The International Day of Older Persons is annually marked on the 1^st of October on the basis of the UN General Assembly Resolution 45/106 adopted in 1990.

About one fifth of population in Georgia are older persons (60+), which refers to the need for the implementation of the state policy on aging.

Protection and promotion of the rights of older persons is one of the most important areas of activity of the Public Defender's Office of Georgia. A separate chapter is devoted to the rights situation of older persons in the annual parliamentary report, which reflects the results of various cases studied by the Public Defender’s Office and monitoring of specialized facilities for older persons (in Tbilisi and Kutaisi) and community organisations.

Along with the above, in order to share the best practices in the field of protection of the rights of older persons, the Public Defender's Office takes an active part in international activities and cooperates with theUN Open-ended Working GrouponAgeing, which aims to strengthen and promote the protection of the rights of older persons. In addition, at the invitation of the Public Defender, the United Nations independent expert visited Georgia in 2018 to assess the human rights situation of older persons. Following the visit, the Human Rights Council of the UN General Assembly prepared a report¹, which included recommendations for the Government of Georgia relating to the protection of human rights of older persons.

The findings of the Public Defender's Office indicate that the challenges faced by the country are not of individual nature, but are related to systemic problems, which include the absence of a national action plan²for the implementation of the concept of state policy on population aging in Georgia,³discrimination of older persons, violence, including domestic violence, lack of proper statistics in this area, severe socio-economic problems and living conditions, poverty and danger of homelessness, problem of access to physical environment, absence of a comprehensive long-term care strategy for older persons, inadequate social service, lack of targeted programs, insufficient measures taken by local authorities for the well-being of older persons, etc.

Unfortunately, the steps taken by the state do not meet the needs of older persons in the country and their problems remain almost unchanged from year to year. For the elimination of challenges, it is essential that the Government actualize the issue and gradually take specific steps for the implementation of tasks included in the state policy concept, which would ensure proper protection of human rights of older persons.

¹ Report is available at: https://bit.ly/2TLJmsS (last accessed: 25.09.2019).

²Resolution No. 5146-II of the Parliament of Georgia, May 27, 2016.

³The term of the National Action Plan 2017-2018 of the Concept of State Policy on Population Aging in Georgia, approved by Resolution No. 490 of 2 November 2017, has expired; no new national action plan has been approved.