Campaigners warn existing law leaves seniors exposed to abuse and age discrimination
Countries began negotiating the first binding international treaty on the rights of older people at a week of United Nations talks in Geneva, where campaigners argued that current law leaves seniors unprotected against age discrimination and abuse.
Argentina initiated and chaired the session, which ran through Friday, according to Reuters.
Brazil, Slovenia, the Philippines and Gambia are the proposed treaty's other main backers, and Chile and South Africa were among the states that voiced support during the week.
The Human Rights Council set the process in motion with a resolution adopted without a vote in October 2025.
Negotiators are set to reconvene in Geneva in October, Reuters reported, though it is not clear how long talks will run, and such agreements can take years to reach.
Existing human rights treaties carry non-discrimination clauses covering race and gender, but none addresses age.
"There are many situations where people are not fully protected by existing law," said Heidrun Mollenkopf, president of AGE Platform Europe, a network of older persons.
Much of the debate turns on when people must stop working.
Rights groups cite mandatory retirement ages, age limits on jury duty and reduced cancer screening for people above a certain age.
Bridget Sleap, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said many age restrictions go unchallenged, in comments reported by Reuters.
She called it "arbitrary" that people should stop working once they reach a set age.
The demographic pressure behind the push is mounting.
The number of people aged 65 or older will climb from 703m today to 1.5bn by 2050, when one in six people worldwide will be over 65, up from one in 11 in 2019, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Cost is expected to shape how far governments go.
Margaret Gillis, 67, founding president of the International Longevity Centre Canada, said she expects a "fight," warning that autocratic states could try to weaken a treaty and that others might resist if they feared new healthcare costs, Reuters reported.
Campaigners also want the treaty to reach into care settings.
Mollenkopf described abuses in nursing homes by carers, including chemical restraints used to control the behaviour of people with dementia.
"It's completely hidden what's going on," she told Reuters.
She said there had even been cases of homicide, without identifying any.
A UN-appointed independent expert called ageism pervasive worldwide in a 2021 report, finding that deeply embedded stereotypes about age were shaping laws and policies.
Informal UN meetings on discrimination against older persons have run since 2011, but campaigners say the high share of COVID-19 deaths among older people built momentum for formal talks.
Successive heatwaves in Europe that have killed disproportionate numbers of seniors, and pushed some governments to offer support, have added to that pressure, according to Reuters.
Argentina's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Carlos Mario Foradori, framed the effort as long-term.
The aim is to prepare a system "that can meet the needs of the future," he said.
Such an instrument would strengthen the dignity, protection, and rights of millions of older persons globally, he added.
Whether the timetable matches the ambition is uncertain.
"I hope a treaty will come in my lifetime," said Mollenkopf, who is 85. "But I'm afraid it might not."
