A/HRC/33/44 work ability can be created by temporary sheltered employment and an enabling environment, including transportation support, work-related rehabilitation, mobile counselling and experience-based counselling. Ongoing research on incentives and conducive environments that would allow older persons to extend their working lives beyond the pensionable age is important to assess the changes that need to be made in regulations, taxes, training and company environments to promote the right of older persons to work. F. Equality and non-discrimination 62. Under international human rights law, discrimination is defined as any distinction, exclusion or restriction that has the purpose or the effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any field. While that encompasses discrimination on the basis of age, and although many countries have enacted anti-discrimination legislation, ageism remains a major concern for older persons in their daily lives. It is therefore essential that legislation contain an explicit prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of age. 63. Some countries have adopted laws that focus on the prohibition of discrimination in employment and occupation. Others have more comprehensive laws that prohibit age discrimination in various areas of public life, including accommodation, education and employment, and may even extend to the provision of goods, services and facilities. That is important as older persons’ access to facilities and services, in particular financial services, such as loans and mortgages, and insurance, is often a matter of concern. Those services may simply not be available to older persons or not accessible as they may be prohibitively expensive as a result of the inappropriate use of age as a criterion, including for determining risk. Equality bodies, which can take various forms, including commissioners or ombudspersons, should be established by law to monitor age discrimination and advocate for its elimination across all areas of public life. Enforcing the right to nondiscrimination requires complaint mechanisms. There are instances in which that competence is conferred on equality bodies themselves. 64. Non-discrimination in employment should encompass access to employment, selfemployment and occupation, including selection criteria and recruitment conditions, including promotions, employment and working conditions, including dismissal and pay, and membership of a workers’ or employers’ organization. G. Violence and abuse 65. Violence against older persons is a global phenomenon. It takes many different forms and there are indications that it occurs frequently in all types of settings. It includes discrimination in the public sphere, linguistic discrimination, isolation, neglect, financial exploitation, psychological violence and the withholding of basic needs, as well as physical attacks. Such violence often goes unnoticed and remains a taboo in many societies, as the perpetrators are frequently relatives, such as the older person’s partner, spouse, children or children-in-law. 66. The lack of reliable information and data constitutes one of the obstacles to effectively addressing violence against older persons. Nationwide studies on the implementation of laws and court decisions relating to violence against older persons are essential to identify obstacles and problems in the implementation of existing laws. It is equally important to examine the different forms of violence and abuse of older persons in 12 GE.16-11742