A/HRC/36/48 and, eventually, action to ensure that the human rights of older persons are effectively protected today and in future. 13. Whereas older persons constitute the most heterogeneous of all age groups, many individuals at some point require support to retain their autonomy and independence and to remain fully integrated in society. The availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of assistance is compromised due to the increased pressure of demographic ageing, which, in combination with the shortage of health and social care professionals and economic constraints, limit the options for formal support, especially at home. This scenario does not only affect western States, but increasingly also developing countries. 2 14. Against this background new technologies, including assistive devices, built-in environmental applications and robotics are gaining traction as cost-effective and efficient solutions to the increased need for individualized support for older persons. Such technology can perform simple, routine tasks, such as bringing meals and medications to patients, which will free up human staff who could dedicate themselves more to those elements or parts of care that require human interaction. As their development progresses, those robots begin taking on more and more medical or caregiving tasks and operate increasingly autonomously. For authority to shift from humans to algorithms, their performance only needs to exceed the average human performance. 15. Assistive and robotics technology is and will be used in three main areas, namely to help monitor the behaviour and health of older persons; to assist them or the caregiver in their daily tasks; and to provide for social interactions. Each of those areas touches inevitably on the enjoyment by older persons of their human rights, including their dignity and autonomy, informational self-determination and non-discrimination and equality. In the present report, the Independent Expert seeks to examine the potential, challenges and ambiguities of the progressive use of assistive and robotics technology for the human rights of older persons. B. Legal and policy framework 16. There is no specific reference to the right to assistive technology in the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In the absence of a dedicated instrument on older persons and while not applicable to all older persons, the provisions in the recently adopted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities offer some guidance as they recognize the importance of access to assistive technology. The Convention affirms that assistive technology is essential to enable persons with disabilities to live independently (art. 19) and to participate fully in all aspects of life (art. 29). It emphasizes that affordability and accessibility are necessary to ensure that assistive technology is available on an equal basis to everyone, everywhere. 17. Under article 20 of the Convention, States have an obligation to take effective measures to ensure personal mobility with the greatest possible independence, including by facilitating access by persons with disabilities to assistive technology. States should also promote the availability of assistive technology, giving priority to technologies at an affordable cost; undertake research in this area; and provide relevant accessible information to persons with disabilities (art. 4). Based on the principle of universal design under article 2 in conjunction with article 9 of the Convention, technologies must be accessible to everyone on an equal basis. Furthermore, under the Convention, States are requested to engage in knowledge transfer through international cooperation. 18. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in its draft general comment No. 5 on article 19, seeks to clarify that persons with disabilities should retain 2 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Normative standards in international human rights law in relation to older persons: analytical outcome paper, August 2012”. Available from http://social.un.org/ageing-working-group/documents/ohchr-outcome-paperolderpersons12.pdf. 5