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12 April 2002 By Eva Calvo in Madrid For five days, hundreds of delegates from the UN, international organisations, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and governments, have been discussing issues relating to older people with the aim of agreeing on a political declaration and a plan of action at the end of the World Assembly on Ageing today. Since the adoption of a Plan of Action on Ageing at the first World Assembly in Vienna in 1982, there has been a seismic change in demographic patterns that are having a huge impact on both economies and the lives of older people across the world. With developed countries experiencing declining population growth and developing countries facing challenges such as the impact of HIV/AIDS on older people, a new plan of action to deal with all the problems these issues bring, needs to be developed. Ensuring that the rights of older people to a better quality of life can only come through the active involvement of older people in finding solutions. This was a key component of the speech made by the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, in a speech at a plenary session of the Assembly on the penultimate day of the gathering. "We must include older people in solutions for improving their quality of life, since we will achieve more if we find solutions for older people, by older people," he told delegates. The president also highlighted the important work of older people as caregivers to people living with HIV/AIDS, calling for assistance for them. He took time also to praise the work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent throughout the world in helping older people. "I could talk for a long time about our Red Cross Red Crescent Societies caring for older people in their communities, in every corner of the world. And this could sound familiar to you," he said. But, he added, although the Red Cross and Red Crescent worked to improve the quality of life of all vulnerable groups of society, ageing populations across the world increasingly represented challenges for the Movement and society as a whole. The role of volunteers, especially older volunteers was also acknowledged in a side event at the Assembly. Guests including people from the public and private sectors, governments and volunteers themselves, drew attention to the positive and often vital role older people play as volunteers for organisations, such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, a volunteer himself, said "being a volunteer is being a rebel. We volunteers work for making things change". Older people are a large resource for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and are carrying out numerous activities in community based programmes to support the humanitarian mandate of the organisation they volunteer for. The side event also was used to introduce to the public, the Coalition for an Enabling Volunteer Environment, a partnership between United Nations Volunteers, the Interparliamentary Union and the International Federation, with the objective being to promote volunterism. The International Federation, which has observer status at the UN, also held a joint side event at the Assembly with the United Nations Population Division (UNDP) on the impact of an ageing population on demographic trends. The event was to draw attention to the fact theatre states can only address this phenomena by substantially increasing the working age of people or increase the number of migrants of working age into their countries - that in itself being politically unacceptable for many governments. International Federation expert on refugee and migration issues, Robbie Thomson said organisations should concentrate on the inevitable vulnerabilities and stresses that this phenomena bring and that the Red Cross and Red Crescent has a vital role in reducing the vulnerability and discrimination that migrants often face. "The Red Cross and Red Crescent is the perfect civil society group to assist in bringing two communities together to facilitate integration, mutual respect and understanding," Thomson added. |
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