1681 people have signed our petition so far

Older people make huge contributions to development and yet they are largely invisible in development frameworks and in EU development policies.

As a result, their needs are not understood and they are often overlooked in EU development programmes. Population ageing is a global phenomenon and is occurring faster in developing countries, which have less time to adjust to the consequences of this demographic transition.

As the world's older population will become increasingly concentrated in the developing world over the coming decades, we call on the EU to Lead the Way as the world's biggest aid donor and make older people more visible in EU development cooperation.

EU development policy must recognise the significance of population ageing and take concrete steps to ensure an inclusive whole of life-course approach, particularly in the context of the debate about a post-2015 global framework. Furthermore, older people’s rights must not be forgotten, but included in the negotiations and programming for the 2014-2020 EU Multi-annual Financial Framework.

We urge you to sign our petition to help us take this message to senior EU decision makers.

To Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council:

The EU is the largest donor of aid to poor and developing countries. But EU development policies make little mention of ageing or older people. We call on the EU to strengthen the EU's development policies and programming to ensure that older people's contributions and rights are explicitly recognised and supported in EU development cooperation.