General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

16 December 1991

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                   A/RES/46/94
                                                   74th plenary meeting
                                                   16 December 1991
 
     Implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing:
            integration of the elderly in development
 
  The General Assembly,
 
  Recalling its resolution 40/30 of 29 November 1985, in which it emphasized
that the elderly must be considered an important and necessary element in the
development process at all levels within a given society,
 
  Recalling also its resolution 45/106 of 14 December 1990, in which it
endorsed the action programme on ageing for 1992 and beyond and urged wide
participation in the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of
the International Plan of Action on Ageing,
 
  Recalling further Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/38 of 24 May
1989, in which the Council noted that women constituted a larger part of the
older population and that in the years to come the number of elderly women
would increase more rapidly in the developing countries than in the developed
ones,
 
  Noting with satisfaction the observance of the first International Day for
the Elderly on 1 October 1991,
 
  Noting with appreciation the convening of the Expert Group Meeting on
Integration of Ageing and Elderly Women into Development at Vienna from 7 to
11 October 1991 by the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs
of the Secretariat in collaboration with the American Association of Retired
Persons, 
 
 Noting with concern that the contributions to the Trust Fund for Ageinghave
steadily declined since 1982 and that if this trend continues the
implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing will be
compromised,
 
  Mindful of the need for innovative and effective international cooperation
in the field of ageing if countries are to achieve self-reliance in responding
to the ageing of their populations,
 
  1.  Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on international
cooperation on ageing for 1992 and beyond;
 
  2.  Recommends wide multisectoral cooperation in setting global targets on
ageing to be reached by the year 2001 and invites wide participation in a
proposed interregional symposium and other meetings on target-setting;
 
  3.  Requests Member States to consider setting appropriate and, where
feasible, quantifiable, national targets on ageing for the year 2001;
 
  4.  Requests all participants in target-setting to pay special attention to
practical strategies, identifying in detail the key agencies and the necessary
means for reaching the targets;
 
  5.  Urges Member States to participate, at the highest level, in the plenary
meetings of the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session to be devoted,
inter alia, to launching a set of global targets on ageing to be reached by
the year 2001;
 
  6.  Calls upon Member States to participate in the inquiry for the third
review and appraisal of the implementation of the International Plan of Action
on Ageing, in the first half of 1992, and to take the occasion of the review
to plan ahead, setting national targets on ageing for the year 2001;
 
  7.  Invites the Secretary-General to consider the feasibility of appointing
eminent personalities as good will ambassadors for ageing during the decade
1992-2001;
 
  8.  Invites Member States, the Department of Public Information of the
Secretariat, the regional commissions and non-governmental organizations to
disseminate widely the United Nations Principles for Older Persons at the
local, national, regional and global levels, especially in the year 1992, the
tenth anniversary of the World Assembly on Ageing;
 
  9.  Urges Member States and non-governmental organizations of the elderly to
second experts and administrative personnel to the Centre for Social
Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat in 1992-1993 to help
in selected priority activities, including the third review and appraisal of
the implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing;
 
  10.  Notes with appreciation the support given by the United Nations
Population Fund to the applied research and training project entitled
"Developmental Implications of Demographic Change: Global Population Ageing"
being implemented by the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian
Affairs, and in view of the importance of the subject matter, encourages the
United Nations Population Fund to continue its support;
 
  11.  Invites the United Nations Population Fund to support a senior adviser
on population ageing at the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian
Affairs in view of the importance of the ageing in future population changes
and the role of the Centre as focal point in the United Nations system for
ageing;
 
  12.  Calls upon the United Nations Population Fund and all other bodies of
the United Nations system involved in preparations for the International
Conference on Population and Development, 1994, to utilize the results of the
project mentioned in paragraph 10 above as a major input to the Conference;
 
  13.  Calls upon the specialized agencies and other relevant bodies of the
United Nations system to give recognition to the contribution of the elderly
to social and economic development in the context of major events and
conferences of the 1990s, such as those dealing with the environment, human
rights, the family, population and the advancement of women;
 
  14.  Notes with satisfaction the recent establishment, under the patronage
of the United Nations, of the Banyan Fund Association: A World Fund for
Ageing, whose main goal is to secure or broker funds for activities that would
support implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing;
 
  15.  Also notes with satisfaction the leading role of the International
Institute on Ageing in Malta in global training initiatives on ageing and its
increasing involvement in other countries in the execution of projects funded
by the United Nations Population Fund;
 
  16.  Urges the United Nations, Member States and non-governmental
organizations to support the African Society of Gerontology in developing and
implementing a regional programme of activities on ageing;
 
  17.  Encourages non-governmental organizations and the private sector to
continue close collaboration with the United Nations system in the field of
ageing;
 
  18.  Requests the Secretary-General, in celebrating the International Year
of the Family in 1994, to draw attention to the contributions that the elderly
make to the family;
 
  19.  Invites special observance of the International Day for the Elderly on
1 October 1992, to mark the tenth anniversary of the World Assembly on Ageing;
 
  20.  Urges all organizations of the United Nations system and bilateral and
multilateral development agencies to include the elderly in their development
efforts, with particular focus on the mainstreaming approach;
 
  21.  Invites the United Nations Development Programme to include the elderly
in the programmes of their social funds that aim, inter alia, to alleviate
poverty; 
 
  22.  Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its
forty-seventh session on the implementation of the present resolution under
the item entitled "Social development".