Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to address you at the opening
of the Ministerial Conference on Ageing, the first major regional intergovernmental
meeting after the Second World Assembly on Ageing. Our role is to take an important
step forward along the road to and beyond Madrid. Our key aim is to adopt the
two documents - the Berlin Ministerial Declaration: A Society for all Ages in
the UNECE Region and the Regional Implementation Strategy for the Madrid International
Plan of Action on Ageing 2002.
The world today is in the midst of a profound
demographic transformation which includes population growth and population ageing.
Population growth has been the defining feature of this transformation through
the twentieth century and a dominant trend for developing countries. Population
ageing will be the essential characteristic during the twenty?first century. Nevertheless
in a growing number of regions, particularly in some of the most developed ones,
it will be accompanied by population decline. In Europe, which has been at the
forefront of this transformation, many societies are expected to have by 2050
over one?third of the population age 60 and above, and less than one-fifth below
age 20.
The international community first took up the challenge of formulating
a universal response to ageing at the World Assembly on Ageing in Vienna in 1982.
The Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing was a visionary document: it
identified ageing as a challenge which, with the passage of time, only grew bigger,
spreading to all corners of the globe. It recommended a variety of sound policy
responses to meet that challenge. However, the Vienna Assembly was not followed
by a concerted implementation of the Plan. This should serve as a lesson to us
as we embark on this Conference.
Two decades later, the international community
met again, this time to reassess implications of ageing worldwide and draw up
a new international plan of action. With the Spanish Prime Minister in the chair,
the United Nations Secretary General as a speaker at the opening, and Heads of
State, Prime Ministers, Ministers and other high government officials representing
some 160 United Nations Member States, the Madrid Assembly was a major world event.
It elevated the issue of ageing to a high point on the global policy agenda. The
Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002 will enlighten actors in the
ageing policy field for years to come. Significantly for us, the Plan called on
the United Nations regional commissions to translate it into regional action plans.
Today,
only five months after Madrid, the member States of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe are ready to consider and adopt such a plan for the UNECE
region. The drafting of the Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS) has been completed
within the short space of time between Madrid and Berlin, truly a major accomplishment.
The
beginnings of the work on the RIS go back to early last year. As part of the first
phase of the work, the experts deliberated on three occasions, identifying key
challenges arising from ageing and making recommendations on requisite policy
responses. The results they arrived at along with the proposals of the UNECE secretariat
that complemented them became a basis for deliberations and negotiations among
representatives of the member States. The negotiations of the Strategy and the
accompanying Berlin Ministerial Declaration were by and large carried out within
a period of just over two months following Madrid.
The Open-Ended Working
Group faced a triple challenge. It had to ensure that the RIS is securely anchored
in the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002, that it further develops
the agreements contained in the Plan and that it fully takes into account the
realities of our region. The Group fully met the challenge: the RIS is a far-reaching
strategy which provides the member States with a comprehensive framework for implementing
the Plan at all levels, from local to national.
The RIS strikes the right
balance between the two competing approaches that came to the fore during the
negotiations - one that sought to place older persons at the heart of the document
and the other that strived to have society for all ages at its core. The proponents
of the alternative approaches argued their respective cases and, in the process,
crafted a masterly compromise. As a result, objectives and policy actions focusing
on older persons permeate the document, as do those that concern different groups
and society as a whole.
The overall approach of the Strategy is praiseworthy:
it is holistic, all-inclusive and multifaceted, just to mention a few of its attributes.
Its consequences are many qualities of the document, which can be illustrated
by the following points the document makes. Ageing is perceived as one but most
important aspect of the complex demographic changes. These changes pose far-reaching
challenges to our societies, but also offer many opportunities. To respond to
them, it is essential to mainstream ageing into various policy fields. Policies
for different sectors, systems and groups, ought to be comprehensive, well coordinated
and mutually supportive. The challenge is for society as a whole to adapt to the
changes.
Moreover, as the numbers and proportions of older persons continue
to rise, the Strategy rightly places ample emphasis on this group. Older persons
are recognised as a valuable resource, who make essential contributions to families,
communities and societies. Enabling them to continue to participate fully in all
aspects of life, including work, is of special importance. Safeguarding rights
and fundamental freedoms of older persons and other groups is of the highest priority.
Equally important are the elimination of all forms of discrimination and the combating
of all types of neglect, abuse and violence against them and other members of
society.
Both the format of the RIS and the arrangement of the material
within the document proved of great importance to the Open-Ended Working Group.
The Group identified ten commitments as the principal building blocks of the Strategy.
They suggest the depth and breath of the RIS. Their placement within the document
signifies the importance the member States attached to the various commitments.
The commitments on the mainstreaming of ageing into various policy fields and
on full integration and participation of older persons in society were deliberately
placed at the top of the list. The commitments on economic growth, social protection
systems and labour markets, originally leading the list, were moved to the third
to fifth positions. The rest of the commitments stayed where they were originally
placed.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As a former Finance Minister, I could
not resist looking at the RIS from the point of view of an economist. Possibly
due to this bias, I could not but appreciate the fact that the Strategy conveys
an extremely important message, namely that economic fundamentals of our ageing
societies must be sound if we are to successfully respond to demographic changes.
Environmentally and socially sustainable economic growth, as discussed recently
in Johannesburg (WSSD) is a prerequisite for a successful adaptation of our societies
to ageing. Only if sustainable development is achieved at a sufficiently rapid
pace can we expect our governments and other actors in the ageing field to adequately
respond to the challenge.
As a professional woman, I also note the attention
that the Strategy accords gender issues. The message that the RIS communicates
on this score is commendable: gender equality will be an increasingly important
aim in our ageing societies. It should be pursued for its own sake, but also in
order to enable women and men to more easily combine their family and work roles,
in particular care giving, unpaid work and employment. It will be a key prerequisite
for women to fully participate in society, economy and the labour market and to
fully share in the benefits these offer, including social protection and social
security benefits.
And finally, due to my origins, I welcome paragraphs
6 to 7 of the Ministerial Declaration in which awareness of social and economic
differences in the region is underlined and it is agreed that assistance should
be enhanced to countries with economies in transition which are less equipped
to face the challenges of population ageing.
I wish to single out one more
salient message of the Strategy, the one that stresses the importance of embracing
and implementing a new approach to the individual's life course. The traditional
ordering of education, work and retirement is no longer sustainable in our ageing
societies. Education should be a life-long experience, ensuring that our knowledge
and skills are continually upgraded as we age; this would guarantee our employability
into old age. Similarly, our employers should allow for breaks enabling us, among
other things, to care for our young and old and to pursue whatever other interests
we may have. This would require that retirement be deferred to a more advanced
age, permitting us to remain integrated and active much longer than is now the
case. This new life course approach, which will require adaptations at both individual
and societal levels, would also presuppose efforts on the part of the individual
and society to promote and maintain health and well-being throughout life, enabling
independent living in old age.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The contributions
of the Madrid Assembly and the Berlin Conference will be judged not so much by
the quality of the documents they adopted, but by the improvements which the implementation
of these documents on the ground will bring to the daily lives of ordinary people.
I cannot, therefore, stress enough the importance of the implementation of the
Plan and the Strategy. I salute the UNECE member States for concluding the Berlin
Ministerial Declaration by the following words: "We are convinced that putting
into effect the Regional Implementation Strategy is the best way of implementing
the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002 in the UNECE region and,
therefore, we will spare no effort at achieving this objective."
The
RIS sets out a number of sound principals for implementation. It states, inter
alia, that the UNECE member States have the primary responsibility for the implementation
and follow-up of the Strategy. The follow-up should focus on strengthening cooperation
among UNECE member States in the field of ageing. It will be pursued by the member
States at the national level and within the existing framework of meetings of
the UNECE. The document recalls that the Commission for Social Development is
responsible for the global follow-up and appraisal of the Plan. In view of this,
the RIS emphasises the need for its follow-up to be consistent with the procedures
and timing of the global monitoring and review to be decided upon by this Commission.
These and other elements of the RIS commitment on the promotion of the implementation
and the follow-up of the Strategy have been agreed upon through lengthy and, at
times, difficult negotiations. However, differences in positions of the member
States contributed to some degree of ambivalence and inconsistency in the text
of this particular commitment that pertain to the role of the UNECE secretariat
in the follow-up and to resources in support of the secretariat's follow-up activities.
Thus, the Strategy stipulates that the UNECE secretariat's follow-up activities
must be financed within existing resources only to indicate a moment later that
the Economic and Social Council could consider strengthening the capacity of UNECE.
In spite of these weaknesses, this commitment provides a viable framework for
the promotion of the implementation and follow-up of the Strategy through regional
cooperation. The UNECE secretariat stands ready to work closely with the member
States within this framework and to make a contribution to the follow-up to Berlin.
We also look forward to collaborating with all other partners who have stakes
in implementing the Strategy. Noted among these are non-governmental organizations
and other civil-society actors, including trade unions, as well as employers associations
and other private-sector partners. Here I also include institutions and organizations,
and among them United Nations agencies, particularly those active in the areas
of statistics, indicators, research and training in the population field.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Before concluding, I would like to address the Chair of the
Conference. Dr. Bergmann. Since assuming the office of UNECE Executive Secretary
earlier this year, I have followed with great interest the preparations for the
Conference. During this period of intense activities, your Ministry and my organization
have closely collaborated in a most efficient manner to make the Conference a
success. At the same time the Open-Ended Working Group has carried out much of
its important task under the leadership of its able Chair, a member of your staff.
To crown these efforts, your Government has made it possible for the member States
to meet in this most agreeable setting. Please accept, Madam Minister, my warm
thanks for the contributions of your Ministry and the Government of Germany to
this Conference.
I wish you all a most productive conference. Thank you.
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ECE/GEN/02/23