Many observers might ask, what is the relevance of human rights to an ageing population? The view that exclusion and poverty are inevitable facets of ageing may indeed obscure the obvious, that it is exactly as we become more frail and vulnerable that our human rights are most at risk.  A series of different questions were tackled at the ILC-UK Global Conference ‘Human Rights in an Ageing World’. Presentations were made by a variety of different speakers, including Michael Wills MP, Dr Robert Butler – Chief Executive of the ILC-USA, Dr Alex Kalache – Director of the World Health Organisation’s Ageing and Lifecourse Programme and Trevor Phillips – Chair of the Commission on Equality and Human Rights. Topics included the human rights situation of older people around the world, practical perspectives on the use of human rights in tackling discrimination and poverty, and the risks and opportunties presented by ongoing developments in the field.  In summary, older populations around the world face vastly different living circumstances. It is worth remembering that 80% of the world’s population do not have any social security. Human rights in this situation may be dominated less by concepts of dignity and inclusion but by the hard reality of day-to-day survival. Yet the problems that all older people experience in their daily lives are likely to share common themes: social exclusion, difficulty accessing services, discrimination in the public sphere and a perception that they are somehow second class citizens.

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