This webinar was held on 25 February from 14 to 16:16 CET and was aimed at equality body staff responsible for working on age discrimination. It provided tools to engage more effectively with the UN system, with a focus on the UN OEWGA.
The UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing (UN OEWGA) was established by the UN General Assembly in 2010. Every year the UN OEWGA brings together Member States, NHRIs, NGOs and UN agencies to consider the existing international framework of the human rights of older persons, identify possible gaps in law and in practice, and how best to address them. The principle of non-discrimination is at the heart of these discussions.
Equality bodies have a crucial role to play in bringing forward their experience in tackling Ageism and Discrimination. Through their various competences and unique insights into the state of equality and discrimination, their ability to develop an intersectional approach to ageism, as well as the main issues and gaps in legislation and the jurisprudence, equality bodies can be particularly valuable to the UN OEWGA.
Purpose
To highlight the relevance of equality bodies in the context of the UN OEWGA, in 2019, together with the European Commission, Age Platform Europe, HelpAge International and the World Health Organisation, Equinet co-organised a side-event at the 10th session of the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing. The side event served to take stock and sketch the way towards a new paradigm of older age 50 years after the first conceptualisation of ageism, while also providing existing evidence of equality bodies’ fighting ageism across Europe, as identified in the Equinet Report from 2018 ‘Fighting Discrimination on the Ground of Age’.
Building upon this previous engagement, Equinet seeks to continue building the capacity of its members to effectively contribute to the work of the UN on ageing. According to this purpose, Equinet organised this webinar to provide Equinet members with the tools to engage more effectively with the UN system, with a focus on the UN OEWGA.
Objectives
The primary objective of this capacity-building webinar was to provide equality bodies with the tools and knowledge necessary to get involved in the work of the UN on ageing. This webinar has the specific aimed to:
- Enable equality bodies to engage with the UN OEWGA, where appropriate, and increase their impact on the promotion of age equality and non-discrimination;
- Help bring more visibility to equality bodies in the United Nations system and foster better cooperation between equality bodies and UN experts and bodies
Format
The webinar featured presentations, Q&A sessions and an exchange of best practices from national equality bodies. The programme combined:
- Introductory knowledge on the work of UN on age
- Focus on the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing and the UN Human Rights Council