Global Action on Aging
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Global Action on Aging (GAA), based in New York at the United Nations, reports on older people's needs and potential within the global economy. Its mission states the organization "advocates by, with and for older persons worldwide."
Basic Facts
Global Action on Aging, a non-profit organization with special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, was founded in 1994 by Susanne Paul.
GAA carries out research on critical emerging topics and publishes the results on its website [1]. GAA staff and interns research aging policy and programs, both in the US and worldwide: income support [2], health access [3], and human rights [4]. Interns post their research daily to our website, [5], one of the largest in the aging field, with a monthly average of over 1.5 million hits.
GAA posts materials in all six UN official languages: Arabic [6] Chinese [7] English, French [8], Russian [9] and Spanish [10]. It monitors UN activities on aging through the "Aging Watch at the UN" web-section and documents the situation of older persons caught in armed conflict.
Global Action on Aging advocates at the United Nations (UN) in New York to build a better society for older people across the globe. Older persons’ numbers are increasing rapidly. One out of every ten persons is now 60 years or above; by 2050, one out of five will be 60 years or older. UN Member States see this growth among the elderly as a tremendous economic and social challenge for their countries and the world.[citation needed]
In April 2002, delegates of 160 governments, intergovernmental institutions and NGOs came together at the United Nations Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid, Spain [11], in order to revise the 1982 Vienna Plan on Ageing [12] which had established a global long-term strategy for the aging population.
However, this MIPAadocument is non-binding and UN Member States may choose to implement the Plan or not. Many millions of vulnerable old people, in both the developed and developing world, still experience abuse, poverty and social exclusion today. The rights of older people need to be better defined and protected. Global Action on Aging believes that an Aging Human Rights Convention (or Treaty), if adopted, promises a better world for older persons.
The Aging Watch section monitors reports and decisions of the UN system, with regard to the follow-up of MIPAA and the process toward the adoption of a UN Convention protecting the rights of older persons.
Staff
President: Susanne S. Paul, formerly chaired the Non-Governmental Organizations on Ageing Committee at the UN. Author of many publications including a book titled, Humanity Comes of Age, she writes and speaks widely about challenges to older persons worldwide.
