International human rights law and the intangible face of ageism

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-09-2021-0220
• Published date: 05 January 2023
• Date: 05 January 2023
• Pages: 434-448
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity,equality,inclusion
• Author: Barbara Mikołajczyk

International human rights law

and the intangible face of ageism

Barbara Mikołajczyk

Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to show the potential of international human rights law to raise

awareness of the international community about ageism and its three aspects –old age discrimination,

stereotyping and prejudices against older persons. The author evaluates the ability of international human

rights law to encourage states to take action against these phenomena and looks for new solutions. The author

also intends to examine if there are international law instruments compelling states to reject stereotypes and

prejudices on older persons if there is no treaty devoted to them.

Design/methodology/approach –The author applies methods relevant to legal science. The core human

rights treaties, soft law documents and activities of human rights bodies are selected, analysed and interpreted.

Findings –The core human rights treaties require going beyond their literal interpretation to observe older

persons’rights. States should interpret them in good faith, relying on the ageing mainstreaming approach.

Instruction to states on how to do so lies in the soft law and output of the international human rights bodies.

However, there is also room for improvement. Therefore, the author proposes adopting a targeted resolution on

counteracting ageism and its components, updating positions by international treaty bodies, and involving

various human rights procedures and specialised agencies in the fight against intangible dimensions of ageism.

Originality/value –It is the first study analysing awareness about stereotyping and prejudices against older

persons from international human rights law. The author indicates untapped possibilities of the fight against

ageism and its intangible dimensions under international law.

Keywords Discrimination, Stereotypes, Ageism, Prejudices, Older persons, Human rights law

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

As the number of older persons worldwide continues to grow dynamically, they are

increasingly experiencing various types of exclusion, negligence, isolation, degrading

treatment, abuse and deprivation of a long list of their human rights. Regardless of where

they reside and the standard of living in their country, older adults are the most excluded

from mainstream society (Sacker et al., 2017;Walsh et al., 2017;Krekula et al., 2018;Dhalberg

and McKee, 2018). On the other hand, the scale of this phenomenon has not been fully

explored (Ayalon et al., 2019). Conscious or unconscious ageism (Levy and Banaji, 2002)

directed against persons in their old age usually lies at the roots of the “shrinking”of their

human rights. Just as racism or sexism leads to a violation of the dignity and rights of persons

of a different race or gender, so ageism has a similar effect.

Indeed,it is evident that agesegregation and ageismalso affect youngergenerations, but the

latest researchfrom the World Health Organization(WHO) has revealed thatone in two people

hold ageistattitudes towards older people(WHO, 2021 ).The coronavirus disease2019 (COVID-

19) pandemic has also revealed just how much older people are misrepresented and

undervalued in the public discourse on their problems, going some way to highlighting the

ageistattitude towards older personson social media. In addition,they are blamed for being the

reason for lockdowns and other restrictions (Fraser et al., 2020;Independent Expert,2021a,b,

p. 5). Under these circumstances, in May 2020,146 states signed a statement expressingtheir

EDI

42,3

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The paper has been prepared in the framework of Project no. 2018/31/B/HS5/00435 (OPUS 16) –“Social

and digital inclusion of older people as a special task for NGOs: a perspective of international human

rights law”–financed by the National Science Centre, Poland.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 2 September 2021

Revised 28 January 2022

Accepted 15 December 2022

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 42 No. 3, 2023

pp. 434-448

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-09-2021-0220