Longer lives, equal rights: Why ageing needs a gendered human rights response
BOBBY RAMAKANT - CNS
A Feminist Response to Human Rights of Older Persons is critical, says Shobha Shukla
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October 2026 may mark a pivotal moment in the global fight for equality and human rights for older persons. On 1st October the world observes the International Day of Older Persons under the theme "The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives." Later that same month, the UN Inter-Governmental Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons reconvenes at UN in Geneva to advance work on the drafting of a legally binding international treaty.
The stakes go far beyond demographic policy to respond to population ageing: the process will test whether longer lives will also mean lives lived with autonomy, equality, dignity and freedom from discrimination - or whether age will continue to compound existing inequalities, especially for older women and other marginalised groups.
A human rights response to an ageing world
Khalid Hassine, Secretary of the Inter-Governmental Working Group (IGWG) on the Human Rights of Older Persons at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, explained that the treaty process has emerged in response to a profound demographic transformation: people are living longer and societies are ageing.
He outlined the significance of the process. IGWG was established by the UN Human Rights Council in early 2025 and is mandated to elaborate a legally binding instrument (or treaty). Hassine leads the Secretariat facilitating the intergovernmental process in line with UN Human Rights Council resolutions and UN rules of procedure.
Speaking at a SHE & Rights session, Hassine said that while governments have previously responded to demographic change (of population ageing) before, through initiatives such as the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (adopted in 2002) and the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing established in 2010, governments have now chosen to pursue a response grounded in human rights to this structural change, with the objective of developing a legally binding international instrument.
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