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Celebrating Older Human Rights Champions on International Day of Older Persons 2018

This year’s International Day of Older Persons on 1 October will celebrate the older people around the world who dedicate their lives to championing human rights. 2018 also marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).


Older human rights champions are as diverse as the societies in which they live: from older people advocating for human rights at the grass roots and community level to high profile figures on the international stage. Each and every one demands respect and acknowledgement for their dedication to advancing human rights.


The celebration of older human rights champions provides an ideal opportunity to raise the visibility of older people as active members of society committed to improving the enjoyment of human rights in many areas of life and not just those that affect them immediately, while also raising awareness of the ageism and age discrimination that older people face.


Join the celebration 

Follow us on social media to discover older human rights champions across the UNECE region that we will present over the next week, and participate in the social media celebration of the International Day of Older Persons by acknowledging an older human rights champion you admire.


How to participate?

Using the hashtags #IDOP2018, and #StandUp4HumanRights, let’s acknowledge, give visibility to and celebrate older persons who champion human rights around the world. 


This could be as simple as posting their picture with a short description of how they stand up for human rights and a link to further information on how they do it. 


Join the celebration, spread the word and encourage your networks to do the same in the build up to the International Day. We look forward to learning about and sharing (through tweets from @UNECE and @pu_unece) the diversity of ways in which older persons champion human rights around the world.





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