A/HRC/41/32 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 39/18, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a report on the activities of the Office, the United Nations system and regional organizations to support States’ efforts to promote and protect the human rights of older persons and address implementation gaps in national legislation, policies and programmes, including, where applicable, those relating to the Sustainable Development Goals, income security, the promotion of active and healthy ageing, the use of assistive technology, access to information and lifelong learning and combating all forms of discrimination against older persons, paying particular attention to older women and supporting the full integration of older persons in society and access to care, health and support services for older persons in their communities. 2. The present report will serve as a basis for the discussions during the annual thematic panel discussion on technical cooperation, at the Council’s forty-first session, which will focus on enhancing technical cooperation and capacity-building as regards the human rights of older persons. In preparing the present report, OHCHR gathered information on different experiences, challenges and lessons learned. OHCHR is grateful for the inputs received from all stakeholders, including Member States, United Nations system entities, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations, in the preparation of the report. II. Normative and operational framework 3. Rapid population ageing is one of the greatest challenges of the world today. According to the most recent estimates by the United Nations,1 in 2018, for the first time in history, there were more people aged 65 or over than children under 5 years of age worldwide. Between 2019 and 2050, the number of people aged 65 or over is projected to more than double worldwide. The number of people aged 80 or over will grow even faster and is projected to triple, from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050. 4. That ongoing demographic transformation means that there is an urgent need to ensure that older persons, who comprise an increasingly large part of the population of our societies, can fully participate in all spheres of social life. Older persons are all too often subjected to discrimination, neglect, exclusion and other violations of human rights, and the international community has not paid sufficient attention to those obstacles, which hinder older persons’ full enjoyment of their human rights. Older persons’ participation in social and economic life may also be at risk because of prevailing negative images of the aged. Despite those realities, the visibility of issues related to older persons in the field of human rights is still very low. Many of the specific claims of older persons are simply not mentioned in international human rights instruments. National standards are often weak or completely absent with regard to age discrimination, an adequate standard of living, support for autonomy, participation in decision-making and freedom from violence, abuse and neglect. 5. Currently, there is no international instrument dedicated to the protection of the human rights of older persons. Neither the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, nor the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, nor the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which together constitute the International Bill of Human Rights, mention older persons or discrimination on the basis of age. References to old age as a basis for discrimination are found in specific contexts under the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 7), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (art. 13, para. 1, on access to justice; art. 16, para. 2, on freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse; art. 1 2 World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.19.XIII.4).