SEDI - DSDE - Department of Social Development and Employment

Older Persons

San Jose Charter

LC/G.2537 In the San Jose Charter, States reaffirmed their commitment expressed in the Brasilia Declaration to spare no effort to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all older persons, to work to eradicate all forms of discrimination and violence and to create networks for the protection of older persons with a view to the effective exercise of their rights. The document is the final outcome of the Third Regional Intergovernmental Conference on Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean, held from 8-11 May in the capital of Costa Rica, organized by the Government of the country and ECLAC.

Declaration of Brasilia

LC/G.2359 The Declaration of Brasilia was the result of the Second Regional Intergovernmental Conference on Ageing in Latin America: towards a society for all ages and social protection based on rights, held from December 4th to 6th, 2007, in Brasilia, Brazil. The conference was organized by ECLAC and the Government of Brazil, with support from the United Nations Population Fund.

Plan of Action of the Pan American Health Organization on Health of Older Persons including Active and Healthy Aging

CSP26.R20 The Plan of Action for the Health of Older Persons identifies priorities for the period 2009-2018, the Pan American Health Organization and its Member States in regard to strengthening the opportunities for the region to promote longevity and healthy welfare of its inhabitants. The strategy is based on the preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization, which states that the highest attainable standard of health of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, ideology, political or economic or social condition, the recommendations proposed by the 26th Pan American Sanitary Conference in 2002, which calls on member states to advocate for the promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms fundamental elderly and conventions, declarations and recommendations of the United Nations system and American system.

Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing

Political Declaration and Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and the Political Declaration were adopted at the Second World Assembly on Ageing in April 2002.The Madrid Plan of Action offers a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st-century. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. It is a resource for policymaking, suggesting ways for Governments, non-governmental organizations, and other actors to reorient the ways in which their societies perceive, interact with and care for their older citizens. And it represents the first time Governments agreed to link questions of ageing to other frameworks for social and economic development and human rights, most notably those agreed at the United Nations conferences and summits of the past decade.

Compilation of papers presented at the International Forum on the Rights of the Elderly

The rights of the elderly in the XXI century: status, challenges and experiences (Spanish only). This book was prepared based on the papers presented at the International Forum on the Rights of Older Persons, held in Mexico City from March 26 to 28, 2012, and which was organized by the Government of Mexico City, through the Institute for the Care of Older Adults in the Federal District, and the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE) - Population Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Both, the Forum and the publication of this book, benefited from the support of the project CEPAL-UNFPA/LACRO.