V. THE ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN MY CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE WORKING GROUP ON THE RIGHTS OF ELDERLY PERSONS AND DISABLED PERSONS
42. The Draft Protocol on the rights of Elderly persons had been submitted to the Commission for consideration during the 48th Ordinary Session; and on the basis of the observations made by the members of the ACHPR, the Draft Protocol document will be submitted in the near future.
43. Regarding the Draft Protocol on the rights of Disabled Persons, the meetings are still going on within the Working Group.
44. From 18 to 21 April 2011, I participated, at the invitation of the United Nations in New York, in the First Ordinary Session of the Working Group with enlarged membership on the rights of Elderly Persons. One of this Working Group’s key assignments is to examine the utility, in collaboration with all the stakeholders, of drafting a specific legal instrument for Elderly Persons. During these deliberations, I made a presentation on the state of African law in this field, on the established mechanisms, on the achievements registered in the protection of the rights of Elderly Persons and the shortcomings which have been observed.
45. It would appear from the numerous panel meetings organized in this regard that the issue of the rights of Elderly Persons is the subject of concern at the African, American, European and Asiatic regional levels. At the States’ national level, it would also appear that programmes and policies are put in place keeping in mind the cultural, social and economic realities of the stakeholders. At the global level, the opportuneness of having a specific law for Elderly Persons or the establishment of a protection instrument such as the mechanism of Special Rapporteur; all of this based on appropriate research studies.
(included in Inter-session activity report of Commissioner Reine Alapini Gansou)
