A/HRC/26/46 purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons (the Openended Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons (the Working Group)). 6. Baudelaire Ndong Ella, President of the Human Rights Council, commended the Social Forum as a subsidiary body of the Council that served as a think tank and permitted interactive dialogue on complex and salient issues affecting the full enjoyment of human rights. The implications of population ageing were only beginning to be addressed. Mr. Ella stressed the need to remove legal and social obstacles to the realization of the rights of older persons and noted the efforts of the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council to address that subject by respectively establishing the Working Group and an Independent Expert. He hoped that the Forum would produce concrete recommendations for action and provide a platform for an exchange of views on challenges, opportunities and best practices on the realization of the rights of older persons. 7. During the general statements segment, representatives of Age International, Coordinación Regional de Organismos de la Sociedad Civil de América Latina y el Caribe sobre Envejecimiento y Vejez (CORV), Autistic Minority International, the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People, South Africa, Older Women’s Network Europe, Argentina, the International Longevity Centre Global Alliance (ILC GA) the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA), Slovenia, the Council of Europe, International-Lawyers.Org, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Ligue Marocaine pour la Citoyenneté et les Droits de l’Homme (Ligue Marocaine) and the Red Cross of Serbia took the floor. Speakers emphasized the growing challenges posed by population ageing, and called for immediate action to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of older persons. They welcomed the establishment of the new mandate and supported the drafting of a dedicated international instrument on the rights of older persons. Participants recommended further research and monitoring of the situation of older persons, including through disaggregated data collection and empowerment of national human rights institutions. They stressed the need to promote the participation of older persons in society and prohibit age discrimination, expressing particular concern about multiple discrimination. 8. Several speakers shared examples of best practices. For example, regional groups of States had adopted, or were debating, instruments to protect the rights of older persons and prohibit age discrimination. Some States had drafted similar national legislation and implemented universal social protection schemes for older persons. Speakers supported the participation of older persons as valued independent members of society, and not merely as recipients of social welfare programmes. They called for a productive exchange of ideas that would yield concrete, action-oriented recommendations for the consideration of States and the Human Rights Council. III. Summary of proceedings A. The human rights of older persons: Challenges, opportunities, gaps and promise 9. Craig Mokhiber, Chief of the Development and Economic and Social Issues Branch of OHCHR, stated that normative gaps on the rights of older persons led to gaps in implementation of those rights. Noting that existing laws and policies at all levels failed to address multiple human rights concerns related to older persons, including age discrimination, he called for urgent action to address those normative gaps and prevent the continuing violations of older persons’ rights. In the context of ageing populations, the 4