Ageing and Development 26: Older people's rights
Ageing and Development is a publication containing news and analysis of issues affecting the lives of older people.
This issue examines rights; for example the right to decent work and the right to social protection such as a social pension.
The briefing on page 6 focuses on older people's rights.
It refers to "age discrimination", when someone is treated
differently because of their age, and "Ageism" - the stereotyping and prejudice against older people that can lead to age discrimination.
At one extreme, older women and sometimes men are branded as witches, forced out of their homes or even murdered.
At the other end of the scale, older people are patronised and mocked on TV, in films and in advertising.
Even this can be dangerous. Research by Yale University showed that negative stereotypes of older people in the US had a harmful impact on older people's memory, balance and even length of their life.
The briefing also lays out the arguments for why a new UN convention on the rights of older people will help combat ageism.
