Memorandum of Understanding between the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) and the
Government of the Republic of Austria
signed on 23 January 2004
The UN Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE) will be involved in the
follow-up to the Berlin Ministerial Conference
on Ageing, in accordance with (a) the mandate
given to the United Nations regional commissions
by the Madrid International Plan of Action
on Ageing 2002 (MIPAA) to translate the Plan
into regional action plans and to assist upon
request, national institutions in implementation
and monitoring of their actions on ageing
(MIPAA, para 128); (b) the mandate given specifically
to the UNECE by the Regional Implementation
Strategy (RIS), which calls upon UNECE “to
assist member states upon request with implementing
the RIS and in their evaluation of the achievements
of the RIS at the national level” (para.
92); and (c) the decisions taken at the Economic
Commission for Europe’s 58th session.
This will be done in close collaboration with
UNECE member States, who have the primary
responsibility for the implementation and
follow-up of RIS, the civil society at large,
and in particular the relevant non-governmental
organizations, as well as with other concerned
actors, in order to mainstream ageing in an
integrated way into socio-economic policies,
and to represent the age-specific interests
of different age groups, including older persons,
so as to promote active ageing, the employability
of all persons wishing to work, sustainable
income and quality of life for all ages, prevent
age discrimination, and foster age diversity,
inter-generational equity and solidarity.
The follow-up work will
be performed in the spirit of the call in
paragraph 131 of MIPAA for systematic review
of the implementation of the Plan by the United
Nations Member States. It will be sensitive
to the wish of UNECE member States to avoid
heavy reporting burden, and to have a monitoring
process based on effective exchange of information,
experiences and best practices that avoids
simplistic comparisons.
In this context, the UNECE
Secretariat welcomes the initiative of the
Government of the Republic of Austria, represented
by the Federal Ministry of Social Security,
Generations and Consumer protection, to provide
technical support to the follow-up process.
This initiative was also welcomed by UNECE
Member States during the 58th Annual Session
of the UNECE. The initiative envisages a co-operative
arrangement with the Government of the Republic
of Austria, involving the European Centre
for Social Welfare Policy and Research, which
is a Vienna-based organization affiliated
with the United Nations.
As part of that initiative,
- a separate unit would be established
within the European Centre, with the consent
of its Board of Directors, the work programme
of which will be drawn-up in consultation
with a task force to be constituted for
that purpose, comprising independent recognized
experts in different sub-fields of ageing,
working for various governmental, non-governmental,
international, or other organizations,
as well as for the private sector and
employee associations. The members of
this task force will be identified in
consultation with the UNECE Secretariat
and the Government of the Republic of
Austria;
- to staff this unit, the European Centre
will be enabled by earmarked funds from
the Government of the Republic of Austria
to recruit at least two additional qualified
professionals with international experience.
For its part, the UNECE will make available
for the follow-up work staff and other
resources in accordance with its programme
of work, as approved by ECE Member States
in the context of the programme budget;
- the European Centre will also make
available its infrastructure to support
the follow-up work, provided that this
support is not detrimental to the fulfilment
of the Centre’s other responsibilities.
- this initiative is initially planned
within a time frame of five years of operation.
During the forth year of the initial five
year period, the UNECE together with all
stakeholders, including the Government
of the Republic of Austria, will evaluate
the status of the initiative and recommend
whether it should be renewed, extended
or scaled-back, or it should be phased-out;
- the European Centre will welcome contributions
(in terms of personnel, financial resources,
or in kind) from other donors to further
boost its capacity to work on the follow
up to the Berlin Ministerial Conference
on Ageing.
The role of the Centre and
its specialized unit will be:
- to promote, in collaboration with the
UNECE Secretariat, an exchange of experiences
in the field of policies related to ageing;
- to carry out and foster data collection,
research and analysis, including in collaboration
with other organizations (in particular
UN agencies such as WHO and ILO, ISSA,
the European Community, OECD), national
authorities, and other concerned bodies
and individuals;
- to maintain, in the context of the
above-mentioned data collection, research
and analysis work, a network of organizations,
national authorities, and other concerned
bodies and individuals, active in the
field of ageing;
Specifically, the Centre
and its specialized unit will perform the
following functions:
- identify, in collaboration with the
UNECE, the above-mentioned task force
and other concerned parties, the priority
issues which require more thorough analysis
as set forth in Commitment 10 of the Regional
Implementation Strategy;
- prepare, in collaboration with the
UNECE, a short annual report on implementation
measures within the region, based on the
data collected by the two institutions,
and furnish it to the UNECE Secretariat
for possible discussion at the Commission’s
annual sessions;
- offer support to the follow-up work
by developing and monitoring a set of
agreed-upon “indicators of achievement”;
- facilitate the collection of data and
exchange of information in the field of
ageing-related policies, specific laws
adopted, best practices introduced by
UNECE Member States and relevant activities
undertaken by NGOs.
As indicated earlier, the
follow-up work to be undertaken by the European
Centre will benefit from the advise of a task
force, all members of which will serve in
their personal capacity, and will offer their
services on a pro bono basis. They will be
called upon inter alia to offer guidance and
advice on the content and priorities of the
follow-up and in drawing the plans for future
work. Meetings of the task force will be called
as needed. The members of the task force will
normally be supported by their institutions
in terms of working time, travel and accommodations.
Signed on
in .
For the Government of the Republic of Austria:
For the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe: