A/HRC/42/43 78. Other major concerns are due to the policy and doctrine gaps relating to data privacy, data-sharing and other areas that may risk exposing beneficiaries to human rights violations. Digital footprints can be used to track and target older persons, just as they can be used to find a lead on a missing person. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 79. The Independent Expert notes that older persons are disproportionately affected in emergency situations. Special attention should therefore be paid to the heterogeneous nature of the older population, and the many factors that contribute to the specific and heightened vulnerability of its members. 80. At the same time, the Independent Expert stresses the imperative to recognize the important roles, abilities and resources of older persons – both men and women – in forced displacement, and to work with communities to strengthen these roles, such as by engaging older persons in conflict resolution activities and in decisions affecting their lives. Attention should be paid to avoid inadvertently undermining the roles of older persons, such as by duplicating existing community leadership structures. 81. The Independent Expert emphasizes the need to take into account in planning, response and recovery phases of emergency management the fact that older persons are often the last to leave their places of origin, and when they are displaced, they risk remaining in a situation of protracted displacement. Appropriate resources should be allocated, and the rights of older persons in such situations should be recognized and upheld. 82. The Independent Expert notes that any assessment made should take into consideration the inequalities accumulated during an older person’s life, due to factors such as race, gender, education level, income, health status, disability or access to justice, when analysing the extent to which different subgroups of older persons are vulnerable and what kind of response – items as much as services – will be adequate for them. 83. There is a need for a systematic approach to data collection and analysis at all levels, outside of the emergency response system that will, hand-in-hand with a human rights-based approach to inclusion of older people, create a body of disaggregated data that can be used for contextual analysis. This is a first step to ensure that, in emergency planning and response, there is reliable evidence to inform the plans and monitor their operational effectiveness, coupled with continuous collection of data during all phases of response and recovery. 84. The Independent Expert emphasizes the need to close the gap between the policy and implementation levels. While policies may be inclusive of older persons in all stages of emergency planning and response, the specific needs, challenges and barriers that older persons face in exercising their rights are not recognized in practice. The mandate holder therefore stresses the need to meaningfully include older persons at all stages of the emergency management cycle (including planning and budgeting, as well as monitoring and evaluation) while ensuring that the emergency response is approached from a human rights-based perspective that is clear and uncompromised at all levels. 85. The Independent Expert calls upon all concerned to pay special attention to the collection of information on older persons at the beginning of all emergency response operations. The needs assessment phase is crucial, as it determines the subsequent course of action. Failing to identify the needs, vulnerabilities and capacities of older persons at this stage will lead to an inadequate response that will not meet the needs or utilize the capacities of older persons. At the same time, the Independent Expert stresses the importance of the pre-emergency collection of data on older persons and of verifying the data collected during an emergency with the existing data of national statistic institutes, to ensure that they accurately reflect the proportion of older persons in the general population, while noting that, in many emergency settings, 14