27 July 1993

43rd plenary meeting

Implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing

The Economic and Social Council,

Mindful that the ageing of populations presents all countries with the major challenge of identifying and supporting new opportunities for older persons and their potential benefits for society,

Convinced that the United Nations remains the intergovernmental organization best equipped to provide leadership to the international community in dealing with the challenges presented by the ageing of individuals and populations,

Noting with satisfaction the deliberations of the International Conference on Ageing convened on 15 and 16 October 1992 by the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Plan of Action on Ageing by the World Assembly on Ageing,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 46/91 of 16 December 1991, by which the Assembly adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, based on the Plan of Action,

Recalling that the States gathered in the World Assembly on Ageing reaffirmed their belief that the fundamental and inalienable rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should apply fully and undiminishedly to the ageing,

Recalling also General Assembly resolution 47/5 of 16 October 1992, by which the Assembly adopted the Proclamation on Ageing and decided to observe the year 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons,

Recalling further General Assembly resolution 47/86 of 16 December 1992, by which the Assembly adopted the global targets on ageing for the year 2001, as a practical strategy on ageing, and urged Member States to support that strategy and to consult the guide for setting national targets on ageing,

Aware of the expanded activities and initiatives of the United Nations programme on ageing,

Recalling again General Assembly resolution 47/86, in which the Assembly requested the Commission for Social Development to convene an ad hoc informal working group at its thirty-third session for the third review and appraisal of the International Plan of Action on Ageing and for proposing measures in support of setting national targets on ageing in the decade ahead,

Acknowledging with satisfaction the active participation of Member States, specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations system and interested non-governmental organizations in the third review and appraisal of the implementation of the Plan of Action,

Taking note of the conclusions of the third review and appraisal, which indicate that although some progress has been made in implementing the Plan of Action, much remains to be done to implement its recommendations fully, particularly in developing countries,

1. Notes with appreciation the innovative and forward-looking approach employed in the preparation of the report of the Secretary-General on the third review and appraisal of the implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing;

2. Endorses the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-

General on the third review and appraisal, in the form of global and national targets on ageing for the year 2001, providing a pragmatic focus for the broad and ideal goals of the Plan of Action and accelerating its implementation into the next millennium;

3. Welcomes the new conceptual framework and operational nature of the United Nations programme on ageing, provided by the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, the Proclamation on Ageing and the global targets for the year 2001, to further the implementation of the Plan of Action in the current decade;

4. Reaffirms the recommendation made in the Plan of Action and reiterated in numerous General Assembly resolutions, in which the Secretary-General was requested, within the existing regular budget and extrabudgetary resources of the United Nations, to give due consideration to the provision of appropriate increased resources for the implementation of the Plan of Action, particularly in the light of recent and projected developments within the field of ageing;

5. Calls upon the Secretary-General to maintain the integrity and the identity of the United Nations programme on ageing, as well as the United Nations Trust Fund for Ageing, in order to assist Member States in fully implementing the recommendations of the Plan of Action;

6. Urges Governments, specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations system and interested non-governmental organizations to explore new approaches to supporting, through partnerships, the activities of the United Nations programme on ageing in the current decade aimed at assisting Member States in selecting and reaching national targets and implementing the United Nations Principles for Older Persons;

7. Notes with interest the preliminary findings of the United Nations research project on developmental implications of population ageing, presented at the Expert Group Meeting on Population Growth and Demographic Structure, held in Paris from 16 to 20 November 1992, expresses its appreciation to the Government of Sweden for supporting this project, and invites the United Nations Population Fund to continue its support for it;

8. Invites interested Member States, non-governmental organizations and research centres to support the activities of the United Nations programme on ageing, particularly research activities aimed at suggesting policy options to enhance contributions of the elderly to development;

9. Urges the Secretary-General to strengthen, within existing resources, the research component of the United Nations programme on ageing in order to enable it, on the basis of approaches of the third review and appraisal and the project on developmental implications of population ageing, to develop policy and programme options for assisting Member States in achieving their national targets on ageing for the year 2001 and in implementing the United Nations Principles for Older Persons;

10. Commends the United Nations Postal Administration for issuing, on 5 February 1993, a set of six commemorative stamps on the theme "Ageing:

Dignity and Participation";

11. Reiterates the appeal made by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/5, in which it urged the international community to highlight ageing at major forthcoming events, including, in the near future, the World Conference on Human Rights, to be held at Vienna from 14 to 25 June 1993, the International Year of the Family in 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development, to be held at Cairo from 5 to 13 September 1994, the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, to be held at Beijing from 4 to 15 September 1995, the tenth anniversary of International Youth Year in 1995, and the World Summit for Social Development, to be held at Copenhagen in 1995;

12. Welcomes the decision of the General Assembly, in its resolution 47/5, to observe 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons;

13. Invites Member States to strengthen their national mechanisms on ageing, inter alia, to enable them to serve as national focal points for the preparations for and observance of the Year;

14. Appeals to Governments and non-governmental organizations to make known to the Secretary-General their views on the preparations for and observance of the Year in order to ensure an adequate basis for formulating the programme for the Year;

15. Invites the regional commissions to take an active part in the preparations for and observance of the Year, focusing on the specific needs and requirements of each region;

16. Requests the Secretary-General to draft a conceptual framework of a programme, at the national, regional and international levels, for the preparations for and observance of the Year, and to submit it for consideration by the Commission for Social Development at its thirty-fourth session in 1995, and by the General Assembly at its fiftieth session, in 1995.