Human Rights & Non-discrimination

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Understanding ageism

Ageism is a very widespread form of discrimination. 42 % of Europeans perceive discrimination due to old age (being over 55 years old) as “very” or “fairly” widespread in their country. 

Discriminating on the basis of age denies us our right to participate in society on an equal basis with others. For example, due to age limits we may find ourselves excluded from health treatment, insurance, banking products, training and social support, to name just a few. Ageist prejudices also drive other human violations, including poverty, neglect and abuse.

We all age differently and some of us face combined forms of inequalities based on our age but also gender, ethnic origin, disability, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and others.

Read more on our work on multiple discrimination in older age

  
Fighting for equal rights at all ages

We want to ensure that people, no matter their age, can live in dignity. We believe that ageism is equally wrong and harmful to other forms of discrimination. Human rights allow us to challenge the practices that keep us from living fairly and freely as equals when we are old.

We aim to change the laws and policies at national, European and international level to ensure they adequately prevent and address all forms of discrimination and rights violations in old age. We strive to increase awareness of how ageism affects our lives and our communities and advocate for policies to mainstream age equality.
  

We mainly work on…

We contribute to the following EU and global debates…

Useful links

Key AGE resources on human rights and non-discrimination

European Commission

United Nations

Council of Europe

Civil Society

EU research projects

AGE is involved in the EuroAgeism project, and hosts in that frame several young researcher who will evaluate how non-discrimination law influences the inclusion of older persons. You can learn more here.
  

Contact person

Nena Georgantzi, Policy Coordinator: nena.georgantzi@age-platform.eu

 

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The contents of the articles are the sole responsibility of AGE Platform Europe and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.