What's happening in 2009?

Age Demands Action will be taking place this year in 12 camps for internally displaced people across the region of West Darfur - a tremendous achievement given the security concerns.

There'll be a wealth of activities including exhibitions, celebrations and speeches, as well as banners, festivities and t-shirts being distributed across all 12 camps.

The celebrations will aim to:

• Increase older people's visibility and inclusion in the activities of other humanitarian agencies
• Raise awareness about human rights and highlight the fact that older people have the same human rights as any other age group.

In solidarity with older people across the world taking part in the campaign, those in Darfur's camps will also be raising their index finger at 1pm on 1 October to show support for Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - that all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

We'll be updating the pages with photos throughout the day so stay tuned for more information on this momentous event.

The Age Demands Action delegation will also meet with  ministers in West Darfur, and, as a direct result of last year's meeting with HelpAge International, the Ministry of Social Welfare has already agreed to implement three staff specialising in addressing the cases of older people in El Geneina, West Darfur.

What happened in 2008?

In Juba

A delegation of older people met with the Minister for Gender and Social Development from the Southern Sudanese Government. The Minister formally opened the meeting.

The delegation asked that the government made a commitment to:

• Include older persons in their social protection programme
• Increase the age of retirement from 60 to 65 years
• Ensure that HIV and AIDS data collection includes those aged 49-65, rather than the UN standard which is currently 14-49.

These suggestions were warmly received by the minister, who informed the delegation that:

• the Ministry of Social Welfare has already implemented a plan to provide a social security fund in the next financial year
• SSOPO and HelpAge International were invited to work with the ministry to come up with a draft policy for older persons
• she will refer the pensions issue to the President and to the Council of Ministers for discussion
• she will meet with the South Sudan AIDS Commissioner to discuss including older people in data collection at test centres.

In Darfur

The following demands were raised with the Ministry of Social Welfare in a meeting held last year:

• A referral system to be set up for extremely vulnerable older people in El Geneina, West Darfur
• The promotion of older people's inclusion in the HIV and AIDS awareness raising and prevention campaigns running across 7 camps in West Darfur
• A regular cash transfer to be made to all older people in Darfur's internally displaced people's camps.