Press Conference at VIC on the International Expert Conference on Human Rights of Older Persons

VIENNA (12 November 2018) - UN human rights expert Rosa Kornfeld-Matte will hold a press conference on 14 November 2018 at 10:30 CEST, at the Vienna International Centre, to share her observations on the International Expert Conference on Human Rights of Older Persons held on 12 and 13 November in Vienna.

"The calls to improve the protection of the rights of older persons at international level are growing and I commend the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection for organizing this international conference," the UN Expert said.

The conference will discuss matters of technology and human rights for older persons with panels focusing on robotics and automation, and digitalisation and education. The objective is to reach a common understanding in those areas and to adopt a conference declaration. It is intended to serve as a discussion basis at the 10th Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, which was established by the General Assembly and considers, inter alia, the feasibility of further instruments and measures to strengthen the international framework of human rights of older persons.

About 100-150 national and international experts from individual member states of the United Nations, experts of the United Nations, representatives of domestic and foreign senior-citizens' organizations, will attend the conference as well as representatives from politics, public administration and the European Commission.

Ms. Kornfeld-Matte is the first Independent Expert tasked by the UN Human Rights Council with monitoring, reporting and advising on the promotion and protection of rights for the elderly.

The press conference will be held in Room C02 25 at the Vienna International Centre. Media representatives who wish to attend and who are not accredited to the VIC should write to press.vienna@un.org.

For further information and media requests, please contact Mr. Khaled Hassine
(+41(0)79-444 4355, khassine@ohchr.org) or Ms. Anne Thomas, Information Officer, UN Information Service Vienna (+43 1 260605588, anne.thomas@un.org).

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Ms. Rosa Kornfeld-Matte (Chile) was appointed by Human Rights Council as the first Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons in May 2014. Ms. Kornfeld-Matte served as the National Director of the Chilean National Service of Ageing where she designed and implemented the National Policy of Ageing. She has a long career as an academic and is the founder of the programme for older persons at the Pontificia Unversidad Católica de Chile. Learn more, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/IE/Pages/IEOlderPersons.aspx

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures' experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.