S3 E2: #AgeWithRights Campaign: Call to ratify the Protocol on Older Persons

In conversation with Mr Isaac Mamatela, Ms Lydia Chibwe, Ms Ramatoulie Jallow and Ms Hilma Moses

This special episode of Africa Rights Talk features Mr Isaac Mamatela who is the Chairperson of Gauteng Old People’s Forum. Ms Lydia Chibwe is a Project Officer of the Women's Rights Unit from the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. Ms Ramoutoulie Jallow and Ms Hilma Moses are students of the LLM/MPhil programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa. They are assigned to the Women’s Rights Clinic which  contributes to the work of the Centre’s research units and gives the students practical experience and advance the Centre’s mission towards the realisation of human rights in Africa.

 

The aim of this conversation is to raise awareness to and increase ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa, also known the Protocol on Older Persons. Even though South Africa is among the African Union (AU) member states that adopted the Protocol on the Rights of the Older Persons on January 31, 2016, it has not yet signed or ratified the protocol. The Protocol's goal is to strengthen regional protection for older person's rights by providing an opportunity for older persons to enjoy their full rights and freedoms on an equal footing with other population groups. So far, 14 countries have signed the Protocol. These countries are Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Zambia. Only four states had ratified the Protocol as of April 2021: Benin, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Lesotho. The Protocol requires fifteen ratifications to enter into force and become helpful in advancing the rights of older people. Adopting the Older Person's Protocol is critical for strengthening legal safeguards for older people's rights and advocating for them. It will also supplement the South African government's policies and ensure national and regional remedies for violations of older people's rights.

In addition to this episode, the Disability Rights and Women's Rights Clinics at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, cordially invite you to an advocacy meeting on ratifying the African Disability Rights Protocol and the Older Persons Protocol. Click here to download the invitation 

This conversation was recorded on 11 May 2021.

Music: Inner Peace by Mike Chino https://soundcloud.com/mike-chinoCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/0nI6qJeqFcc