A/HRC/42/43/Add.1 Annex Report of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons on her visit to Uruguay I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 33/5, the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons conducted an official visit to Uruguay from 19 to 29 November 2018, at the invitation of the Government. The purpose of the visit was to identify best practices and gaps in the implementation of existing laws relating to the promotion and protection of the rights of older persons in the country. 2. During her visit, the Independent Expert had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Government, local authorities, the Ombudsperson, non-governmental organizations, researchers, and representatives of academia and of civil society, as well as others working on the rights of older persons and older persons themselves. 3. The Independent Expert thanks the Government of Uruguay for extending an invitation to her and for its cooperation throughout the visit. She also expresses her appreciation to the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for its support in the preparation and execution of the visit. II. Background and context 4. In 1985, after 11 years of civil-military dictatorship, the citizens of Uruguay recovered their civil and political freedoms under the 1967 Constitution. That was made possible in the first instance by their rejection, in a plebiscite, of a proposed new constitution curtailing individual rights and proposing the subjection of the civil authority to military tutelage (A/HRC/WG.6/5/URY/1, para. 5). The 1967 Constitution establishes a republican, democratic and semi-representative system, in which representative institutions elected by popular vote exist alongside mechanisms of direct democracy: the constitutional plebiscite (ratifying reforms approved by the parliament or by popular initiative), the referendum for the partial or total repeal of laws, and the popular initiative for new legislation. In its statement of principles, the existing Constitution provides for the equality of all persons before the law (ibid., paras. 6–7). 5. Uruguay is a country in the south-eastern region of South America with an estimated population of 3.44 million and relatively low population growth. The median age is higher than the global average due to the low birth rate, high life expectancy, the relatively high rate of emigration among younger people, and the recent phenomenon of immigration. Uruguay was the first country in the region to begin the first demographic transition with a sustained decline in fertility and mortality rates, which is expected to continue. 1 6. Uruguay is the country with the largest share of older persons in Latin America and in the global South. This is the result of an early demographic transition process, which began in the late nineteenth century, almost at the same time as in many European countries. Additionally, interrelated changes in the different sociodemographic factors, such 1 2 Rafael Rofman, Verónica Amarante and Ignacia Apella, eds., Demographic Change in Uruguay, Economic Opportunities and Challenges (Washington, D.C, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 2016).