States need to consolidate national systems of care for older persons, IACHR says

October 29, 2024

Washington, D.C. – On International Day of Care and Support, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calls on States in the Americas to ensure they have national protection systems in place to provide the comprehensive care needed to enable older persons to live with dignity.

Protecting excluded groups requires comprehensive programs with the functions, budgets, and operational structures needed to transform the realities of specific groups. The IACHR stresses that States in the Americas must consolidate national systems to protect older persons.

The recent paradigm shift in the protection of the human rights of older persons seeks to recognize them as subjects of rights, not merely as objects of protection. This fundamental change concerning old age is embodied in various international instruments, particularly the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons.

The Convention links a dignified old age with access to comprehensive, long-term, and palliative care. The Convention's recognition of care for older persons is an essential aspect of that paradigm shift. The care needs of older persons must therefore be integrated as a right in national protection systems, rather than considered from an assistentialist or charity-based perspective.

Major progress has been made to recognize the right to care in States' national legislation and also in the inter-American system. The IACHR has noted that the content of the right to care must take into consideration the needs linked to access to that right and to the rights of caregivers, as well as the safeguards required for older persons to be able to provide self-care.

This is particularly significant given the demographic diversity of older persons and their approach to care. In this context, the IACHR report Human rights of the elderly and national protection systems in the Americas stressed that older persons' access to care must take into consideration their autonomy and independence to establish their own needs, among others in terms of the care provided in residential care facilities and palliative care facilities.

From an intersectional perspective, care must address the specific needs of older persons as a diverse group. The IACHR has noted that the sexual orientation and gender identity of older persons have not been adequately taken into consideration, and that this has led to shortcomings in programs aimed at providing care and support to meet their specific care needs.

Along similar lines, the IACHR has found that many penitentiaries lack adequate facilities to provide long-term care or palliative care to older persons who are deprived of liberty. The IACHR has also highlighted that many older women live in poverty and have no access to a pension after providing unpaid family care all their lives.

The IACHR has further found that migration and forced displacement create gaps in the provision of intergenerational care, amid splits in family units and communities that have a disproportionate impact on older persons.

On International Day of Care and Support, the IACHR calls on States to design national protection systems (or at least public policies) that reflect the needs of older persons, so they may access this right, other rights in case they have been primarily caregivers, and safeguards to enable autonomous, independent self-care.

Last, the IACHR stresses that national protection systems must ensure recognition of and support for the intersectional needs in old age of women, LGBTIQ+ persons, individuals who are deprived of liberty, and migrants, among other excluded groups.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 265/24

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