In a message commemorating Sunday’s International Day of Older Persons, the UN chief underscored the pervasive issue of ageism in society and the vulnerability of older persons in the face of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty and climate emergencies.

“Addressing these and other issues is a human rights imperative that will benefit everyone,” he said.

Today’s youth, tomorrow’s older persons

The theme of this year’s International Day is “Fulfilling the Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for Older Persons: Across Generations.”

Studies show that number of people aged 65 years or older worldwide is projected to more than double – rising from 761 million in 2021 to 1.6 billion in 2050 – with the number of people aged 80 years or older growing even faster.

This further underscores the urgency of strengthening the protection of the human rights of current and future generations of older persons around the world.

Much to contribute

Mr. Guterres highlighted that older persons can make significant contributions in terms of their knowledge and experience, and have the potential to contribute to peace, sustainable development and the protection of the environment.

“We must ensure their active engagement, full participation, and essential contributions – including through social and workplace policies built around their specific needs,” he said.

He also emphasized the need for intergenerational dialogue and unity as vital components of building more inclusive and age-friendly societies and a resilient world for everyone.

Uphold human rights

Echoing Secretary-General’s call, Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, urged nations to uphold the human rights of older persons as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

“I call on Member States, the United Nations, National Human Rights Institutions, civil society and all relevant stakeholders to make the Universal Declaration a reality for all older persons,” she said.

While the UDHR encompasses the human rights of older persons, Ms. Mahler expressed concern that older individuals often remain invisible in international human rights law due to a lack of recognition of ageism and explicit prohibition of age-based discrimination.

“I encourage Member States to uphold and promote the universality and indivisibility of human rights in pledging for a future of human rights for all older persons, keeping in mind that the youth of today are the older persons of tomorrow.”

Independent experts

Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. They are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues, such as human rights of older persons, or country situations.

They serve in their individual capacity. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary.

“Costa Rican society does not teach us that there are indigenous people in this country,” she said. “It is a form of discrimination, making the existence of indigenous peoples invisible.”

Amid an alarming trend of spiraling hate speech and discrimination online platforms, Costa Rica, with UN support, has been designing Latin America’s first ever strategy to fight back, Poised to unveil the powerful tool by the end of 2023, the landmark strategy aims at laying the foundation for new national policies,

 “We must not let expressions of hate, violence, and discrimination become normalized in public and digital spaces,” Costa Rica’s Communication Minister Jorge Rodríguez explained when announcing the strategy’s unveiling. “Today, we recognize that decisive action is required from the State, but also from all social actors to address this great challenge.”

Targeted people are ‘scared’

Attempts to unravel the social fabric may be virtual, but the threats are real. An artificial intelligence (AI) driven UN study earlier this year detected more than 1.4 million messages and conversations related to hate and discrimination on Costa Rica’s social media platforms, a 255 per cent spike since 2021.

Allegra Baiocchi, the UN Resident Coordinator the country, said her team realized that most hate content targeted women, particularly those in leadership positions, LGBTQ issues, and migrants.

“When we started speaking to women and some of the people who had been targeted, they told us that they felt scared, scared to express their opinions,” she said.

After the UN urged immediate action, Costa Rica stepped up, laying the groundwork for a safe digital space for all, which can act as a replicable blueprint for fighting hate online around the world.

Multi-pronged approach

Aligned with the UN Secretary-General’s priorities to stamp out hate and led by a multidisciplinary expert team from the UN and the Government, the new strategy will provide solutions to stop these scourges from spreading online, from determining responsibilities, creating new monitoring, and identifying areas of action.

“With the launch of this process of creating a national strategy, we are taking a step in the right direction,” Ms. Baiocchi said.

Steps already taken include the recent launch of a guide to confront digital violence against women in politics. In the same vein, the Government established an observatory on hate speech with the University of Costa Rica, passed a law protecting women in politics, and forged a partnership with the Lawyers Committee Association, who studied laws on hate speech evolving around the world and produced a handbook for those affected.

“In Costa Rica, if you’ve been a victim of hate speech, you can go to this handbook and see what is already available for you to protect yourself,” said Ms. Baiocchi, highlighting other such ongoing initiatives as teaching debate in schools.

“Fundamentally, the message behind any work on hate speech and discrimination…is about being able to respect each other and coexist,” she said.

That approach is in line with UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ aim of crushing hate speech online and off. In response to trends of growing xenophobia, racism and intolerance, violent misogyny, antisemitism, and anti-Muslim hatred around the world, the Secretary-General launched the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech in 2019.

“If left unchecked,” he said, “hate speech can even harm peace and development, as it lays the ground for conflicts and tensions, wide scale human rights violations.”

Find out more about how the UN is helping Costa Ricans here.

Subscribe to our podcast series, UNiting Against Hate, here.

The latest report from the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia documents atrocities perpetrated “by all parties to the conflict” since 3 November 2020 – the start date of the armed conflict in Tigray –  including mass killings, rape, starvation, destruction of schools and medical facilities, forced displacement and arbitrary detention.

Commission Chair Mohamed Chande Othman said that violent confrontations were now “at a near-national scale” and highlighted “alarming” reports of violations against civilians in the Amhara region as well as on-going atrocities.

 “The situation in Oromia, Amhara and other parts of the country – including ongoing patterns of violations, entrenched impunity, and increasing securitization of the State – bear hallmarked risks of further atrocities and crimes,” he warned.

Amhara: ‘mass arbitrary detention’

In the Amhara region, where the Government announced a state of emergency last month, the Commission said that it was receiving reports of “mass arbitrary detention” of civilians and “at least one drone strike” carried out by the State.

Multiple urban centres in the region are under curfew, and a militarized “Command Post” system without civilian oversight has been deployed. The Commissioners said “such structures are often accompanied by serious violations”. 

“We are deeply alarmed by the deteriorating security situation in Amhara and the continued presence of risk factors for atrocity crimes,” they said.

Humanitarian needs in the region have surged. In early August WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the people of Amhara “could not bear another conflict”, emphasizing that almost two million required health assistance – a situation made even more complex by the influx of refugees from war-torn Sudan.

Tigray: intergenerational trauma

Turning to Tigray, Commissioner Radhika Coomaraswamy warned that rape and sexual violence against women and girls by Eritrean forces was “ongoing” in the region.

“The ongoing presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia is a clear sign not only of an entrenched policy of impunity, but also continued support for and tolerance of such violations by the Federal Government,” she said.

The Commissioner highlighted the trauma brought on by atrocities in Tigray, which is “likely to persist for generations”.

‘Flawed’ justice process

The Commissioners called for a “credible” process of truth, justice, reconciliation and healing, while pointing out the shortcomings of the consultation process initiated by Ethiopia’s Government.

Their report maintained that Ethiopia’s Government has “failed to effectively prevent or investigate violations” and has instead launched a “flawed” transitional justice process where victims “remain overlooked”.

The Commission

The International Commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in December 2021 to conduct an impartial investigation into violations committed in Ethiopia since the start of the conflict in Tigray in November 2020.

It is composed of three human rights experts appointed by the President of the Council, who are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. 

On Thursday, Hoang Thi Minh Hong, an acclaimed climate activist and former World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) employee, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $4,100 after being convicted for tax evasion.

Her trial lasted only three hours, and access to family and defence counsel were limited throughout her detention.

Moreover, the charges against her may have been politically motivated, according to independent human rights experts.

‘Wider crackdown’

She becomes the fifth of six environmental human rights defenders arrested since 2021, to be convicted.

“Four other environmental rights advocates have been prosecuted on similar charges and sentenced to up to five years imprisonment, in what seems to be a wider crackdown on environmental rights defenders and against civic space in Viet Nam,” Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said.

The charges levelled against the sixth person remaining have still not be made public.

‘A chilling effect’

The arrests need to be viewed in the light of Viet Nam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership, OHCHR said.

It is an international collaboration designed to support decarbonisation efforts in developing nations, and Viet Nam opened its Secretariat in July, according to news reports.

The office reiterated that to successfully achieve a just and sustainable transition to green energy, human rights defenders and environmental organizations must have the freedom to participate actively and without hinderances in shaping policies and decision-making.

“These prosecutions and the arbitrary application of restrictive legislation are having a chilling effect on the critically important work of environmental defenders, and that of other human rights defenders in Viet Nam,” Mr. Lawrence said.

Call for unconditional release

He called on the Government to refrain from using criminal charges to curtail the exercise of fundamental freedoms and to release unconditionally all those who have been detained in such cases.

“We also remind the authorities of their obligations under international law to respect the rule of law, the right to a fair trial, and ensuring judicial independence.”