GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ON AGEING ISSUES IN TWO-DAY DEBATE ON 4-5 OCTOBER

Press Release

GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ON AGEING ISSUES IN TWO-DAY DEBATE ON 4-5 OCTOBER

Challenging and changing the negative stereotypes treating ageing as a disease or affliction is a major objective of many delegates and non-governmental officials as the United Nations General Assembly prepares to discuss possible policy recommendations on ageing issues in a two-day debate on 4 to 5 October.

Far from treating ageing as a drag on development and on societies, the General Assembly’s approach to ageing issues has concentrated on promoting the idea that older persons are regarded as valuable human resources, not discardable cast-offs, and on policies that allow societies to provide for the needs of the elderly and that allow older persons to fully participate in society.

With more people living longer all over the world, a new concept of ageing is needed to meet the needs of older persons, according to Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai in a keynote address to a large audience observing the International Day of Older Persons. “What is the problem with ageing?” Mr. Desai asked. You always wanted to live long, so what’s the problem?”

“How do we as individuals and as a global community, move from today’s ageing society towards a future society for all ages" asked Alexandre Sidorenko, Coordinator for the year-long celebration of older persons. "How do we replace notions of fear and negative images, with creative interdependence and positive transitions?”

Already growing at ever-increasing rates, the world's ageing population is expected to grow even faster in the first half of the twenty-first century. The over-80 population, which numbered only 26.7 million in 1970, grew to 66 million by 1998. In 2050, the ranks of that age group will swell to 370.4 million, if current trends continue.

The increased older-person population represents major advances in health care and public health policies that have allowed more people to live longer. For government officials and policy makers, the increase in the numbers of older persons poses major challenges, with

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older people often requiring special attention for their health care, transportation, and social needs.

The ageing process is seen most starkly in Europe, where older persons now account for one fifth of the population. By 2050, one out of every three people in Europe will be an older person. For developing countries, where the numbers of older persons will grow most dramatically and where resources are scarce, the changing demographic picture presents additional challenges. Already, many older people, particularly women -- who tend to outlive men virtually everywhere --are found living at or below the poverty line.

The International Year of Older Persons 1999, promoting the theme of "Towards a Society for All Ages", has been instrumental in focusing global attention on ageing issues. There have been hundreds of initiatives and programmes, ranging from projects to provide credit in the Philippines to older persons, to utilizing the experience of older persons for environmental conservation in Thailand, to retired doctors in Nepal providing care to older persons.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his message on the International Day of Older Persons, said "The year has done a lot to promote awareness of these developments so that we may see them as opportunities to be seized, rather than a burden to be borne”.

"The Year was a great success", according to Aurelio Fernandez, Chairman of the Commission on Social Development. "Look around and you will see newspapers and magazines covering ageing issues. The private sector is becoming interested in older persons. There has been a lot of renewed attention to these problems. Now we have to see how we keep the momentum going."

Mr. Sidorenko told about 1000 delegates and non governmental organizations who attended the United Nations commemorative programme last Thursday that the United Nations is asking societies to recognize "the holistic rewards in sustaining multigenerational continuity", while struggling against "that impulse that views ageing as a separate enigma -- an annoying side effect of technological advancement". Mr. Sidorenko said that not only did the concept of this year's theme find its way onto the world stage, but that the enormous amount of substantive and celebratory activity during the Year "plainly went beyond our expectations".

Speaking for the NGO Committee on the Ageing, Helen Hamlin pressed the case for greater participation for older persons at the United Nations. She said, "One of the items we expect to pursue in the next year is to promote the fact that older persons are a major group in the world and, as such, deserve to be and must be included in all United Nations debates of various kinds. It appears to us that the groups and institutions that continue to ignore the demographic facts of older people do so at their future peril."

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