Age Demands Action 2007: The start of something special
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On the march: ADA campaigners in Sri Lanka in 2007
(c) HelpAge Sri Lanka/HelpAge Intermational
On 1 October 2007, HelpAge International launched Age Demands Action (ADA) - the first globally coordinated movement of older people campaigning against discrimination in old age.
ADA launched on the UN's International Day of Older Persons and five years after 159 nations signed the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA).
As part of ADA, older people in 27 countries pressed governments to meet the goals set out in the MIPAA declaration to protect older people's rights.
In countries where all too often older people's rights are ignored and discrimination is a daily reality, people of all ages raised their voices and said that: "Age Demands Action".
Raising voices and making change
The only global campaign of its kind, Age Demands Action brought older people face to face with politicians to demand change.
Even in its inaugural year, ADA campaigners in a number of countries achieved positive change for older people.
Making a stand: ADA campaigners in South Africa in 2007
(c) MUSA/HelpAge International
- In Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Zambia governments agreed to expand existing social pension schemes.
- In India, the government agreed to give the older age pension to one million additional people.
- In Uganda, Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi reaffirmed the government's commitment to implementing a new National Ageing Policy.
- And in Ethiopia, the minister for water agreed to include older people in programmes bringing safe water to the most vulnerable people living in urban areas.
Getting heard at the UN
It was not only national governments that were beginning to listen to older people. At the UN in New York, a delegation of older people met directors from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and from the UN Population Fund.
Before the meetings, our ADA delegates showed a film as part of the International Day of Older Persons celebrations.
Support older people's rights! Sign the Age Demands Action petition!
