A/HRC/26/46 minority communities, the adoption of a social protection floor, and the drafting and implementation of a treaty on the rights of older persons. Participants asserted that measures to implement the social protection floor were feasible in all States and should not be rejected for economic reasons. They pointed to the need to re-examine neoliberal policies, pension systems, workforce discrimination, and the effects of the global financial crisis. 14. In her concluding remarks, Ms. Ortiz argued that older persons should not be seen as a burden and that pensions represented a right rather than a cost. She called for attention to growing inequalities and social debts, noting that policymakers had an obligation to create viable alternatives to dysfunctional systems and put people at the centre of development. Ms. Alyanak compared the movement for the rights of older persons to the world AIDS campaign, noting that, by standing together for their rights, older persons could drive change. Mr. Mokhiber emphasized the importance of eliminating age discrimination in employment decisions. He stated that obstacles to the adoption of a convention on the rights of older persons could and should be overcome and called for a redeployment of existing resources toward the realization of the human rights of older persons. B. Ageism and age discrimination 15. Bridget Sleap, Senior Rights Policy Adviser at HelpAge International, stated that discrimination against older persons occurred in all aspects of life, was universally prevalent and took many forms. It could be compounded by other forms of discrimination based on gender or other status. For example, older women might be denied access to sexual reproductive services or employment because of their age or appearance. Ms. Sleap highlighted the need for an explicit prohibition of age discrimination, noting the absence of such a prohibition from human rights treaties, apart from the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers. Filling that gap would ensure that Member States properly addressed age discrimination, which was at present only infrequently addressed by States, during the first cycle of universal periodic reviews or during treaty body reviews of periodic reports. A new treaty that specifically covered older persons could correct that oversight. 16. David Obot, Chairman of the Uganda Reach the Aged Association, discussed the situation of older persons in Uganda. Younger people were leaving rural areas to look for employment in urban areas, leaving behind older family members. The HIV and AIDS epidemic had also killed thousands of people, placing an extra burden upon older persons, who often cared for the children of deceased or sick parents. Although Uganda had worked to improve protection of older persons, implementation and enforcement of existing laws had been lacking. Consequently, older persons might suffer from serious rights violations including rape, loss of property (particularly land), physical violence and inadequate access to health care. Those problems were worsened by conflicts such as that in Northern Uganda. Inadequate human rights protection, insufficient financial resources, and the lack of participation of older persons in development planning also affected the aged. Mr. Obot advocated an international legally binding instrument on older persons, improved legislation and policies at the national level, the sharing of experiences at the regional level, compliance monitoring, the strengthening of national human rights institutions and improved access to justice. 17. Jorge Plano, a member of the Executive Board of CORV, stated that age discrimination was the last socially accepted form of discrimination. He defined such discrimination as the process of systematic stereotyping of people because they were old. Common misconceptions about older persons included the beliefs that they were mentally impaired, diseased, unproductive, asexual, anti-technology, waiting to die, childish, inflexible and a burden upon their families. Referring to the European Commission’s 2012 6