HLM on Ageing

The President of the General Assembly will convene a high-level meeting to exchange views and share experiences on the recommendations included in decision 14/1 of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, in an equitable and non-exclusive manner, and to define next steps on the challenges and opportunities regarding the rights and well-being of older persons, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 78/324.  on Thursday, 8 May 2025 (3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) at Conference Room 4, United Nations Headquarters, New York.

Background

The global population is ageing, signaling extraordinary collective success in improving living conditions for billions of people around the world. These advances have ushered in an era where rapid population growth may peak by century’s end, accompanied by a gradual but permanent shift towards older ages. Over several decades, both the number and proportion of older persons in their population have risen globally.

The world’s population is expected to keep growing for another 50 or 60 years, peaking at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s, up from 8.2 billion in 2024, before declining gradually to 10.2 billion in 2100, according to the 2024 revision of the World Population Prospects.2
By the late 2070s, the global population aged 65 years or older is projected to reach 2.2 billion, surpassing the number of children (under age 18). By the mid-2030s, there will be 265 million individuals aged 80 years or older, outnumbering infants (1 year of age or less). Even countries with rapidly growing and relatively youthful populations will experience a rise in the number of persons aged 65 years or older over the next 30 years.3 It is essential to integrate the evolving global ageing process into national, regional and international efforts, to advance the well-being and human rights of older persons, in line with recent global commitments, including those set out in the Pact for the Future.

In this regard, Action 35 of the Pact for the Future calls for strengthening intergenerational partnerships and solidarity among generations by promoting opportunities for voluntary, constructive and regular interaction between young and older persons in their families, workplaces and in society at large. Furthermore, the Declaration on Future Generations emphasizes the need to strengthen cooperation among States in their response to demographic trends and realities, such as rapid population growth, declining birth rates and ageing populations, as well as in addressing the interlinkages between population issues and development across all regions, taking into account the needs and interests of present and future generations, including children and youth, and the substantial contributions of older persons to sustainable development efforts.
Over the past decades, there have been repeated calls for enhanced actions to promote the full enjoyment of all human rights by older persons. The Political Declaration and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing,4 adopted as outcomes of the Second World Assembly on Ageing held in 2002, laid the foundation for global action. As part of the subsequent follow-up process, the General Assembly established the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing through its 2010 resolution entitled “Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing.”5
Following its establishment, the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing convened fourteen sessions. In its fourteenth session, held in May 2024, the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing adopted decision 14/1 entitled “Recommendations regarding the identification of possible gaps in the protection of the human rights of older persons and how best to address them,” as contained in the “Report of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing on its fourteenth session.”

On 13 August 2024, the General Assembly adopted resolution 78/324 entitled “Consideration of decision 14/1 of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, entitled “Recommendations regarding the identification of possible gaps in the protection of the human rights of older persons and how best to address them.”

By this resolution the General Assembly decided that the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing has completed its work, in view of the adoption of decision 14/1 by the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing in line with its mandate outlined in resolution 65/1827 and all subsequent resolutions on the follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing, including 78/177 of 19 December 2023.8 In its resolution 79/147 on the Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing,9 the General Assembly further decided to formally conclude the mandate of the Open-ended Working Group.

General Assembly resolution 78/324 also urged relevant United Nations bodies to further consider the recommendations as adopted by the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing in its decision 14/1. In this context, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 58/13 by consensus in March 2025, in which it decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group with the mandate of elaborating and submitting to the Human Rights Council a draft international legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons with the objective of promoting, protecting and ensuring the full enjoyment of human rights by older persons.

The high-level meeting will provide an opportunity to exchange views and share experiences on the recommendations included in decision 14/1 of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, in an equitable and non-exclusive manner, and to define next steps on the challenges and opportunities regarding the rights and well-being of older persons.

The high-level meeting is open to attendance by representatives of the United Nations System and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council.

The United Nations Webcast services will provide live streaming coverage of the meeting, as well as on-demand coverage (recorded video) in all six official United Nations languages, plus floor language, through the UN Web TV website at: http://webtv.un.org.

The meeting will be broadcasted on UN WebTV.

Delegations are requested to inform the Secretariat of the accessibility requirements of their delegates to facilitate participation in meetings. Upon request, adjustments can be made to three seating arrangements with a view to enabling the participation of persons with disabilities. For individual requests, please contact the Meetings Support Section of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (email: accessibilitycentre@un.org; phone: 212 963 7348/9) no later than three working days prior to the meeting.

The high-level meeting will be held in person on Thursday, 8 May 2025, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room 4 at the United Nations Headquarters.

The meeting will consist of an opening segment followed by a plenary segment for interventions by Member States and observers of the General Assembly.

The list of speakers for the plenary segment of the meeting was opened through e-deleGATE on Tuesday, 15 April 2025 at 10:00 a.m. The time limits for statements by Member States and observers of the General Assembly will be three minutes for individual delegations and five minutes for statements made on behalf of a group of States.

Programme

Opening segment (3:00 – 3:30 p.m.)

Plenary segment (3:30 – 6:00 p.m.)

• H. E. Mr. Philemon Yang, President of the General Assembly
• Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights
• Ms. Bjørg Sandkjær, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
• Ms. Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons
• Ms. Rigbe Gebrehawaria, Commissioner for Women, Children, Older Persons and Disability Rights of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
• Ms. Silvia Perel-Levin, Representative of the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) and the International Longevity Centre Global Alliance (ILC GA)

Interventions by Member States and observers of the General Assembly.

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