A/HRC/33/44 90. The Madrid Plan of Action calls for all-inclusive and simultaneous action to achieve a society for all ages. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. It constitutes a practical tool to assist policymakers in those areas. It contains a number of specific recommendations, bearing in mind the common features of ageing, but also the specificities of the circumstances in each country. 91. The implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action is assessed every five years through a periodic review and appraisal process at the national level, followed by the consolidation of information at the regional level, which is coordinated by the United Nations regional commissions, and a concluding global review by the Commission for Social Development. National reviews follow a participatory, bottom-up approach involving civil society and older persons themselves. A first and second review and appraisal concluded in 2008 and 2013 respectively, while the third was launched in 2015 and is expected to conclude in 2017. B. Methodology 92. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 24/20, requested the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons to assess the human rights implications of the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. For the purpose of the present analysis, human rights implications have been understood as any possible effects on the promotion and protection of the human rights of older persons as a result of deliberate decisions or actions taken by States in the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action, such as the adoption of legislation or policies. 93. In accordance with Council resolution 24/20, in which the Council requested the Independent Expert to take into account the views of stakeholders, including States, relevant regional human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and academic institutions, a questionnaire-based review of the human rights implications of the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action was carried out. As at 2 June 2016, 103 responses had been received, including 44 from States, and the remainder from national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and international organizations. They were placed on the OHCHR website. 4 94. The questionnaire sought to capture the extent to which the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action yielded outcomes that correlate or could be associated with an improved enjoyment by older persons of their human rights. It therefore aimed at identifying concrete measures taken by States in compliance with their obligations flowing from existing international standards further to the adoption of the Madrid Plan of Action, such as the adoption of national plans of action on ageing and specific legal, regulatory, policy or institutional frameworks dedicated to older persons, including those targeting specific groups of older persons, as well as measures that enhance the right to participation of older persons in the process of the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action. 95. The present assessment of the human rights implications of the implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action draws on the information that the Independent Expert received in the responses to the questionnaires. Another element that the Independent Expert considered in her analysis was the extent to which States adopted a human rights-based approach in their implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action, namely, a conceptual framework normatively based on international human rights standards and operationally 4 16 See the responses, with the exception of two submitted under seal, at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/IE/Pages/MIPAA.aspx. GE.16-11742