Roundtables - The Rights of Older Persons Roundtable (WUF13)

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
We are about to start just some house rules before I introduce myself and members of this roundtable.
We will have in the first segment of the round table 5 minutes per speaker.
We will need to be very strict with the first intervention so that we complete our program and have subsequently a conversation for about 20 minutes on questions and answers or comments or additional contributions from the speakers.
I We have the participation of our Executive Director of Human habitat.
She is engaged, but there she is.
She's on punctually with us, so that's a big honor and we will then kick off our round table officially.
My name is Claudio Sioli I I am the moderator of the Round table.
I am affiliated and council member of the International Federation of Housing and Planning, and I'm associated with the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, IHS in Rotterdam.
I'm particularly honored to the invitation that was given to me to moderate this session because I was coordinator of the UN Housing Rights Program during the time I was a senior manager at UN Habitat.
I was also one of the co authors and editors of the fact sheet 21, which is on the right to adequate housing.
We know by now that rapid urbanization is putting at our confronting ourselves with a housing crisis of magnitude and complexity that we have never seen before.
And if we make a parallel to the growing numbers of older persons and the continuous aging as a process that we see in societies, very soon we will have to address significantly the housing rights, the needs, and the specific demands of this particular target group, if I may call it like that, which I now belong to this bigger group of older persons, and it will be a challenge and We are very happy when we heard that the open ended working groups on housing established by the member states of the UN habitat, that they outlined that one of the streams to be addressed in the future is the realization of the right to adequate housing of older persons.
If we look at the team that we are discussing today, it is at the heart of the larger question and in the heart of the woof.
Further than that, let me then give the floor to the Executive Director, misses Anna Claudia Rosba and also under Secretary-General.
Please, you have the floor.
Thank you.
Thank you, Claujo also for your moderation.
Honorable Minister, Hamasb, Minister of Lands, regional government and Religious Affairs, the Gambia.
Pleasure to see you again.
Honorable member of the Parliament, Ngar Mamadova, member of Labor and Social Policy Committee of Mili Majlis, Republic of Azerbijan.
Yeah.
Nice to see you again.
I think Claudeo you framed very well already, but a couple of features that I would bring to this table.
First of all, the data that over 57% of all older persons are living in cities today and uh, we have the urbanization ongoing to 2 billion people coming to cities and the future will mean increasing also life expectation is increasing in many, many regions, so we need to be prepared for that.
Cities of the future, they need to be prepared for the aging population.
I think there are perhaps three angles that I would like to address.
One is the aging societies and how this is affecting the mismatch of the housing supply.
Visa visa housing crisis.
We see societies like Japan, but also many cities in Europe, Spain, Italy, and so on where the towns are left behind and empty and young people don't want to live there for different reasons, and then you have an isolation of the elder population in these areas and also vacant spaces, vacant homes, vacant houses.
And we have billions, as we have been saying, needing houses, and we have houses that are empty because people young people don't want to live in certain towns and it confines the elderly.
This is one angle of the crisis, I would say.
The other angle is how we design the houses, how we design the communities, the public spaces and the cities to address the needs and aspirations because let's not only talk about needs.
We have to talk about aspirations and there are aspirations of living in the city.
Of enjoying in the cities.
When I look at people close to me, they want to enjoy.
They want to go to a public space outside and talk to people.
They want to have access to the shops, to the services, and have a direct connection to the health services and sometimes even education, right? So There are aspirations, needs, and aspirations that we have to prepare for.
But our houses, they have to be designed properly and our cities, they need to be designed properly.
This is a trend that is not strongly out there yet.
We see some societies advancing and thinking about that.
Um, but this is now emerging in other regions.
I think in the global north because of the life expectancy, I see countries and cities preparing themselves, but it's happening also in the global south, Latin America, for example.
Many cities, many countries are also now facing the challenge of that.
One important component of it is the care.
Yeah, and how we not only design, but we also make sure that the whole urban system works in a way that elderly people receive the care needed.
Not only then, but also usually, I have to say that the women that end up at home being responsible for the care of the family, the children, and there's an extra burden to the women that have to be there because the systems are noted, the cities are not designed and don't have cities in place.
But here, again, progress.
We see, for example, the program in Bogota that had been implemented before, the Neighborhoods of Care.
Mexico just looking to Mexico arriving, the city of the mayor of Mexico launched a large program and when she was mayor instapalapa, she even won the score of honor of UN Habitat for really making sure that women would have access to children care, aging, laundry, and so on.
So It is the design, it is the system of care, it is how the aging is affecting the mismatch of supply and demand.
I think the final aspect is when everything converge, which is poverty, informality, informal settlements, the vulnerable territories, and this segment of the population, the aging population is at extreme risk.
And I think we have to have a Zoom in this specific segment that is by nature excluded by the society.
I think and I hope we can have this holistic view and conversation because I see you come from different realities.
And for sure, the pressing issues on your realities are different, but we need to have this global perspective and bring it ahead within your habitat when we implement our strategic plan, but also member states in the review of the new urban agenda and so on and so forth.
Thank you.
I think this was my main message.
Thank you very much, Executive Director, and let me pass immediately and introduce our next speaker, Honorable Hamad B, Minister of Lands, regional government and Religious Affairs of the Republic of the Gambia.
He is a founding member of the National Reconciliation Party.
He has also served as a Minister of Tourism and culture, and he oversees land administration, local government decentralization and many different process.
So let me immediately pass the floor to you, Honorable Minister.
Thank you, their coordinator, moderator.
And indeed, of course, my dear sister, we met in Cairo, we met in Adré, we met in Nairobi not long ago and today we are in Baku in Azerbijan.
I've always appreciated your intervention because you have a special passion for housing and that's why we believe what we call in job pride.
People love their job in getting things done.
You must like the job that you're doing and we appreciate you for loving housing and your ultimate objective of making war, particularly Africa, we move on and we are on that.
Then of course, our member of parliament from this great country, Azerbaijan, and we've been watching them from a distance and we appreciate the stability in the pool in Ajabajan.
This could not have happened without having mature politics in the system.
Now, let me just move to the point because I'm waiting 5 minutes and I try to do my best I think everybody understands that the Gambia historically have proven its desire to promote human rights, justice, and fair play for all manner of people.
Including the old, the disabled, the egos and everybody.
If you look at 1979 towards 1981, the then president was declared as a champion of human rights in the Gambia and that led to the negotiation and the conclusion on the African Charter of People and Human Rights.
And I think historically, that's one of our greatest achievement in the field of human rights.
Furthermore, in thereto this commission being based in Bang centered in Bagdul and you go to Gambia, you will find this African commission based in the Gambia.
And I think there and then we had hitches in 1994 to eight to 2016 when of course, as usual, we all know the military is always good in changing a government but very bad in running a country.
And we have been victims of that serious human rights violation.
But since we took over in 2017, you will realize that the government has come up with different commission that were provision in our 1997 constitution which were not implemented.
Even if they were implemented, they were not functional because of the type of leadership that we have.
That's why if you look at the Constitution Section four of the 1997 of the Gambia, it has clearly spelled out the rights, the fundamental rights of people.
If you go to the Internet, you can see how we define the rights, how we also protect the citizen of different level.
Now these clauses are in fact entering clauses.
They are not easily amendable.
You have to go through a he task to amend them.
That means they are unchangeable, virtual.
It's very difficult to change it.
Now, when we came with this housing program, we understood very well as a country that life is changing because of affluents.
People have been living longer in life.
The lifespan of human being of our people have changed.
We must agree that the world have moved up and the average lifespan have changed in most countries in the world, except a few.
But I think generally we must admit that we are moving forward and that's because of development, our way of living and styles.
But then we have one unique thing in Africa, and that is the nuclear family and the extended family system.
In the nuclear family system, we all know is a mother, father, son and daughter who are together, and the rest are just left out.
But in the African system, we have what we call the extended family system where everybody's everybody's gatekeeper.
We do not have home for the old.
We don't have it.
W in the nuclear family system, once you get old, you are done somewhere, you are done to what we call home for the elderly.
I don't know what name you give them because we don't have them.
We believe that the family cares for you up to the end of your life.
That everybody in the family is responsible of anyone who is part of the family, and that's what we call the extended family system.
This one, it has some disadvantages.
Of course, there are a parachitical affiliation that comes with it from working, feeding the orders while orders are not working.
But at the end of the day, the social aspect of it is a very important element, and that's where we care for the old, for the young, for the disabled.
Because we see it as a responsibility as members of family to protect our people.
Basically, I think you know where the gamble is coming from.
Then I would, of course, give you a small brief as to our activities in the past few years and see how much we are pushing this agenda.
So we believe our housing must incorporate the all.
Our program must future them.
There must be futured in the system.
And then we are not restricting housing to bigger cities alone.
We want to get housing to every settlement that everybody have a right to really be housed properly and a decent way.
And we have seen what the Chinese have done the last ten, 15 years.
Over 3,000 Chinese died in trying to give electricity to people who live in mountains, people who live where people are not accessible.
The Chinese are determined to give right to their people.
They suffered.
They worked hard to achieve, giving everybody a right.
And the Gambia is no exception, and I believe these are examples that we should be using to make COVID.
Now, just to move on the point, let me just say in the Gambia, we recognize that all peoples are the custodian of system, culture, and community.
They have contributed immensely to shaping our society.
Yet too often they face challenges of exclusion, inadequate housing, limited access to healthcare, and gaps in social protection.
As our cities grow and accelerate, it is imperative that older persons are left behind, no person left behind.
Internal commitment, the Gambia, as part of the core group of sponsors alongside Argentina, Brazil, and the Philippines and Slovenia, has supported the rights of older person at the international level.
We jointly tabled the resolution at the UN Human Rights Council that established the open ended intergovernmental working group, tasked with drafting a legal binding international treaty on the rights of older persons.
These reflect our commitment to ensuring the voices and the needs of elderly persons are heard globally.
National level, at the national level, we have determined to embed this principle into our housing and urban development policies.
Affordable housing program must integrate age friendly design, accessible infrastructure, and community service that allow all the person to live independently and with dnicity.
Our policies must ensure that elders are not marginalized but are active participants in community life.
We believe the reform program, we believe that reforms is not optional if it's necessity.
By reforming our housing frameworks and governance structure, we can guarantee that older persons enjoy rights fully, whether in rural communities or urban centers.
Reforms in governance and service delivery must translate into tangible benefits for older citizens, ensuring that their right needs are prioritized and respected.
The Gambia is willing to work closely with development partners to advance the treaty on rights of all the persons and to strengthen national policies.
Together, we can ensure that our elders live with dignity, respect, and security.
Let us commit to the policies and over development strategy that uphold the rights of all the person and secure their dignity for generations to come.
Thank you.
The rights of widows, as I said, the rights of widows, my last statement on Monday, I made it very clear.
The issue of affordable housing is no longer a right alone.
It's a necessity.
Our widows have been left out.
Our single parents are suffering, and there is a need for us to act where women are left with children, they have to struggle to house them, they have to struggle to feed them, they have to struggle to educate them, both widows and single parents, and I think it's time that we act and act decisively.
Okay.
Thank you very much, Minister for this very passionate input and based on your practice in the Gambia and let me immediately pass to our next speaker, which is Honorable Nygar Mamadova, member of Parliament of Aderbijan.
She also serves as Director of the Center for Inclusive Development and creativity.
She supports social integration to vulnerable groups and a member of the Cop 29 organizing committee and is a very active person in the politics in this country.
So the floor is yours, honorable member of parliament.
Thank you very much for your presentation.
Excellency, distinguished guests.
Dear friends, first of all, about World Urban Forum because it's one of the most important platforms.
This platform is bringing together all of you, all of us, and we are here with you not only to discuss challenges, not only to discuss problems, but find solutions.
Because we are here to discuss the future, the issues related to the future.
Humanity.
Let's focus on the theme of the 13th session of World Urban Forum.
It is housing for all.
It is safe and sustainable cities.
It is human settlements.
What does it mean housing? Housing it's not just a place to live.
It is foundation of safety.
It is foundation of development.
And Mr.
Bach, Minister said about the political stability, about the processes in Azerbijan.
Thank you very much for your kind words, Mr.
Minister.
Really, today, hosting all this forum of course, shows that Azerbijan couple of words about the role of Ab, Azerbijan yes, is an important partner in energy and transport and Azerbian is a platform for international cooperation, international dialogue, platform in humanitarian cooperation, platform in climate discussions, urban development, and these kind of events really, Mr.
Minister, as you said, really demonstrate the level of political stability, security, the achievement in appropriate fields related to urban planning, how the experience of each state to organizing experience of each state, and we have proved our experience in appropriate state.
And of course, today's round table is related to very, very important issue is aging, population aging, and the process of population aging is rapidly continuing around the world.
This trend requires innovations in housing policy.
At the same time, we should recognize that the aging process doesn't affect women and men in the same way.
Why? Because older women in particular are more likely to face challenges related to living alone, lower income, informal caregiving burdens, and limited access to adequate housing.
Therefore, it's essential to promote gender sensitive housing and urban policies, create safe and inclusive public spaces and strengthen social protection mechanisms for older women.
Access to housing for older people is directly connected not only with living space, Just know it, not living space only, but also as Madam Rosb said, but also with their safety, social protection, social integration, health, and dignified living conditions.
However, there are a number of serious challenges in this area.
One of the main problems is physical accessibility.
Many residential buildings are not designed according to the needs of older people.
This problem is especially not well in older housing stock.
Social isolation is also one of serious problems today and as a result of rapid urbanization in cities, many older people remain outside of their families and community support.
This increases both psychological and social risks.
One of the most important issues in this field is strengthening the approach of age friendly cities.
Universal design principles should be applied in housing projects and public transport and services should become more accessible for older people.
Social housing programs for the elderly should be expanded by the state and municipalities and their participation in decision making mechanisms should be ensured.
The same time, increasing digital literacy is also important moment.
Digital literacy is also important.
Since many services have already moved to digital platforms, the integration of older people into these systems is considered an important element of social equality.
In the modern era, digital technologies have become one of the main tools of coordination.
Electronic healthcare systems, smart home technologies, and social service platforms significantly improve safety of older people and their access.
To services.
A couple of words about Azerbijan practice.
Based on experience of Azerbijan, I'd like to inform you that housing provision for older people in our country is regulated through several legal protection mechanisms.
The main legal framework in this field consists of constitution of the Republic of Azerbijan Housing Code and social protection legislation and states social service programs.
According to the Constitution of Azerbijan the right of housing is recognized as an integral part of the principles of social state.
The country also has social protection mechanisms, including the pension system, social services, and provide support for older people at home, in particular, an adapted living environment and social services for older persons with disabilities are considered one of the priority areas.
Social service institutions intended for older people are operating in the country.
At the local level, what do we have? We have councils for elders functioning in every district and these have special importance.
These councils act as traditional public institutions and play an important role as platforms for involving older people in public life and local decision making processes.
In light of current realities, we have come to the conclusion that it's necessary to expand the application of appropriate urban planning principles and increased investments in the adaptation of the housing stock.
At the same time, the promotion of active aging public engagement, the voluntary activities.
Don't forget it.
Are of great importance for the well being of older people.
Most importantly, older people shouldn't only be beneficiaries of policies, but also active partners participating in their development.
In this context, we can confidently say that adequate housing and inclusive urban planning are also matters of social justice and human rights.
The comfort of old people is our responsibility.
Let us not forget that ensuring adequate housing for women often means guaranteeing the safety, stability, and future for an entire family.
Let us work together no matter our role in society, we should be together to create safer, to create greener, to create more sustainable future.
I thank you.
Thank you very much, honorable member of parliament.
Let me check with the organizers of the round table whether we will have the online speaker.
It's confirmed.
Let me quickly introduce doctor Claudia Muller.
She served as a UN independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.
She also was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
She conducted many country visits across multiple regions.
She presented reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly.
She holds a law degree and a doctorate degree and she's a senior researcher at the German Institute for Human Rights.
With that short introduction, I give the floor to you, doctor Claudia.
You have the floor.
Thank you.
We still cannot hear you.
Let's see if we get a video and the sound.
I While the technicians sought out the technical problem, let me just do a very rapid backtracking on the main issues brought by our honorable speakers in this segment of the roundtable.
The executive director already in the beginning spoke about the aging population process, giving an example of Japan, what we see large amounts of empty homes with impacts on towns and empty spaces.
She spoke about the need to design public spaces, common space, but above that, understand the aspirations of this particular group and she observed that the increase in life expectancy both in the north and in the South means we need to prepare for the challenges that are emerging.
She spoke about a system or care embedded in urban systems in order to address specific situations that we find at the household level.
Woman staying at home, living longer than men, and creating an extra burden, and she spoke, we need to look at the mismatch between supply and demand.
This was followed by Minister Ba intervention where he spoke very clear about the commitment to human rights of his government and the country in its history, championing human rights as a great achievement and which highlights the issue of leadership and the respect for fundamental rights in the country.
He spoke very clearly that African is changing people as well as living longer as in other places despite of being a young continent.
But you highlight very interestingly the difference between the concept of the extended family and the nucleus family.
In that respect, you spoke about systems that are internally, so family care for life, which brings another cultural element in how to address the issue of aging population.
So you spoke clearly about the commitment about leaving no one behind and specifically the rights of older persons and at the national level, the issue of policies on affordable housing, which is also adequate to older persons, bringing the issue of dignity and the delivery of service delivery.
A third, our member of parliament in Azerbaijan, he spoke about in the beginning the relationship of housing for all and sustainable cities, indeed, as a foundation for the issue of safety and creating social protection and innovations in housing policy that address the issue of aging rapidly, which you highlight very well affects men and women differently.
I think essentially you spoke about gender sensitive policies that also address public spaces and not only the living space.
Issues such as social protection, safety and age friendly cities is a must.
You ended with the initiatives in Azerbijan by looking at the digital platforms where safety and access to service come on the forefront several instruments adopted in this country towards social protection and particularly protection of the aging population, which considers the social services at home and priority areas.
And you finalize with the respect and realization of human rights in which adequate housing is included.
Now, do we have our next speaker online in video? Yes or no? Claudia, colleagues from the technical background, it seems we have a technical issue.
With that, I believe I will pass on to the next panel.
Do I? Should I go ahead? They will try to solve the participation of our colleagues from abroad.
With that, I pass on to the first panel.
The first panel will address the following question and I will introduce the speakers in a while.
The question that the panel will dive into is the right to adequate housing for older persons is well established in international law, yet the gap between legal recognition and lived reality remains wide.
What would an effective city level policy framework need to include to actually deliver adequate housing that enables older persons to age in place in a well designed, accessible, well located housing and supported by the appropriate services and facilities? How can we prevent market driven displacement of older persons during neighborhood redevelopment or revitalization and how do we ensure that sufficient financing reaches not only governments, but also directly supports the demand side needs and choices of older persons themselves? In order to respond to these very thorough question, I will invite the following speakers.
First, doctor it.
Excuse me.
Marie Massey.
Shall I speak now or not? Very good.
We had a technical clinch here.
Okay.
Go ahead.
Let me I already introduced you.
I heard you loud and clear, but I did not manage to come in.
So for this clinch.
Thank you so much, Mr.
Modera, honorable miss Rosbach, Mr.
Minister of Gambia, many thanks also to raise awareness that you're part of the core group of the intergovernmental working group on Older Persons Human Rights.
Honorable member of parliament of Azerbaijan, I think you already set the scene quite well.
So thanks a lot for the invitation and I'm very sorry that it took a little while.
I'm also quite happy that you highlight all the persons here in the Urban forum because I think it is really time now to raise awareness that this is a overlooked part of society.
I will look into the topic, as you imagine from the perspective of human rights and my findings are based on a report I delivered to the General Assembly on the rights of adequate housing, as well as my what I heard and learned from older persons in the full diversity on my country missions.
Let me start by reminding us all that Article 25 on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights already bring the basis on adequate housing from the adequate standard of living.
But we really do not have a specific article which would take into account the lived realities of older persons.
But the majority gap in the current human rights framework remains a specific clause on age discrimination and ageism.
Therefore, I really urge everybody to combat ageism and age discrimination and intersecting forms of discrimination, ensuring that such discrimination will prohibit, including housing related laws and to adopt laws that guarantee supported decision making.
We really need to ensure that older persons have the same access as everybody else and get an active in the development of legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons, which is starting this July in the Human Rights Council.
Are you hearing me or not? Yes.
Yes.
Perfectly.
Got an email.
Thank you so much.
It is crucial for states to ensure that everyone is able to fully enjoy their right to adequate housing since housing has such a great influence on the quality of one's life in the country, which was mentioned before, also in regard of Azerbaijan in Gambia and worldwide from misses Rosbach.
If the right to housing is violated, other human rights may also be compromised.
For example, the right to health, to independent living, to family life, to participate, or even the right to live.
Emergency crisis which have not been mentioned yet, such as those related to climate change, pandemics, natural disasters and armed conflicts, also pose a threat to the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing of older persons and displace every year millions around the globe.
The intersection of age and other types of discrimination such as sex, gender, ethnicity, or disability remains a compounding factor and barrier to the full enjoyment of the human rights to adequate housing of older persons.
Distinguished colleagues and audience.
Housing is the basis of stability and security for an individual.
As such, the right to adequate housing does not only entail having a roof over one's head, but comprises a significant number of additional elements.
There exists still concerns relating to the legal security of tenure and affordability, considering the increased risk of poverty of many older persons and the cost of housing in urban areas.
Therefore, it is really essential to improve the affordability of housing and combat forced evictions.
Often programs providing affordable housing and social housing or loan programs for low income groups have an age limit for eligibility.
The right to housing also entail the freedom of older persons to choose where and with whom and how they really want to live and what they want to do with their property.
Housing should also guarantee the physical safety of inhabitants.
All the persons living in informal settlements are not adequately protected from the weather and natural hazards.
This can have a negative impact on their health.
Furthermore, lack of accessibility hinders older persons from living independently and choose where they want to live.
It reinforces the social exclusion and marginalization of older persons, especially those with disabilities or reduced mobility.
Housing is also not adequate if it does not respect or allow for the expression of cultural identity.
We must ensure to further promote inclusive, age friendly communities and environments and to provide a range of support services that promote all the person's dignity and autonomy and enable them to remain in their homes, taking into account their will and individual preferences.
This starts earlier than care.
We really need to ensure that they get the support to live independently.
Support ideas range from financial support of adaption of housing to permit all the people to remain autonomous in their homes, over inter generational housing and supported housing to age friendly cities and communities and the inclusion of smart and digital solutions.
I thank you for your patience and I'm very grateful that I have been included in this panel.
I'm also looking forward to seeing a couple of you in the age friendly cities symposium in San Sebastian.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, doctor Claudio Mahler, for your input.
It was timely.
The technology didn't let us down for good.
So in the interest of time, I pass immediately to the panel one that they will address the question I was reading when you joined the conversation.
And let me then I introduce our next speakers.
I might make a mistake on your first name, so I'll try my best.
Stralea Maria Masi, she's the Chief of Section for Rights of Older Person at the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights.
She has dedicated her professional life to advocacy and robust diplomacy.
And her work evolves around fostering a human rights economy, a mission that involves complex negotiations and advocacy with member states.
I also would like to introduce Michael Kanji Kimu.
He is an activist of Mikok in Kenya.
He's the CEO and founder of Mikok Kenyon.
He leads Mikok's work on policy influencing, universal periodic review, and age friendly advocacy programs.
He also joined WHO, the World Health Organization's Global Network of age friendly cities and communities, and he as a representative of older persons, is also a co chair of the Global General Assembly of Partners, Older Persons Constituent Group.
Then I have Professor Wu Sege Xi Yang, who is a distinguished expert in urban and rural planning.
It's a world famous pioneer of urban and rural planning theory and engineering practice.
He was elected member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017, and he devotes his professional life to sustainable urban design and education.
Every speaker will have 5 minutes and a If we manage well the time, we might have some time for conversation and you will get some cue and answers from the audience or from ourselves.
So you have the floor.
Thank you, Claudio.
I don't know if Presant was introduced.
Let's see.
That's right.
I'm so sorry.
We do have I'm so sorry.
I was going to keep you out of the list, you know, so we can go fast.
I'm so sorry.
So good to remind me.
Um So Mr.
Prashant Mohapatra, is the Odisha Water Supply and Sewage Board in India.
He's a civil engineer with over 35 years of experience focusing on water supplies, sewage, and non sewage sanitation projects in the state of Odysia.
He's an engineering chief of the Odysia Water Supply and Sewage Board, and he has also done many studies abroad, including in IHE, Delta, the Netherlands on sanitary engineering.
So let's start then with the first speaker.
So the panel is located there, so we have four speakers.
And on the interest of time, try to use your 5 minutes really affected so that you can get some answer or some questions from the audience, okay? You have the floor.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I feel a little bit like I'm speed dating right now with the five minute limit.
Let me begin by saying, first of all, thank you to the wonderful opening speakers and Claudia, our former independent expert on the rights of older persons, because you've made that segue in very interesting.
But what I want to do in my 5 minutes is I want to really begin with a question about what does legal responsibility signify, and what does it mean for cities in question? Here before we begin with this, Claudia mentioned the UDHR Article 25 and of course, we are all aware of economic, social, cultural rights convention and Article 11 as the basic fundamental on the right to adequate standard of living.
But then again, thanks to all the previous speakers who actually spoke about a lot of the elements of what does right to adequate standard of living mean and what does right to adequate housing mean? I bring these two together because as we always say, Human rights are universal, but I want you all to focus on the two words indivisible and interrelated.
This is where I want to start the discussion today, that while we talk about housing, we really have to keep that aspect of all human rights being indivisible and interrelated at the heart of whatever we think and we do.
Let's begin with the fact that we've been saying that legal responsibility is very well established.
But let me talk about a document that came out in 1995, which is still aspirational.
I'm not talking about the UDHR.
I'm putting it aside and I'm saying there's a recommendation made in 1995, and I would like you all to look at it in your spare time on the general comment from the Committee on economic, social cultural rights.
It's comment number six.
Actually, for me, it's a very beautiful piece of work.
It's very dated if you look at it in the fact that it's very old.
But let's look at what they're basically establishing for us in what legal responsibility means.
They're elevating it to a treaty body obligation.
They are saying it's not an optional, it's not a progressive thing, you need to do it now.
In that, of course, it brings in seven key elements that we're all aware of and many of the speakers have addressed, and I'm not going to go into them.
But let's just look at two aspects of it, habitability, accessibility, and cultural advocacy.
Again, I go back to the point of all human rights being interrelated and interconnected.
Let's look at this.
Let's look at the fact that if we are talking about ourselves, we are all in this room and I was looking around.
It's a fairly young crowd of people in here.
I think there may be me and a couple of others who are on the wrong side of 50 reaching 60, or a few over.
But largely the crowd in the room is young and I don't see a lot of them actually showing a lot of interest in this topic because they're not thinking of this as something that is relevant to them, and this is where I want to start about.
Aging is one of the biggest demographic shifts of the world.
In 2030s, which is just around the corner, we're going to have more people in the world globally that are over the age of 80 than there will be children under the age of one.
Which means fundamentally the world as we know it is changing and we are not prepared.
Housing is going to be a very key element in that preparation.
And safety measures and rights enjoyment that we put in for the various reasons that have been outlined.
Now let me move on a little bit to the fact that what is one of the key elements required from a city or a government.
We're saying legal responsibility is established.
We have all of the human rights legal framework.
We accept the fact that there is no one specific legal instrument in our current legal regime that offers specific guidance, rights, and protection to older persons.
It's a gap.
It's also a gap that is being addressed at the moment because right now, ongoing in Geneva within my team led by my team, we are the Secretariat, are the work for the first substantive discussion on the first ever legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons.
I'm going to put that aside and I'm going to say let's look at what are we working with.
We are looking with different pieces of legislation, declarations, policies that are fragmented, but attempt to use what exists to apply to older persons.
We accept there's a gap there and now let's put it aside.
Now, everybody in the room, I want you to really think of yourselves when you're 80 and visualize the house that you want.
That will make you comfortable, that will make you safe, that will ensure you're not suffering social isolation, and that will protect you from possible violence, abuse and neglect.
Why do I say that? Because as of 2025, we know for a fact that one in six persons in the world who is over the age of 65 suffers violence, abuse and neglect.
Coming from a country like India, where I grew up saying we will never, ever see old people's homes in our country because our culture is deeply grounded in respect for elders.
It is one of the biggest thriving industries in the country at the moment.
Is it regulated? No.
Does it need check and balances? Yes.
Is violations happening? Yes.
Are there some very good examples of residential homes being run? Yes.
You have a mixture.
But therein comes in your first question.
For any city or a community, what are you doing on the three main aspects of respect, protect, and fulfill your legal obligations as it applies to the rights of older persons and adequate housing.
I wish I had actually done a presentation right now because I'm missing having a PowerPoint or a flip chart to do this.
Three circles, if you can visualize them, your house in the center of it, but your house doesn't exist in vacuum as law doesn't exist in vacuum.
You have your house, I'll wrap up.
You have your house, you need to think of this as your community as your first circle around the house.
If your community is not supportive and not well planned, whether it is urban engineering or design technology, that home is not going to be sufficient.
Likewise, there's another circle, which is that of your city and then of your country.
I would like you to hold on to that.
I hope that we can come back to this in a little while.
I'm going to stop here, but there are a few examples from real life that I would like to discuss later.
Thank you.
Very good.
We will come back to you with the examples.
Let's give you the floor.
Yeah.
Okay.
I've been asked that question and I'm going to, first of all, say that I come from the community.
And one thing I always say is that older people and people with disability do not live in books.
They don't live in databases.
They are in the community.
And most of the work that has been done is being done is not considering the older persons.
And as we clearly appreciate what the governments are doing globally to bridge the gap of housing inadequacy.
Also very important to realize that there is a need of political and policy goodwill so that we can look adequately the issues of older people.
But one question I'm asking myself here, the older people are part of the community.
But do the people who have been given the dockets, the ministries, the Ps, have the knowledge of the international laws that govern housing? If they do, is their political goodwill to actualize them.
To me, I believe that those people that are put in those dockets should fully be in the understanding under the practice of legal architecture of the housing in the international level, and also be knowledgeable about the obligations that are placed on their own countries.
There's this issue of city level policy framework on aging.
If we want to have a good city, the city must be age friendly and should integrate inclusive policies and also engage older people and everybody early in the processes to ensure that all their issues are addressed.
All housing developments public or private should enforce universal design in all they are building projects to make sure that it is an everybody's setting.
Remember that today's young children and the youth are tomorrow's older persons.
Considering the number now of the young people now and the six or 8% of the older people.
25 years to come, the percentage of older people will be 40, 40, 50, and here we are building skyscrapers.
And those people will be buying those skyscraepers, when they get the age of 60, would they be living in those buildings? We need to ask ourselves, how about the livability Dx of the buildings that we are making? Are we competing to have numbers of units or is it livable structures? With that, I want to look at the age friendly cities concept.
The WHO has a very good concept on age friendly cities and communities, and this is what should be embraced by all the cities that are developing housing projects.
And in order to prevent market driven displacement of older people during the neighborhood development, there are several things that we need to look at.
We must, first of all, avoid gentrification.
Today, We are moving people, demolishing their buildings, and because I know it does not this is not in the data correction domain.
The more people we demolish their buildings, the more populations in houses in the informal settlement increases.
This is out of what I have seen.
People in Nairobi, we demolish a house in Maku Guanga and they all move to the relatives in Magarre and Kebira.
So we have more people in the households, but We have lesser informal sentiment buildings.
We need to look at age friendly community engagements and use languages that actually include the voices of older people.
We should remove the speculative market drive so that we can have permanent affordability for buildings and houses.
And there's also a need, and this is very important to have a right of return policy in everything that we do so that those older people or those people who were originally in that particular area have a right to go back to the new buildings.
Yeah.
And the cities and municipalities can also have local laws and zoning codes to preserve existing affordable housing.
And of course, the government should take action and should be seen to be taking action about this and about older people.
And this is not an exception.
It's something that needs to be done.
Otherwise, in 30 years, issues of older persons will be collapsing.
Thank you.
Let me pass the words to Professor Wood.
Thank you very much.
Give me the opportunity to come here talking about the experience my personal from Shanghai and Shanghai is in ten years ago, 15 years ago, already 8% people.
As the Aido people.
But today, 2025, already 40%.
So it's a really rapid order in society.
Another city so fast that go to the already 40%.
So it's really the very deepest aging city.
So what do we do in Shanghai, I think it first of all, it should be not every people's loneliness at home.
So it's very important we set up different corner in the community in the neighborhood.
We learn from countryside.
When we're the countryside at the time, a lot of people gathering in the corner of the village.
So we also in city today also make a thing called the public living house living room, living corner.
So it's make the people really communication very easy in the corner in the public rooms.
That's the first.
I think that's the first point I would like to bring here.
The public the living room, that living corner.
The second, I'm also selected in last year because this activity as the chairman for the experts ad experts in Shanghai, over 20,000 people gathering together.
So I found it's not the Adré people in the last decades, what we met, we say they are Aden people, they needed help.
Actually, the new Adan people is much more very active to learning new knowledge, new things.
So My proposal is that we try to make a how the awards for learning failure.
If you start learning, your failure not success, but we still give you awards.
We'll make the society lifelong learning society.
Whatever you failure or did not success, but we give the awards and we make the people, our Shanghai society is always lifelong learning.
Whatever success or not failure, we give also the awards.
This is our second point and the last point, we really also to make the Shang Hau the public events for closed generation.
It's very important because I was the vice president in Tongji University in Shanghai.
I bring a lot of my students go to the neighborhoods just to launch the university campus.
So that really make very interesting that both sides because most students from our university come from the whole of China.
They don't have the really experience in Shanghai.
But the olderan people just neighboring, they are older Shanghainese.
So the both generations come together, makes a lot and new idea, makes both generation very delighted to life.
So I think the first point is that we should events in the Adré society to close the generation that will be both sides and make much happy.
So this is my three point I would bring here from Shanghai.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Very interesting.
Let's see if our next speaker, doctor Jennifer Molinsky, are you online? You were I am.
Can you hear me? Oh, sorry.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Go ahead, please.
I don't know why I'm doing this.
I'm really sorry.
It's because of the order here.
I'm getting confused.
I said, good afternoon.
Wait a minute.
We still have one speaker to go.
I'm really.
So.
May thanks for having me here.
Madam already set the stage for India.
We have actually unique problem in my country because of the changing lifestyle and increasing the living conditions.
The number of aging populations are rising.
In fact, around 10% of people in India are aging and in my Odissa I belong to Odissa state, the aging population will be around 14%.
We have a very unique situation.
There.
First of all, people are migrating.
You find homes which are there already empty.
From rural areas, people are migrating to employment or other aspects.
They go to other states and from urban areas, they migrate to other countries, maybe to Europe or US then their parents they stay home.
They are alone.
That is a very unique situation.
At the same time, There is also need for poorer people, economic, weaker sections where they have the issue of housing, shelter and security, those issues are also prevalent.
Now, these are addressed by our Indian Constitution.
As per the Article 41, it provides state to provide security, to provide shelter, to provide housing and all kinds of social benefits for the elderly.
These are the rights of the elders, which are covered under the Indian Constitution.
And in my state and also in the country at the national level, there is a program for national social assistance program.
Which covers the elderly people.
There are various programs rolled out by the Ministry of rural Development.
Central assistance is provided to the states to provide the social security for the elderly.
In fact, at the state level, in my case in Odissa, there are different schemes which the state government provides.
Maybe in the second question, I'll elaborate the mechanism and the steps taken to guarantee the safety and security of these elderly.
So these are not, you know, not left they are not left alone.
The commit has a responsibility to address the situation and they have been addressing.
Thank you.
Because of the mistakes I made in the proceedings, I want to do a probing question to make up to my mistake.
Your specialization is the water and sanitation, you a service provider in the city.
Do you identify specific issues where in the service provision is not considered the age component? We usually speak about gender sensitive particular access to water and sanitation, but from the point of view of looking at the target population we're talking, do you see any specific issues that there is a gap Yeah, these issues, as a service provider, I find most of the informal settlements, we have that issue of service provision.
And in my state, in fact, we have tackled the issue in a different way.
Informal settlement is a global issue, but Budsa has gone way ahead in tackling this issue.
The first is the issue of land tenure because these people they have been staying illegally in government land maybe in different kind of land.
But government has a principle, they value life of persons more important than the value of land.
And Ossa government has gone ahead by giving land rights to all the informal settlements.
All the households, those who are living in the, you know, informal settlements, they have got the land rights.
The land rights are not transferable, but they have got the land.
Then for the housing, there is the prime minister's housing program.
The state provides the subsidy.
And the beneficiaries, they are their mom and they are able to build their own house.
Now, housing is not enough.
When you redevelop the informal settlement, we convert them to livable habitats.
How do we do it? We provide street road, we provide electricity, we provide toilets, we provide water supply, drainage, and waste management services.
Now, in each municipality, Because the informal settlements, that population is around 25%, one in four people live in informal settlements.
25% of the municipal budget is dedicated for the development of the informal settlements.
Therefore, there is a dedicated budget for the infrastructure, and there are subsidy schemes in various programs from the state, from the central, there is a housing policy to address that.
Okay.
We address the housing, we address the land tenure, we also address the various associated infra that is required for livability.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
It's a universal provision in which the different needs are addressed within the service provision, right? Yes.
All right.
I'll give you the floor when we give the time.
Let me quickly introduce doctor Jennifer Molinsky.
She's the Director of the Housing and Aging Society Program at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Study and she's a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
She co directs the Healthy Places Design Lab, and she's the lead author of the center's major reports on housing and aging.
The floor is with you, doctor Jennifer.
Good afternoon.
I'm honored to have this opportunity to share some observations borne out of my research at the Joint Center and to be with you today.
Safe, secure, and affordable housing is obviously critical to the well being of all people regardless of age.
For older adults, though, there are particular roles that housing plays in health and financial security that I think must inform our housing policy.
Older adults are more likely to have fixed or declining incomes, as well as have needs for support in long term care, which means that housing affordability challenges typically increase with age.
When older adults are unaffordably housed, our research has shown that they cut back on health care, spend less on food and may forego services that ironically, they need to remain in their homes.
As mobility challenges increase with age, attributes of the physical house are critical in safety and in allowing people to perform activities of daily living without assistance from other people in many cases.
In addition, at its most basic housing is shelter and its quality, construction, and location shape how exposed people are to environmental risks like extreme heat or floods.
We know that older adults are among the most vulnerable to a range of risks arising from climate change and their housing is fundamental to their protection from more frequent disasters.
Challengges with self care and independent living also increase with age and many people need assistance provided in their homes.
In my mind, care is a housing issue because housing affordability, its location, and its connections with other sectors shape access to the services people need to remain in their homes.
Housing's cost and location also matter to older people's capacity to navigate their communities, access services, and participate in social life.
Inaccessible environments and transportation can have negative effects on health, including through isolation and deprive us all of the full participation of all people in our communities.
Finally, if housing is lost in later life and there is a worrying increase in older people who are unhoused in the United States, addressing all of these particular needs and challenges can make re establishing a home particularly challenging.
Adré intertwined housing challenges for older adults means we must develop comprehensive and coordinated policies that cross sectors of housing, public infrastructure, health, and more.
Too often, as we've noted, these policies are fragmented.
But moreover, I think we often state our goal as helping people age in place.
Yet aging in place can actually have many meanings.
Some might imagine aging in place as remaining in a long time home and never having to move.
At the other extreme, for some people, aging in place might mean moving to any situation that is not a nursing or a care home.
These differences in definition matter to policy.
If aging in place is understood as remaining in a long time specific home, policy efforts will likely be more focused on home repair and modifications and in home services.
But if we define it as living anywhere in the community that is not an institutional setting, policy might be aimed at fostering more housing options in the communities where older adults live.
Underlying efforts to support aging in place, we may have different and even conflicting policy motivations.
Aging in place could be understood as fundamentally about maximizing choice or supporting self determination, or about lowering public costs since delivering services in the community is typically less costly than in sites of more intensive care.
Whether aging in place is seen to be about supporting independence, control, dignity, or return on public investment will shape the policy we ultimately develop.
I believe our aging in place policy, whatever we define it as, must also truly be informed by older adults preferences and aspirations.
We know generally about people's desire to be able to stay in their communities as they age, but less about how preferences to stay in a particular home might change as health or functional abilities evolve.
We also need more insight into whether a stated desire to stay in a longtime home is really a reflection of being stuck in place because of a lack of affordable and viable alternatives.
My personal inclination is that aging in place policy can be most fruitful if it is geared towards supporting self determination, creating conditions for people to make choices reflecting their values and their preferences to engage with and contribute to their communities as they can and as they desire, and to live in connection with other people.
Our policy about aging in place might be understood as aging with choice, about where one lives and also geared toward full inclusion of older people in our cities and our societies.
People aged 65 and over are a diverse group and a one size fits all approach will not serve everyone.
In the US, my goal about aging and choice would lead to greater investment in housing alternatives like accessible multifamily housing house sharing, intentionally intergenerational apartment buildings and communities.
It would mean more investment in service enriched housing that offers amenities and services and coordination to help older people address their evolving needs.
It would build on existing programs that engage the housing, health, and care sectors in ways that further autonomy, self efficacy, and connection, all keys to self determination.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You were really on time.
So let me immediately pass to the next panelists and I promise you to give the first intervention to you in the next segment.
So let me introduce the next speakers.
Doctor Manuel Alfredo Campoverde Cisnero.
He is the Executive Director of the Continental Health Council of Cuenca, Ecuador.
He is a faculty member of the Faculty of Medical Science at the University of Cuenca, and he has led the Cuenca destino Saldal, which is Cuenca Healthy destination initiative, advancing Cuca's recognition as a healthy municipality under Ecuador's national framework.
Doctor Maria Paloma Silva de Anzorena I She has 30 years of international experience across many financial institutions on housing finance and capital markets in the United States, Latin America, Europe.
She is a sector lead specialist of Housing Policy and Finance of Inter American Development Bank.
If I'm not wrong, you also have been previously Minister of housing.
You led the national programs representing a significant amount of resources, embedding sustainability, inclusion, and environmental safeguards in Mexico's mortgage backed securities.
In the boardrooms, you have been focusing on strengthening ESC the governance, enhancing resilience and aligning capital allocation.
We have misses Narm Ganyva, chairperson of the Board of Unsukubahar Public Union.
She is the Chairperson of the Board of Unchuku Bahar Public Union and is engaged in social interpretative activities.
We also have misses Aparna Me Hora, former UN Women Specialist.
She used to be the Director of the UN System Coordination Division at UN Women, where she served as Secretary of the Interagency Network of Women and Gender Equality.
With that introduction, I pass the floor to doctor Manuel.
Go ahead.
Receive a warm greeting from the Mayor of Cuenca, doctor Christian amatute PhD.
Sorry about he'll be speaking partly in English and partly in Spanish.
It is an honor to participate in the World Euruban Forum in this room table on the rights of older persons.
Today, I will share the experience of Cueen Ecuador with a focus on healthy aging, age friendly communities, and innovative local practice for older persons.
Our main message is simple.
A city parade for older person is a city preparerade for everyone.
Urban autonomia, por lo integrator act inclusiv integrand Urbana urban compact or or academia particip beber Monitor.
E Cuenca Novar significa articular saluth vibenda cuidado, mobidi participation local de politica public.
At Cuenca, as justamente esa prevencion, a person adults majores abordanods activates terra putticas forts Lautonoma pertencaroposit, esta Mara, Elemeiiento, Ecuador Thank you very much for keeping the time.
With that, I pass over to you, Paloma.
Thank you very much.
I am going to focus in the housing solutions for people because I participated in Habitat two and Habitat three and I know that there are specific points that we need to figure out how to handle the agenda and to happen.
For me, well, I am from the Inter American Development Bank and we are working in 17 countries in Latin America and Caribbean providing affordable housing for all.
And just let me tell you something.
Right now, we have 13% of the total population of Latin America are elderly population, and in 2060, they're going to represent 30%.
That's why we need to figure out how to handle it, not just through public resources because they are not going to be enough public resources.
We need to create housing solutions, and I totally love what I misses Molinsky, as a matter of fact, we are working with her told us about how we will improve the cities and the housing for them.
We will need 60% of the GDP of all Latin American Caribbean in order to attend them.
It's impossible because we can provide 60% just in housing.
That's why we need to figure out new solutions like reverse mortgages.
They are working pretty good.
Now, some people or old people are having their house, they have capital there, and they can get cash flow from their own properties.
But how we can ensure that people can age with dignity, autonomy, safety, and belonging to our cities? Because it's not just about housing, it's about housing and health, mobility, social inclusion, climate resilience, and human rights.
You are the experts of human rights, so I'm not going to talk about it.
In the physical barriers, we need to improve the supply for them.
It's like I don't know, do you remember 30 years ago that we have a lot of young people, a demographic bonus and we started providing supply for the young population.
Well, let's do that for these people.
Because the current houses are providing them physical barriers.
Like what? They are multi story housing.
I remember 15 years ago when I went to Japan, and they were destroying the current buildings because there was not for elderly population.
So we need to create a new supply as multi story housing without elevators, narrow circulated spaces with related with education as Jennifer Mlinsky, for instance, in United States, Harvard Georgetown are providing free and programs of study for the old people because they need to work, they need to study, they need to have something to live.
Those houses, the senior living, it's pretty important.
The co living is very important as well.
Because if not, they're going to be homeless.
In our countries, there's a lot of globalization and the young people are moving all around the world and I am not expecting that my children are going to take care of me in their homes.
It's not a new reality and I need to see what I'm going to do for my next 35 years 65-100 years.
So we are trying to focus in the IDB in the senior living, in the reverse mortgage solutions, and trying to create mechanisms to ensure coordination between health, housing, and social protection.
For sure, we are changing our cities because the public spaces are going to be quite different for them for the children's and the urban planning plays a decisive role on whether people can age safely and independently.
And with inclusive urban requirements, with local mobility, with safe public spaces, mixed use neighborhood, access to transport, proximity to health care and services.
At the end, we are working in flexible and adaptable housing designs in community based housing models, in assisted living integrated into neighborhoods, in incremental retrofeiting programs, with digital health and care integration, with intergenerational housing models, And for that, well, we are improving housing finance for retrofits, repairs mortgage, climate residence housing adaptation.
Well, my closing remark because I just have 5 minutes is aging is not a future issue.
It's a present urban reality and cities that failed to prepare today will face greater inequality and exclusion tomorrow.
Adequate housing for older people is not only a social policy issue.
It's an urban issue, a climate issue, a public health issue, and fundamentally a human rights issue.
We need to move beyond designing cities for economic productivity, and we must design cities for care, inclusion, dignity across the life curves.
But at the same time, all of us through our local governments and national governments must design new subsidies and new financial instruments, affordable.
Thank you, Maria Palloa, for your timely presentation.
Before I give you the floor, Amin, let's remind us the question and why we observe much more action oriented and more solutions in this group because the question was actually at what level in the experience we have have successfully translated the commitments into housing that is genuinely adequate to older persons and whether we have the sufficient knowledge to scale up these solutions and innovations and what are the barriers that we can identify in the practical steps we need to take to actually realize that.
You have the floor.
Thank you so much.
I'd like to thank you for your invitation.
Is this okay? Okay.
Thank you so much.
Ad Gana chairperson of the board, Shia Bahar Public Union.
First of all, I would like to thank you for your invitation.
It's an honor for us to be here to participate in such important event for the neighborhood as well as for Azerbaijan.
I As we know, the world population is increasing.
This process is not bypassing our country either.
According to estimates by 2050, the number of elderly people in our country will make up to 25% of the country population.
For ten years, we have been continuously helping elderly people in Azerbijan become closely acquainted with innovations, we educate them so that they don't feel isolated from society.
When we speak about housing, we often think about buildings and infrastructure, but for all the persons, housing means much more.
A home is dignity, safety, belonging, and memory.
As a representative of Chinju Bahar Public Union working closely with older persons, we see that the challenge is not only the lack of housing, but often lack of housing designed with older people in mind.
I would like to talk about around your question, what barriers to older persons facing accessing housing and participating in related decision making and what needs to be changed.
Older persons face several barriers in accessing adequate housing, including financial limitations, lack of age friendly infrastructure, and limited availability of accessible housing units.
Many housing systems are not designed to academate reduced mobility or disability, which further excludes older individual.
In addition, older persons are often Up in decisions making process related to urban planning and housing policies.
This lack of participation results in solutions that don't fully reflect their real needs.
To address this, it is essential to ensure meaningful inclusion of all the persons in policy development, straighten affordability, mature and promote universal design standards in all new and exciting housing projects.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Well, before we pass on the words to a partner who will have a three minute wrap up, we have still 15 minutes to have a conversation among ourselves.
So let me, as I promise, give the first four to your intervention.
Let's keep the intervention very short so I can give the opportunity for others to speak.
Go ahead.
I try my best.
I wanted to just make a point which I didn't complete when we started, that was when I was talking about the three circles of house being at the center and then you have your community.
This is where I'm very happy because all of the examples you have given have actually populated those circles of what it should contain.
I love the examples from Mfredo and Shanghai and Paloma from you in particular.
I just want to go back to this and use one small example.
If you're an older person, let's assume living in a house.
I want to go back to the three points that I made for what is the government's legal responsibility? Let's say I'm an older person with reduced mobility and increasing amount of care required, and I want to stay in place.
What is my expectation from my local government? Respect, that means that I want to choose where I'm going to stay.
Is it going to be my house? Is it going to be a home? Is it going to be where? What does it mean when I say that the local government has a responsibility to protect? It means that the local authorities need to coordinate and regulate all the private actors around me that are providing the services.
Then I put a little arrow here and go back to the fact where I said all human rights are interrelated and indivisible and I want to bring in here the element of the fact that rights of older persons, not one single issue is homogeneous.
It's heterogeneous, it's one of the most complex issues and like one of you said, one size does not fit all.
What's the obligation on the state or the local government structures? It's coordination.
It's something very simple, but we forget that coordination must be done keeping an intersectional multidisciplinary, perspective in mind.
If that coordination fails, that entire domino effect topples through on the ability of an older person to enjoy their rights effectively.
Which brings me to the point of fulfill.
Fulfill your legal obligations, it means that as a state or as a local government body, you have an obligation to provide all the necessary support measures required to render aging in place a viable option.
And that in itself is a tremendous amount of work and resources and Pala.
Thank you for making that very practical saying it's 60% of your GDP and nobody has that kind of money.
How do you function in that environment and take it forward? There's a lot more I would say, but I would stop right now.
Thank you.
I would like to hear some closing 1 minute statement from both of you.
But before that, let me ask anyone would like to make a comment or an additional question or a remark? Go ahead.
Can you identify yourself? Could I use his microphone? Is it working? Yeah.
Hi, Sebastian.
I'm from Ecuador in Israel, audience member.
I just wanted to follow up on what doctor Alfredo mentioned.
I'm actually from Cuenca, the same city he's from, and it is a very important thing that we're doing of not only building houses, but really building spaces for all people.
Um, if you wake up at 5:00 A.M.
In my city, you'll see an interesting thing, which is old people walking by the river, the elderly really going on walks and jogging at five, 6:00 A.M.
Which is something that you don't see.
And this is where the concept of building space really comes into.
I don't think that we see that because the people from our city like walking more than other people from other cities.
It's because we have built that space for them.
It's the creation of prominent, linear parks all throughout the city that gives them this sense of independence and belonging to the city.
I just wanted to add that remark and the importance of not only focusing on housing as a physical structure, but building space.
That's it.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Go ahead.
Keep it short, please.
Hi, I just wanted to add a perspective about how elderly people are not only vulnerable, they are also potentially very useful.
If we create ways to connect for older people to connect, particularly in societies that have high levels of migrancy Old people are without their grandchildren, grandchildren are without their grandparents and connecting them brings us to a very core thing that doesn't change just because people get old, which is that everybody wants to be useful.
We shouldn't just see them as vulnerable and in need, but also see old people as resources.
Thank you.
Very well.
Thank you.
Anyone, please go ahead.
When I am hearing all the things that the government will provide for the people and with demographic paramid totally different than today, I think that it's going to be impossible to put all these resources to provide this without taxes because there are not going to be enough employees.
So I think that since today, The governments must put in place some public policies like, for instance, health policies because they are not going to have enough resources for the illness that are going to be there without young people and children working because it's a fact.
The second thing is to make some education for the people of our age that we need to start paying our senior living through a mortgage.
Because again, we can ask or request to the governments wherever we want.
But the demographic parameters are like this, very small number of young people supporting a lot of elderly populations.
For me, it's more proactive than reactive.
Thank you.
IC three, please.
Thank you.
I just want to also share that I agree with the intersectionality and many older persons also live in informal settlement and marginalized communities.
Services to them, we discussed this morning at the Women's Caucus.
For example, access to water is actually a big um a big challenge for them.
Not only water does not come to their houses, but also the cost of water for older person who lives in an informal settlement and marginalized community, poor community, it's very, very high and very costly and that relates to also issues of health and many other things.
Don't even talk about other infrastructure, but this is basic rights.
Thank you.
Thank you very well.
We have someone on the other side.
Can you identify yourself your affiliation, please? Yeah.
Thank you very much, Chair.
My name is Lee Jia Sena Yu from Center for Socioeconomic Development based in Geneva.
I thank the organizer for this session because it's very meaningful.
I also just like to follow up on one of the previous speakers mentioned that wanting to be useful.
And I think, you know, we need to go beyond the concept of being useful, but rather we should start thinking about many of these older people might not be able to sustain their livelihood living inside of the institution or outside of it.
So, you know, and that number is going to grow in the sense that, you know, we know many countries do not really provide minimum social protection.
In this context, I think, when we talk about the future rights to protect the older persons, we need to really put a lot of emphasis on supporting the older population in terms of remain engaged in some way of work.
It's not this, I think has multiple purpose.
It's not just about relieving the burden of the future generations or the state, but rather to provide opportunities for older persons through working to achieve some form of self financing self sustainability, as well as self respect.
I don't think anybody wants to be seen as a burden, as sort of extra, as whatever, in a more towards the negative side.
I think the policy also need to think about how to preserve and enhance the agency of the older persons.
So with the benefit of health and and that the extra years could also be productive and continue to contribute.
This way, I think we will be able to find a greater collaboration between generations.
It's not just about providing care for the children or grandchildren, you know, voluntary kind of thing, we really need to talk about gainful.
Thank you very much.
Each.
Thank you.
Okay.
So we have four persons address, one, two, three, four.
I'm not sure we'll be able to give you the floor.
If you are very short and short, otherwise not.
One.
I understand.
One, two, three, four.
Okay.
I'll be very short.
Mine is I'm looking at the issue of housing like we are competing about making structures, but do we have any other innovations that we can use to reduce the number of people living in the city? In Nairobi, I have one of my partners who is doing voluntary repatriation of people who have retired.
I myself, as I retired, I want them to live at home.
So I moved from the city that reduces the number of people in the city.
Can we have innovative programs like that where lunari people who want to go back to where they came from can be funded and small houses built for them at home instead of having these big buildings happening in the city? That's the option, but maybe not many people may want to do that.
Two, quick Thank you.
Cause is important is para Cab lamentid de las personas Hernando politicas public as the Salus, commodes Fmigo Irae Pisano de Cuenca, Parques inclusive Mobilida inclusiva Thank you.
Three, identify yourself, please.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
I'll be very short.
My minister has already given this for robots and the gaming context as far as taking care of the elderly is concerned, which is one of the best in Africa, and I want people to emulate our system.
But learn from this important forum because our cultures are different, and we are also going global.
Gradually, one day will also be like you.
So May is more of learning than making contribution.
First of all, I understand from my brother from Kenya that he's very right.
If you build skyscraper for the elderly, sometimes it's not very filing for them.
And we know that the wall is becoming landlocked, lines becoming a problem.
You can only go vertical, not horizontal.
And in a Pal Africa, using a litter system, a system may not be very, you know, may be difficult.
So I want to share experiences with you, technically, one what advice would you give, you know, along those lines, since those are unfriendly and we cannot go horizontal.
Number two, I also want to find out from Claudia, I think, 57% of the populations living in the cities, and you have an aging population.
All like us, we have a young population.
So you have to cater for the older.
I know in the West, most countries are an older population.
But how do you finance how do you finance the houses for these elderly? We just want to share experiences with you so that we can also develop along those lines.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Number four, there.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Partner, you have 3 minutes to make your final remarks because I give you 1 minute to our speakers here.
I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.
We are running out of time.
I was given order to really keep myself on time.
I'm really apologize.
A partner? Are you out there? Yes.
Can you hear me? Yeah.
Please go ahead.
Okay.
You have.
First of all, I want to thank the organizers, in particular, the executive director of habitat and all the panelists and you, Claudio, and also those who are invisible, such as miss Claudia Suffler and Prasan to work with her, et cetera, because we all know that this event is entirely impossible without such support.
And talking of invisibility, um elderly people are invisible and should not be and similarly, organizers also should not be.
So thank you very much.
In terms of closing, it's difficult to summarize such a rich discussion.
But essentially, what I'm hearing is that the need for an intersectional approach cannot be doubted.
There is no such thing as a single solution provided when we look at something just through the lens of housing.
Even if you look at it through the lens of housing, all solutions lead you to a multi pronged approach wherein you need to consult any number of sectors, include those sectors, and ensure that the lens and perspectives of older women, for example, who are often more invisible, and the elderly population at large is very much included.
I think this message of intersectoriality is has to gain more ground.
My experience is even when I speak to people who are supposedly enlightened, they immediately turn to the issue of infrastructure.
Which they can easily grasp, but there's far more to it.
This brings me to my second point.
I think growing old is a condition of being human.
And being elderly, we need to be understood as contributors as well as those needing some care.
It is often that the care aspects are so much more emphasized that the contribution aspects are belittled or rather ignored or not emphasized enough.
And this, I think, doesn't assist with the dignity of the elderly population, which will constitute a very large proportion of the future deserves and nor is it what all many constitutions that were mentioned speak to.
Now, this point brings brings me to my two last and fundamental points here.
One point is about the necessity for having a normative structure.
That normative structure, for example, is the convention of human rights for the older persons and this is in the making.
But I'd like to say that it's really important to understand that right now, we still need a huge amount of advocacy, even assuming that this convention comes into being, it will still need a lot of voices for the song to become a chorus.
And that means that you need ratification, and that will take a lot of campaigning and understanding at an entirely different level.
I think that's something we should think about and we should begin already because it will be necessary for this convention, which is more than important to address the gaps to take effect.
The second aspect is that of caring.
There is a difference between infrastructure for care which is more easily understood, and the moral obligation of caring in a society.
Now, this will require intergenerational engagement.
The youth will need to be engaged so that they understand that they are on the beginning part of a journey and that their perspectives, if not incorporated and if not understood intergenerationally, will actually impact them negatively.
Partner, you need to conclude is very important.
There's an entirely intergenerational aspect to this which is linked very much to the moral obligation of caring, not just care.
I think those are my three messages.
Thank you very much of the convention, the difference between care infrastructure, which includes housing, et cetera, affordable, accessible, and caring, and the necessity to make sure that the intergenerational aspect is is emphasized and enhanced multifold so that corporations and all others are as well cognizant and incorporate.
Thank you very much to make this possible.
Thank you again.
Thank you very much, partner.
Let me give 1 minute statement to our honorable member of parliament and our honorable minister.
To conclude this roundtable.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, the participants for your discussions.
Our roundtable, I'm sure that our roundtable was very interesting.
What do older persons need? They need green energy, green environment.
They need clean environment, they need accessibility to transport, they need accessibility to social services.
I think that let's build together the future build cities for older persons, considering main priorities, considering green energy, renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart technologies, social protection, social justice, and let's build more inclusive a future for them, greener future for them.
I thank you and I wish success to all participants of our roundtable.
Thank you very much.
1 minute gentlemen to speak on my behalf.
Is he still in the hall? No, he's not in the hall.
He's not in the hall.
A quick one.
I think we've heard what he said.
What we need to do now is to actualize, practicalize, our ideas and get this thing done.
Thank you.
With the final remark to actually thank our organizers, which is a big applause to Claudia Scheffler and Katherine Klein, who really did a lot of work to have this roundtable.
I want to thank the authorities who stayed with us till the end, the panelists for their incredible contribution, and I think we have a lot of work to do and we hope to get the instruments, to get the, the policies in place and the examples that can be replicated elsewhere within the conditions that can be applied.
With that, have a good woof, and I hope to see you in another event.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.