A/HRC/42/43 17. The Independent Expert also contributed to the expert group meeting organized by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at Headquarters from 15 to 17 May 2019 on the theme “Older persons in emergency crises”. The aim of the meeting was to gather input allowing the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to better support Member States in the context of any policy processes, namely the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the meeting, the Independent Expert, in her contribution emphasized the human rights imperative, which is always applicable, but a fortiori for older persons in humanitarian emergencies. 18. Emergency situations, whether caused by conflict or natural disaster, invariably result in or exacerbate human rights concerns, including those of older persons, who are entitled to equal protection under international human rights and humanitarian law. 19. In 2017, a survey tallied 335 natural disasters that affected more than 95.6 million people globally, killing 9,697 and causing damage estimated at $335 billion. Asia was most affected through floods and storms, with 44 per cent of all disaster events, 58 per cent of total deaths and 70 per cent of the total people affected. The Americas reported the greatest economic losses, accounting for 88 per cent of the total cost from 93 disasters. 2 20. The number of weather-related disasters has increased over the past decade: between 2007 and 2018, they accounted for no less than 53.7 per cent of all crises, a third of which were floods.3 21. As at June 2018, 68.5 million people had been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict or generalized violence. These numbers include 20.2 million refugees (for the first exceeding 20 million), 3.2 million asylum seekers and 39.7 million internally displaced persons. Some 5.2 million people were newly displaced in the first half of 2018. 22. According to available data, 3 per cent of refugees were over 60 years of age in 2017. Besides the general difficulties with data collection, data are incomplete owing to the intrinsic issue of the relativity of age; refugees and other displaced populations may in fact be considered to be “older” at a much younger age and therefore make up a larger portion of the displaced population. It is important to bear in mind that notions of age may vary according to circumstances, conditions, cultures and other considerations and factors, which are themselves subject to change. In this regard, the Independent Expert recalls that the mandate conceives ageing as a social contextual construct, involving far more life-course factors and conditions than just chronological or numerical age, such as biological and socioeconomic determinants, which are also subject to change. 23. In 2018, 84 per cent of displaced persons were hosted in developing regions, where service systems, including services required by older persons, are already under pressure and the capacity to scale them up to cope is limited. At mid-2018, the top 10 refugeehosting countries – including four of the world’s least-developed countries – hosted a total of some 12.6 million refugees. Forcibly displaced older persons often face additional obstacles when attempting to integrate into their host communities, given that they have fewer opportunities to participate in or build social networks, such as through education or work. 24. The vulnerabilities of older persons in emergency contexts may be intrinsic (poor health, disability or frailty), extrinsic (due to low income, low degree of literacy or the remoteness of the place of residence) or due to systemic factors (lack of disaggregated data, or failure to assess needs correctly or to monitor the effectiveness of assistance provided). 25. Vulnerabilities must be analysed while bearing in mind the particularly heterogeneous nature of the population group formed by older persons, as age often compounds other forms of vulnerability or inequality – such as gender, race, education 2 3 6 See www.emdat.be/natural-disasters-2017. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report 2018, available from https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/10/B-WDR-2018-ENLR.pdf.