on linking ageing and development within the
organizations and bodies of the UN system, but much more remains to be
done, particularly at the national level. It notes that maintaining
priority on the international agenda for older persons' issues is a
challenge given the many competing issues and limited resources. The
report makes a number of recommendations that were then taken up in the
resolution adopted by the General Assembly.
Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing -
Resolution by the GA (A/RES/59/150
) (February 1, 2005)
Resolution 59/150 of December 20, 2004 invited States and the UN system
to take into account the needs and concerns of older persons in
decision-making at all levels; invited the functional commissions of
the Economic and Social Council to integrate ageing issues into their
work; recommended that the Commission on the Status of Women continue
to consider the situation of older women; encouraged the regional
commissions to elaborate a regional strategy for the implementation of
the Madrid Plan of Action; requested the Secretary-General to submit
his proposals for conducting the review and appraisal of the Plan at
the regional and global levels to the Commission for Social Development
in 2006; and requested the UN system organizations to strengthen the
capacity of the focal points on ageing and to provide them with
adequate resources.
Fifty-eighth session (2003)
Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing -
Report of the Secretary-General (A/58/160 ) (July 17, 2003)
During the first year of follow-up to the World Assembly on Ageing, the
UN system developed a "road map", or a comprehensive strategy in order
to assist governments in the implementation of their commitments
towards older persons. The strategy identifies national
capacity-building and mainstreaming of ageing into national development
policies as the main aspects of the process, particularly in developing
countries and countries with economies in transition. It sets out steps
to be taken at the national and international level, taking into
account the gender dimension, and recommends a "bottom-up approach" for
assessing progress. The approach stresses
the need for participation, dialogue and sharing of ideas and best
practices among all stakeholders, therefore including older persons and
their organizations. This report by the Secretary General gives a
detailed description of the strategy.
Follow-up to
the Second World Assembly on Ageing - Resolution by the GA
(A/RES/58/134) (January 26, 2003)
This General Assembly resolution adopted on December 22, 2003
recognized that population ageing worldwide makes it "imperative that
ageing be integrated into development policies for the attainment of
internationally agreed development goals" and called on governments and
UN system organizations to act accordingly. Specifically, it requested
the Economic and Social Council to consider ageing in its review of
issues arising from the global conferences; requested the Social
Development Commission to integrate ageing in the follow-up to the
World Summit for Social Development, and to cooperate with the
Commission on the Status of Women with regard to older women; requested
the Statistical Commission to develop modalities for disaggregating
data by age and sex; requested the UN system organizations to report to
the Social Development Commission on their progress in mainstreaming
ageing in their work ; and invited the international financial
institutions and regional development banks to take older persons into
account in their policies and projects.
Links
UN General
Assembly Current Session
A link to the
General Assembly's main site providing links to main actors, news,
direct webcasts, etc.
UN
General Assembly Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural)
This website provides links to draft proposals, voting records and the
allocation of agenda items.
|
