Recommendation 2104 (2017)

Human rights of older persons and their comprehensive care

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 30 May 2017 (see Doc. 14320, report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Lord George Foulkes).

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 2168 (2017) on human rights of older persons and their comprehensive care.

2. The Assembly welcomes the recent work of the Committee of Ministers in this field, resulting in the adoption of Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)2 on the promotion of human rights of older persons, which is a comprehensive instrument and a far-reaching statement on the rights of older persons.

3. The Assembly notes that other regional organisations promoting human rights have recently opted for a legally binding instrument devoted to the rights of older persons, for example the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa.

4. In the light of the foregoing, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

4.1. thoroughly examine the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)2 by, inter alia, closely involving civil society and all other relevant stakeholders in the process;

4.2. based on the conclusions drawn from this exercise, consider the necessity and feasibility of drawing up a legally binding instrument in this field;

4.3. urge those member States which have not yet done so to sign and ratify the European Social Charter (revised) (ETS No. 163) and accept, in particular, its Article 23 on the right of elderly persons to social protection.