A/HRC/26/46 called on Member States to ensure that the Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons fulfilled its mandate and that the new Independent Expert of the Human Rights Council promoted and conducted substantive exploration of relevant issues. They called for widespread engagement with and participation by older persons in relevant forums and decision-making processes. 66. InternationalLawyers.org requested that the widespread support for a treaty on the human rights of older persons and the need for recommendations of the Social Forum to receive serious consideration by the Human Rights Council be communicated in the report. They also called upon Member States to heed the progress on older persons’ rights being made in regional bodies such as the InterAmerican Commission and the African system and to follow those examples at the global level. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 67. The Chairperson Rapporteur then offered a summary of the proceedings, conclusions and recommendations, which are reflected in the sections that follow. A. Conclusions 68. The 2014 Social Forum comprised a three-day discussion in which States, international organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders shared their visions about the needs of older persons, the challenges they faced, and the obstacles to the exercise of their rights. All participants agreed that there must be greater protection of the rights of older persons at the national and international levels. The deliberations made it clear that this need would continue to grow as population demographics changed to reflect longer life expectancies for people worldwide. In those circumstances, it was not enough that people lived longer, they must also live better. 69. It was manifestly clear that existing mechanisms for guaranteeing older persons the exercise of all their rights were insufficient, as many continued to suffer from neglect, abuse, social exclusion, discrimination, deprivation, stigmatization, poverty and inability to meet their basic needs. 70. The deliberations identified the absence of an express prohibition of age discrimination in most human rights instruments as one obstacle to the exercise of older persons’ rights. Consequently, the issue lacked visibility and coherence, and was not a central theme of review in international mechanisms even though it was a root cause of many of the problems and challenges discussed in the Social Forum. 71. That deficiency in the human rights framework was evident throughout the presentations and related dialogues, which addressed a series of interlinked issues crucial for the understanding of the circumstances of many older persons. Those included poverty, employment discrimination, inadequate systems for long-term care, violations of informed consent, scarcity and inadequacy of services for persons with dementia, restricted autonomy and decision-making, discrimination, including multiple discrimination against women and others, partial or total lack of pension coverage, abuse and neglect, inter alia. Many older persons, where not excluded by discrimination from employment and social participation, were productive members of society. 72. The discussion addressed the epidemiological changes that had coincided with population ageing trends. Increasing rates of acute and chronic illnesses and disability 18