The Association for The Aged (Tafta) has joined the global movement of the Age with Rights campaign to cast a spotlight on upholding the rights of older people.

As a build up to the next United Nations annual meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) placed a call for campaigners around the world to join a Global Rally in support of the Age with Rights campaign. The worldwide rally took the form of a virtual 24-hour event hosted on 3 March 2022 across multiple time zones and was an opportunity to mobilise support for the call for a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

GAROP, together with numerous global partners, including TAFTA, is lobbying for the Convention to be proclaimed the next major human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations that will seek to remedy a fragmented human rights structure for Older Persons.

Tafta CEO, Femada Shamam said the organisation had joined the movement with a symbolic display of Tafta elders supporting the Age with Rights campaign through mini rallies at Tafta homes. “Abuse against the elderly through infringement of their human rights is a global issue with many elders being subjected to violence, malnutrition, destitution, abandonment, neglect, and discrimination. This is largely due to the lack of explicit references to older persons’ rights in existing human rights treaties, that are also unclear on how human rights apply in older age. By engaging our elders in the Age with Rights campaign, we are hoping to generate support from the government to actively participate in an international, legally binding Convention. In doing so, a framework can be established to guide policy makers on how to build a society where older people are valued and are able to enjoy their human rights as they age,” explained Shamam.

In rallies hosted at Tafta homes, elders gathered together displaying posters that call on government, political figures, service providers and corporates to ensure that ageing remains on the development agenda and to speak out for the rights of older people. The association is encouraging these key stakeholders to attend and voice their opinions in the next United Nations Working Group meeting to be held from 11 to 14 April, and to involve and consult with older people prior to the event to ensure inputs made at the meeting are based on experiences faced by elders in our society. For more information on the Age with Rights campaign, please visit www.rightsofolderpeople.org/age-withrights/