(1) The UN General Assembly will discuss the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action

The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third Committee) of the UN General Assembly will convene on 2-4 October 2006 to discuss item 59 of its agenda entitled 'Social development'. Sub-items (b) Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family and (d) Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing will address issues concerning older persons and ageing.
A report of the Secretary-General on 'Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing' (document symbol A/61/167) has been prepared and is available at the UN web-site. Please direct your Internet server to: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/436/37/PDF/N0643637.pdf?OpenElement

(2) ECLAC Seminar in Brazil

A Seminar on Regional Indicators for the follow-up to the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (24-26 July 2006). It was organized by the Government of Brazil, IMSERSO/RIICOTEC, ECLAC, and UNESCO. Various presentations on indicators development, data collection and general issues pertaining to older persons and ageing in the ECLAC region were made. For more information, please see the attached text of the presentation by the representative of the UN Programme on Ageing, which contains references to information material that is available online (Indicators Summary).

(3) Meetings in Finland

Two meetings were conducted in Finland last week, within the Finnish EU Presidency Programme. The International Design for All Conference (13-15 September) took place in Rovaniemi, Lapland, and was organized by the Finnish Design for All Network, the European Design for All eAccessibility Network (EDeAN), the University of Lapland, and the National R&D Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES). For more details, please visit the Conferences’ webpage at http://dfasuomi.stakes.fi/EN/dfa2006/rovaniemi/index.htm

The second meeting, Research Benefits for the Ageing Population Dissemination Conference for European Research Results (14-15 September), was also organized by STAKES together with the Secretariat of the European Commission; it took place in Helsinki. The Conference provided an opportunity to present the results of key research and development projects on the quality of life of older people in EU.

The representative of the UN Programme on Ageing made presentations at both meetings.