Mr. President,

I would like to congratulate you upon your election to the important task of directing this important conference, and I wish you every luck in your efforts in guiding us to reach wise conclusions!

I feel that the Preparatory Committee has done a good job in achieving a large degree of agreement on a draft Plan of Action that may prove to be an important milestone in the UN's involvement with the challenges of ageing all over the world.

There are, of course, also issues that are unresolved and I hope that this conference will find good solutions to them.

Mr. President,

I would like to comment on a few aspects of the Plan.

We who take part in this conference all have our own images of what is good ageing, images that are shaped by our own experiences. Looking back to my own childhood as a farm-girl in rural Norway I remember my grandmother's happy old age. She milked her cows, patted the horse that she loved, collected the eggs and picked flowers for her kitchen table. She did that to her days' end. Others envisage the good city life, with shops, cinemas, cafes and theatres just around the corner.

My grandmother was lucky to be able to live a happy and comfortable life. Others experienced ill-health, poverty, insufficient food, cold and draughty housing, no help with the daily chores, etcetera.

The situation for ageing people in to-day's world differs just as much.

The remarkable increase in longevity that we have experienced during the last 50 years, and that is expected to continue in the future, is a consequence of progress in medicine and health services and better economic and social conditions. But we still have to strive for better health and greater well-being for old people. We have to fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. So development is a major task. I do hope that the results of the Monterey summit and this conference will contribute to that process.

The Plan proposes many sensible actions on health promotion and well being throughout life. It is surely vitally important to lay the foundations for a healthy old age, to enable as many of us as possible to work and live independently as long as we wish. And it is important that we are encouraged, and receive the right incentives, to continue to work longer than many people in developed countries do today. Otherwise our societies will face very difficult problems due to lack of manpower. This aspect is also well treated in the draft.

It is a paradox, actually, that in rich Western countries where one can afford healthy physical working conditions and where hard menial labour is nearly non-existing, people seem increasingly to prefer retirement before the normal pension age. People seem, however, often to feel that office work in a modern, hectic society may entail psychological stress that is too hard to tackle. We have to work on how to change this situation.

In general we also have to change the images of ageing. There is a vicious circle here. Young and middle-aged persons often have a false picture of frail elderly people, and expect them to retire from work, political activities etc. Some elderly people are, of course, frail. But most people who reach present pension age in Western societies are far from frail. They ought to be expected to lead active social and political lives - and to continue to be working beyond present retirement age. They are a resource for society, not a burden.

On the other hand many old people also develop disabilities - for example decreased mobility, eyesight and hearing. To me it is of the utmost importance that the Plan of Action must give sound advise on these matters. Insufficient attention has till now been paid to the need for designing a society for all.

Many disabled persons, both old and young, are now unnecessarily handicapped in their daily lives. This we can, and must, do something about. We have to require that our societies be planned as societies for all, according to the principles of universal design. I refer here to the UN standard rules on equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, and in particular Rule 5 on : the equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities which recognises the overall importance of accessibility in the process of the equalisation of opportunities in all spheres of society. Active life for old persons with disabilities requires accessibility to the physical environment, information and communication in accordance with the standard Rule that was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly. We have proposed a new article in the Declaration from this Conference to this effect and very much hope that the proposal will be accepted.

We should focus on creating accessible societies for persons with disabilities, be they young or old. This should be reflected in our Plan of Action. I sincerely hope that the work that is being done on actions related to the issue Older persons and disabilities and the issue Housing and the living environment will contain a strong commitment here.
In Norway, we have some experience in developing and implementing both practical measures and concepts in this field. We are, of course, prepared to share our experience with States that may be in a position to benefit from them. I am pleased to see that the Action Plan
s also recognises the fact that persons who have had disabilities all their lives, or who have been disabled in younger years, have special problems when they grow old.

Mr. President,

I would like to point out that there are a number of examples of communities that are doing a systematic and successful job in planning a society for all according to the principles of universal design. Since we are in Spain, I would like to refer to the examples set by Madrid and Barcelona. These cities have been visited by our State Council on Disability a few years ago. It was very impressed by the "accessibility culture" which was demonstrated by city officials. This does not necessarily mean that everything is accessible already. But an active and systematic process towards that goal seems to be developing.

Mr. President,

Finally, I would like to say a few words also on the Declaration from this conference. We should, in my view, adopt a political declaration that gives guidelines for future work on the most important questions. These are in my view:

      -    economic and social development as a prerequisite for a healthy and active old age; 

      - a society for all ages must be accessible for persons with disabilities; 

      - old people should be treated as a resource, not as a burden for society.
 

Thank you, Mr. President.