The urgency of advancing the dissemination and implementation of the Inter American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons

The Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons was adopted on June 15, 2015, by the OAS [1]. It is a regional legal commitment that recognizes specific rights in older age and defines state obligations. Its drafting process, initiated in 2011, was considered fast relative to typical international negotiation timelines [2], reflecting a regional political urgency to address the gap between demographic ageing and the weak effective protection of older persons’ rights. Today, with thirteen States Parties having ratified it [3], the challenge is to ensure that the Convention translates into laws, policies, budgets, institutional capacities and enforceability mechanisms that positively affect the everyday lives of older persons.

As established by the Convention itself [1], States Parties must report progress in legislative and policy actions and participate in a follow-up mechanism consisting of a Conference of States Parties and a Committee of Experts, to be convened once the tenth State Party had ratified it. This design matters because it introduces a logic of periodic accountability and supports regional comparability. However, a treaty without sufficient dissemination is reduced to a document of formal adherence. Effective implementation requires capacity and coordination, ranging from regulatory adjustments and sectoral protocols to coherent indicators and budgets.

The Convention is a binding instrument of major relevance because:

a) First, it establishes a normative framework that recognizes specific rights of older persons in areas such as health, social protection, work, access to justice, participation and independent living [4]. This level of detail matters because it moves from broad declarations to concrete standards.
b) Second, it is a fundamental legal instrument to confront ageism and discrimination against older persons [5]. Ageism is a social practice expressed through clinical, administrative and community decisions that restrict rights and opportunities and directly affect the health and well-being of older persons.
c) Third, it provides definitions and standards that make visible and combat abuse, neglect and abandonment, including economic, emotional and physical violence [1]. Naming these forms of violence is a first step toward prevention, detection, protection and sanction.
d) Fourth, it promotes cultural change by recognizing the value of experience and the contribution of older persons to sustainable development. This is especially relevant in societies where ageing is often framed as a “burden”.

The United Nations has warned that many older persons in the region face multiple forms of discrimination, especially when they are women; Indigenous or Afro-descendant people; persons with disabilities; persons from the LGBTIQA+ community; displaced persons; or stateless persons [6]. Recognizing these intersections and inequalities -and adapting policies and services so as not to reproduce exclusion -becomes one of the major challenges.

In Chile, ratification of the Inter-American convention on protecting the human rights of older persons was finalized in 2017 after a process in which civil society played a leading role, mobilizing the debate in both the Executive and Legislative branches [7] and working closely with academia. This experience leaves an important lesson: Rights advance when there is informed civic articulation. Today, the implementation phase once again requires an active civil society, as well as an academia connected to territory and public policy. The participation of independent experts, designated by States Parties, can contribute a contextualized perspective that is close to local realities -precisely what is often missing in regional policy follow-up processes. The challenge we face today is the effective implementation of the Convention as a transformative tool, with a territorial approach and leaving no one behind. This requires that older persons know their rights and can recognize violations; that institutions and teams understand the obligations, standards and procedures that must be met; and, above all, that there be continuous social and political oversight to make compliance enforceable.

Ten years after its adoption, the Inter-American convention on protecting the human rights of older persons still faces its greatest obstacle: Limited awareness among older persons and institutions of its existence and of the rights it recognizes and guarantees. The challenge is not to draft new commitments, but to comply with the one already undertaken, one that required significant work at different levels. To achieve this, dissemination, training and civic oversight must be strengthened, grounded in a rights-based approach, territorial relevance and explicit recognition of the diversity of ageing experiences. A Convention that is implemented protects, defends and guarantees; a Convention that is unknown becomes mere decoration.

Not applicable / None.

The author declares no conflict of interest.

1. Organization of American States (OAS) (2015) Inter-American convention on protecting the human rights of older persons, USA.
2. Jelin E (2020) Human rights, ageing and civil society in Latin America. CLACSO Publishing, Argentina.
3. Organization of American States (OAS) (2023) States Parties to the Inter-American Convention, USA.
4. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) (2019) Rights of older persons: progress and challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean.
5. World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) Global report on ageism, Switzerland.
6. United Nations (2022) Report on monitoring the implementation of the human rights of older persons.
7. Larraín S (2018) The role of civil society in the ratification of the Inter-American Convention on the rights of older persons in Chile. Journal of Aging and Public Policy 12(2): 45-58.