04/08/2026
Agewell has formally written to the United Nations Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Chair of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG).
We are calling for genuine and equitable inclusion of the Global South in the process of drafting a legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons.
The majority of the world’s older persons live in Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. They face distinct challenges — weak social protection, limited healthcare and long-term care, climate vulnerability, and intersecting discrimination. Yet disparities in resources and negotiating power risk allowing the process to be shaped primarily by the priorities of a limited number of well-resourced actors.
Agewell has consistently raised this concern:
• As a Panelist in the preparatory session in February 2026
• Through seven interventions during the substantive sessions in July 2026
In every intervention, we stressed that the voices and lived realities of older persons from the Global South must be placed at the centre.
We have now taken this call to the highest levels of the United Nations with specific requests for meaningful participation, balanced evidence, capacity support, and a truly rights-based instrument.
Older persons everywhere deserve an instrument that protects their dignity and rights — not one shaped by those with the deepest pockets.
