Press Release: NO 005/2019 24th November 2019

NO 005/2019

24th November 2019

ECOWAS Parliament Hosts High Level Conference on Rights of Older People As part of activities lined up on the sidelines of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, a High Level Conference on Ageing and Rights of Older People will be hosted at the Seat of Parliament on 25 and 26 November, on the theme: The Human Rights Situation of Older Persons in Africa.

The conference is set to be opened on Monday by H.E, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari and is being convened by the Government of Nigeria through its National Human Rights Commission and the Stakeholder Group on Ageing Africa (SGA Africa), in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic Development (DESA) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The two-day conference is aimed at sensitizing National Governments on the importance of achieving an all inclusive society for all ages, by sustaining momentum in the on-going conversations and actions to support the rights of older persons globally, at the United Nations General Assembly Openended Working Group, which was established in 2010 for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons.

It particularly aims to draw attention to the human rights situation of older persons in Africa and to identify key areas of action, including strengthening of legal frameworks and ratification of the Regional Protocol to the African Published by the Communication Division of the ECOWAS Parliament

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Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (on the rights of older people), a Protocol which only 14 African countries are signatories to whereas merely two of the 14 African Union Member States have ratified.

The conference will deliberate on the realities of the overall experiences of older persons within the context of inclusion into social protection schemes as well as other old age issues which are still not being sufficiently addressed from a human rights perspective.

The Conference shall have a wide array of participants from the ECOWAS Member States, the United Nations Organization and human rights institutions. Others include ECOWAS Members of Parliament, Stakeholder Group on Ageing, Older activists and Non-Governmental Organizations.

At the opening, remarks and goodwill messages are expected from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other representatives of the Government of Nigeria who facilitated the convening of the conference, ECOWAS Parliament and the President of the UN General Assembly.

It will feature various working and technical sessions, plenary session deliberations by MPs as well as other interactive sessions.

Some of the topics to be discussed at the working sessions and Plenary include: “The Human Rights Situation of Older Persons In Africa: Key Challenges and Opportunities: “Focus on Health, Ageing and Human Rights - The Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020 - 2030): Challenges, Good Practices & Lessons Learned.

Others are: “The Human Rights Framework on Older Persons and its Application in African Region: “Advancing Towards an International Human Rights Instrument to Protect the Human Rights of Older Persons, among others.

Published by the Communication Division of the ECOWAS Parliament

Website: www.parl.ecowas.int

@ecowasparliamnt

@ecowasparliament

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