A/HRC/27/46 elderly women, the protection of elderly women living in rural areas, social security, and the protection of property and possession rights of widows. 38. The right to proper (non-violent) treatment, the protection of the extended family systems, and gender and generational equality are central aspects to the protection of the rights of indigenous elderly persons. 39. The political rights of older persons include the right to participate in the social, cultural and political life of the community, which entails the right to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of legislative measures and public policies that directly affect their rights, including policies on ageing, social development and strategies for poverty reduction, as well as the right to association and the right to receive government support through legal or economic measures. There is also a need to promote intergenerational volunteering. 40. The social rights of older persons can be classified into three groups, allowing for a system of integrated social protection in order to promote quality of life and well-being. 41. First, the right to income security contemplates the inclusion of minimum standards for the areas covered by the right to an adequate standard of living; fundamental principles that should guide social policies with an age and welfare perspective in the context of ageing. It also involves prescribing the right to benefit from social security and other forms of social protection during old age and in the event of retirement, widowhood, disability or other situations of involuntary loss of livelihood, as well as equal conditions of retirement for men and women and the prohibition that government laws reduce retirement benefits. 42. Second, the right to improve functional health entails the exercise of the right to health and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, without discrimination and with full respect for the dignity and autonomy of older persons. It requires considering preventive and restorative health (primary care and rehabilitation services); the right to provide informed and free consent prior to any medical treatment; sheltered accommodation; the promotion of preferential access to medicines in the case of age-related diseases; and financial and technical support for home care and alternative care in the families, as well as palliative care for terminal patients. 43. Third, Governments should furthermore promote active policies to eradicate illiteracy (with emphasis on women), and to facilitate the active participation of elderly persons in cultural activities and education programmes that allow them to pass on their knowledge, culture and spiritual values as part of the right of older persons to a continuous and multi-specialty education in public and private institutions from the standpoint of lifelong learning. 44. Another important factor regarding the independence and health of the elderly population, in particular during crisis situations, emergency evacuations or displacement arising from development, is the right to housing and to a healthy environment. Priority is assumed in the allocation of housing or land to older persons in the above-mentioned situations, and entails the right to live in a safe and healthy environment, with access to water, clean air and a pollution-free environment, and to remain in their own home for as long as possible, according to their needs and will. 45. The right to work includes the right of older persons to work and have access to income-generating activities; equal treatment and opportunities in salaries, working conditions, vocational guidance and training, and job placement; and freedom of association without discrimination on grounds of age. It also requires the establishment of employment policies that promote the participation or return to the labour market of elderly workers, as well as legal reforms and economic incentives that allow the employment of older persons after retirement age, according to their ability, experience and preferences, 9