PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL NITIN DESAI

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL NITIN DESAI

A major challenge for the forthcoming Second World Assembly on Ageing should be persuading governments to mainstream the issue of ageing in all national programmes and activities, Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.  The Assembly, to be opened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will take place in Madrid from 8 to 12 April 2002.

Mr. Desai said the Assembly must recognize that the issue of ageing could not be handled as a social welfare problem, but something that had to be reflected in all the things that governments did.  It should not be treated as a special problem to be tackled by a special department of a ministry, he added in response to questions.

In answer to other questions, Pamela Mboya, a board member of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Help-Age, also stressed the need for mainstreaming questions affecting older persons in national development programmes.  She said efforts would be required at the national level to implement the new international strategy for action on matters affecting older persons to be adopted at the Second World Assembly.  Specific legislation might be required to protect the rights of older persons, as had been done with children and women, she said.

Responding to further questions, Mr. Desai said a group of NGOs involved in the question of the aged had expressed an interest in the elaboration of a separate and specific legal instrument to deal with questions relating to older persons.

The General Assembly, in its resolution 54/262 of 25 May 2000, decided to convene the Second World Assembly on Ageing in 2002 to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the first Assembly.  The conference would review the outcome of the first Assembly on Ageing that took place in Vienna in 1991.  It would also map out a new international strategy for action on socio-cultural, economic and demographic realities of the twenty-first century.  An outcome of the first Assembly was the formulation of United Nations principles which provided guidance in the areas of independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity of older persons.

A Preparatory Committee for the Second World Assembly began the first of three sessions at Headquarters today, to negotiate a draft final document for the Madrid Assembly.  The document would form the basis for a new international strategy to tackle the problems of older persons.

Mr. Desai, in opening remarks, said the first conference had a major impact on public thinking on the question of ageing.  A second conference was

needed in the wake of changes that had taken place in the world, such as

globalization.  There was now a growing recognition that the question was not an industrial-country problem, and that developing countries would be confronted over the next two decades with increases in the proportion of the aged in the population, which in the industrialized countries took something like 100 years. Today, it was typically five or six per cent of people over 60 in most developing countries.  In a relatively short period of time, developing countries would have a very big increase in the proportion of older persons.  The rate at which the traditional support structures for older persons were changing was also very high because of migration and globalization.

Concepcion Dancausa, Secretary-General for Social Affairs of Spain, said the issue of the aged should be addressed in a comprehensive manner.  An international plan should be adopted laying out strategic action in all areas to address the question.  Spain valued the contribution of older persons to society.  Spain, in hosting the conference would also be President of the European Union at the time.  It would be working in a dual capacity to ensure the achievement of consensus within the European Union and also in the Assembly at large.  It would be assuming an important responsibility, she said.

As host country, and in keeping with United Nations philosophy, Spain was calling not only on NGOs, but also calling for participation by other civil society groups and the private sector.  Ageing was a question that affected everyone and every opinion on the matter was necessary.  The Government of Spain was therefore organizing parallel events to coincide with the Assembly.  There would be forums and round tables involving high-level personalities.  There would also be a series of workshops to be held, among others, by the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

An NGO Forum was also planned by the organizing committee with Spanish NGOs.  She was pleased that the forum could provide inputs into the main Assembly discussions.  An international conference on gerontology would take place in Valencia, Spain, a few days before the Madrid Assembly, she added.  Experts on ageing attending the Valencia conference would have the opportunity to contribute to the main Assembly deliberations with their conclusions and recommendations.

Ms. Mboya said huge populations in the developing world remained impoverished.  The aged were among them, particularly in Africa.  They had to grapple daily with the socio-economic changes taking place around them. Urbanization and industrialization had disrupted the extended family support system, she said, adding that many older persons in Africa were now living on their own, mostly in rural areas.  It was combined with ever-increasing negative attitudes towards older people in Africa, leaving them very vulnerable.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic had worsened the situation of older people, she said.

The Second World Assembly was extremely timely and presented an opportunity for the international community to focus attention on older people,

she said.  Most importantly, it would give Africa an opportunity to contribute to the formulation of a realistic and manageable strategy.  That strategy must lay emphasis on the elaboration of policies and legislation on older people.  The extended family structures could not do so without an enabling legislation.

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