A/HRC/45/14/Add.2 account the national and international human rights commitments of New Zealand, including those that affect older persons. 88. She further encourages New Zealand to ratify all the human rights treaties to which it is not yet party, particularly the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Moreover, she recommends that the Government consider the establishment of an independent national commissioner on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission. Rather than creating a completely new institutional body, this position could be settled at the existing New Zealand National Human Rights Commission to serve as an independent body for older persons. 89. Moreover, the Independent Expert invites the Government to actively support the efforts to elaborate a dedicated instrument on the human rights of older persons at the international level, in line with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda, that should consider the realization of the rights of older persons in a cross-cutting and systemic manner, so as to truly ensure that no one is left behind. 90. On the basis of these overall conclusions and the observations contained in the present report, the Independent Expert makes the following recommendations with regard to specific areas and actors. B. Recommendations to the Government Data and statistics 91. Notwithstanding various efforts, particularly in the context of digitalization, the Independent Expert encourages the Government to ensure the nationwide, systematic and regular collection of disaggregated data on the impediments to the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, such as all forms of discrimination on the basis of age, individually and cumulatively, as well as exclusion, poverty and all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and maltreatment. 92. Data used in assessments should not only be disaggregated by age, but also ensure that age cohorts reflect the heterogeneous nature of the older population – in particular the Māori, Pasifika and other communities, as well as migrants and refugees – to enable differentiation between older and very old persons, who have different needs and capacities. Age cohorts should also be granular enough to take into account the relativity of the notions of age, considering the respective life-course context. Age discrimination 93. The Independent Expert notes that ageist rhetoric portraying older persons as a burden is pervasive and contributes to negative attitudes to ageing and older persons. She cautions against framing the discussion of social inequality as a generational divide. 94. She recommends that the Government conduct a targeted awareness-raising campaign to ensure that older persons are not perceived as passive consumers of services offered by society, politically and socially inert and unfit to take part in decision-making. There is also a need to encourage and support older persons to take part in decision-making processes related to ageing and older age at all levels. Violence, maltreatment, neglect and abuse 95. The Independent Expert commends the Government for recognizing existing challenges and for the measures it has taken to address violence, abuse, maltreatment and neglect of older persons, such as the adoption of the Family Violence Act. Noting that low levels of reporting are of concern, she encourages the Government to continue its efforts to raise awareness and sensitize all segments of the population. This can take the form of training judges, lawyers and prosecutors, which is essential to ensure that investigation of cases of domestic violence proceeds, in order to signal to 16

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