In celebration of the International Day of Older Persons and Elderly Filipino Week, the Commission on Human Rights is one with all Older Persons, the United Nations, the National Commission on Senior Citizens, other Government agencies and Civil Society Organisations, in recognizing the many positive contributions of our elders in our society.

With the theme “Digital Equity for All Ages”, this year’s International Day of Older Persons affirms the need for Older Person’s inclusion, access, and meaningful participation in the digital world. To echo the United Nations Secretary-General’s message, this year’s theme “offers an important chance to expand opportunities across generations for the benefit of society as a whole”. Older persons have often been left more isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic as we have been forced to go digital by default. They are at greater risk of suffering from the digital divide. Therefore, we must work together in order to provide them with better opportunities to improve their digital abilities as an essential means to their well-being.

“Mahalaga sina Lolo at Lola sa Panahon ng Pandemya”, the theme of this year’s Elderly Filipino week, also offers an important message – that together we have a duty and responsibility to support older persons in realizing their worth, dignity, and human rights amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Considered as one of the most vulnerable sectors of the society, each one of us must play a part in protecting our elders against the virus by observing and practicing minimum health standards and in advocating for the adoption and implementation of inclusive policies and rallying against negative societal perceptions on the sector.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified older persons as among the sectors who are more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with COVID because of physical reasons; however, this is not entirely inherent to the consequences of an ageing body. Some older people are more vulnerable because of social and economic reasons — socioeconomic status and source of income, living arrangements, dependency on daily support, and access to basic needs, health care, and useful information, among others. With reports claiming incidence of domestic violence and neglect increasing during quarantine periods, a vast number of at-risk older persons – those with advanced age, disability, and who are care-dependent – will be imperiled.

To address the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on older people, we continue to call on government and other duty-bearers to ensure a human-rights-based approach in mitigating the vulnerabilities of older Filipinos amid the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure their human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.

We have called for vaccine equity. The WHO has called on government to accelerate efforts by Local Government Units to vaccinate senior citizens as only 25% of Older Persons have been fully vaccinated as of the end of July, leaving 6.4M of the elderly at increased risk of severe illness and death.

We will continue to work with our legislators and policy-makers for the adoption and implementation of policies that will bridge the institutional gaps on the Older Person sector to address their physical, social, and economic vulnerability amid the country’s greatest health emergency.

There is a better way to celebrate International Day of Older Persons and guarantee the universal recognition and protection of their dignity on a platform of rights. It is in the drafting of a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

We commend the Government for taking a lead role through the UN Open Ended Working Group on Ageing and supporting the call for a Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

The Commission on Human Rights for its part, shall continue to help work for the promotion and protection of rights of older persons through local and global platforms to ensure that we all age with rights. ###