The campaign for a Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

In April 2025, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, United Nations (UN) Member States agreed to create a new working group to draft a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons. This decision was a huge milestone for older people’s human rights globally and comes after years of advocacy from older people and civil society organisations, including Age International.

Why a Convention is urgently needed

By 2050, more than 2.1 billion people will be over 60 years old - that's 20% of the total global population. Yet older people worldwide are being subjected to daily violations of their most basic rights. There is no legally binding universal legislation to guide governments in doing better for older people or to hold them accountable. Gaps in existing human rights standards fail to protect older people from age discrimination and abuse, and where standards and laws exist, they often lack clarity on how these protections should be applied for older people.

A UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons would provide governments with guidance and lead to practical outcomes. By establishing international obligations, the Convention would support older people worldwide to claim their rights and to fully participate in and contribute to society.

Human rights conventions also have the power to shift perceptions and reframe attitudes. As part of the process of creating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, people with disabilities demanded their rights and changed how others treated them in society.

The campaign for older people's rights

Age International has a long history of championing the rights of older persons, along with its partners HelpAge International, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older Persons (GAROP) and Age UK.

For 14 years, a dedicated working group at the UN reviewed the evidence of abuse of older people’s rights and gaps in legal protections. Throughout this time, Age International has amplified the voices of older people worldwide and promoted better protection for their rights with the UK Government and other UN Member States.

In August 2024, the UN working group concluded that there are gaps in the protection of older people’s rights and more needs to be done to address them, including the creation of a Convention. Following this breakthrough, we invited the UK public to join our campaign asking the UK Government to make history by giving a public statement of support for a Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

The UN decision on a Convention

In April 2025, the UN Human Rights Council agreed at its meeting in Geneva to set up a new UN working group to begin the process of drafting a UN convention. This turning point for global ageing rights followed years of tireless advocacy from older people and civil society groups. 

This is only the beginning of the process. Governments like the UK need to play an active role in publicly backing and supporting the creation of this vital human rights legislation. Age International will continue to push for the UK Government to explicitly state its support.

Older people must be at the centre of this process – their experience and expertise are needed for both the writing of the Convention and its implementation. Governments like the UK need to hear loud and clear that older people’s rights matter. Older people, their families and friends, professionals and volunteers working with older people, and younger people all have a critical role to play. We will continue to work together to advocate for and facilitate this over the coming months.