FOCUS

Focus
Asia-PacificNewsletter of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA)

June 2024 Vol. 116

Contents

Editorial

Assessment of the Status of Older Women in
Sri Lanka
This is a presentation of research findingson the plight of the elderly women in Sri
Lanka.

Longer Life, Prolonged Suffering?

- Centre for Social Concerns
Page 2The Elderly in Central Asia
This is a discussion of the impact of
migration of working age people in Central
Asia on the elderly who survive on statepension and support from their children.
- Kanat Makhanov
Page 5Ageism in Southeast Asia
This is a discussion on the problem ofageism affecting the elderly population inSoutheast Asia.
- Kanwaljit Soin
Page 8
New Educational Programs of the Human
Rights Commission in IranThis is a brief presentation of the humanrights education activities of the IranianIslamic Human Rights Commission during
the 2023-2024 period.
- Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission
Page 12

As the number of old members of society increases, the questionof quality of life for the elderly arises. Will they be able to enjoy
a standard of living that is adequate for their health and wellbeing?
Can the elderly rely on their own families for support? Are there
appropriate social environment, facilities and opportunities that
address their needs? Can the state sufficiently support theelderly?
Is it possible for the elderly to live with a degree of
independence while staying with their children or relatives?
Unless support for the elderly is secured and sustained, longer
life may mean prolonged suffering particularly for those whohave been living in disadvantaged situation for much of their life
due to gender and other factors.
Shifting the perspective from retirement to continued
engagement of the aged in whatever appropriate programs andactivities would help make them live well.
Our elderly deserve a life of dignity and worth.

1

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JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116

Assessment of the Status of Older Women in Sri Lanka*
Centre for Social ConcernsSri Lanka’s population hasmean age of 33.95 years.1
The female life expectancy in Sri
Lanka is 80.4 years, while themale life expectancy is 73.8.2
Women have almost sevenyears of added life comparedwith that of men. Since
patriarchal practice dictates thata woman should be younger
than the men at the time of
marriage, most women arebound to outlive their spouse by
several years in singlehood. Life
expectancy is around 21.1 years
at 60 years. The newly reduced
retirement age to 60 years from65 years due to the economiccrisis forces the older
population to a life of inactivity
for around twenty years or
more. Instead of expanding theemployability of the population,
reducing the retirement age in a
population heading towards a
dependency crisis on theworking population is ironic.
Research Project
The Centre for Social Concerns(CSC) undertook an assessment
in 2022 of one hundred ninetynine older women and fifty-two
older men in ten different
districts covering the rural,
urban, plantation, fishing, andagriculture and informal sector
communities. Given theq u a l i t a t iv e n a t u r e o f t h eassessment, the sample ofrespondents provides a fair viewof the older population in Sri
Lanka particularly of them a r g i n a l i z e d g r o u p s . Th eover-60 category is not ahomogenous group. They are
dependent on their activenessvs. ill-health, mobility vs.
immobility, family support vs.
the lonely, poverty, ethnic andcultural dimensions innate to
the different cohorts. These aresome of the determinant factorsof quality of life in old age.
Main Findings
Sri Lanka, ranked 76th on the
Human Development Index, hasoutperformed countries at asimilar level of development.
However, increasing numbers ofelderly in a population creates
challenges as well as
opportunities. Sri Lanka's age
d e p e n d e n cy ra t i o f o r t h edependent population was: 46.3
percent reported in 2019. A
higher ratio indicates morefinancial stress on the working
population.
Th e M i n i s t r y o f S o c i a l
Empowerment and Welfare ismandated to hold direct
responsibility for the older
persons to provide peoplefriendly – social and economic
services to marginalized anddisadvantaged people: Poor,
Elderly, Disabled, and Single
Parents. With a feminization of
the population, especially in theupper age group, theConvention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination
A g a i n s t Wo m e n ( C E DAW )Committee highlights that the2

discrimination that older
women experience is often aresult of unfair resource
allocation, maltreatment,
neglect, and limited access toessential services.
Article No. 8 of the United
Nations
GeneralRecommendations No. 27 on
older women and the protectionof their human rights states thatolder women are not ahomogeneous group. They havea great diversity of experience,
knowledge, ability, and skills.3
Article15oftheRecommendations provides thatthe full development andadvancement of women cannot
be achieved without taking alife cycle approach. It will help
to recognize and address thediscrimination at different stagesof women’s lives throughchildhood, adolescence,
adulthood, and old age and its
impact on the enjoyment of
human rights by older women.
Therefore, the crucial role of the
Ministry of Women, Child
Affairs and Social Empowerment
is underscored in meeting the
CEDAWCommittee
recommendations.
Sri Lanka considers 60 years as
the age of retirement. However,
the assessment shows that 60
percent of women and 69
percent of men in all age groups
over 60 are economically active
and that 36 percent of even 80plus women support theirchildren and grandchildren,

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
even though their income islow. 50 percent of the older
women receive family support
for their livelihood-related
activities contributing positivelyt o wa r d s i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l
support and interdependence.
Men are more visible in
leadership roles within thefamily, neighborhood, andcommunity. Over 50 percent of
women also play leadershipwithin the families, neighbors,and in the communities.
Women’s leadership during
emergencies is mainly based on
traditional knowledge andpractices, whereas men
intervene to resolve conflicts ortransport the injured/sick for
hospitalization. The women of
the respondent group belong toan era where government andnon-governmental interventions
promoted leadership among
women, making them more
visible in the leadership ofCommunity
Based
Organizations (CBOs). Between
women and men, women tend
to save their earnings and thegovernment dole in banks, athome, or, a small percentage
with others.
The key ailments of older
persons are non-communicablediseases such as hypertension,arthritis, cataract, diabetes, andd e n t a l i s s u e s . Th e r e a r e ,however, district disparities inthe severity of the ailments. For
instance, older persons in
Colombo indicate a highincidence of hypertension andarthritis, whereas in Nuwara
Eliya, the same diseases arerecorded as much less.
However, it is also noted that
there is a vast difference in theability to access health services
in the mentioned districts.

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116
The most visible disabilities
among older persons are poor
vision, poor hearing, stroke, anddental issues. A smaller numberof females and males suffer fromincontinence, and it is one of
the areas that affect the qualityof life of older persons that isoverlooked. Older adults faceabuse and violence such as
scolding and threatening of
being beaten, deprivation offood and medication. Some
respondents indicated thatsexual abuse of older women
does happen in theirneighborhood.
More women are recipients ofgovernment doles such as
S a m u r d i ( Th e S r i L a n k a
G o v e r n m e n t ’s P o v e r t yAlleviation Programme) (51.5
percent), public assistance (9.4
percent), and elders’ allowances(25.8 percent).
Gender is one of the key
determinant factors that shape
the current status of older
women. It directly affects
prolonged periods of singlehoodamong women, as men have ashorter life expectancy.
C e r t a i n c u l t u ra l p ra c t i c e s
oppress women particularly the
dowry system compelling old
parents to give their house as
dowry to the daughters. Earlytransfer of assets forces oldparents to live with children’s
families although some live withchildren by choice, many are
not happy. They are expected toengage in reproductive roles
across generations without achoice that even curtail theirleisure time or neglect theirhealth. Critical discussion witholder persons would be required
to infuse strategic options likeencouraging all children

3

planning to marry to invest on
housing, and sparing the elderly
from having to give up theirhouses where they live.
Most women sacrifice theireducation, being married at a
relatively young age, and being
forced especially into unpaid
reproductive roles that has kept
them away from gainful
employment. It has prevented
women from earning to be morefinancially independent.
Resulting from the above,
women remain poorer than men
with little or no access tolivelihood and holding assets. In
the transfer of assets from theirhusbands or within the family,
women have been unfairly
treated. One of the reasons
women are forced to live with
their daughters in somecommunities is that the mothers
are trapped in giving dowry totheir daughters, resulting inthem becoming homeless. The
women are also socialized into
selfless giving by prioritizing theneeds of others, and this, in oldage, make them moredisadvantaged. Despite theseodds, out of necessity, women
still engage in some livelihood
mostly around the house. Often,
such meagre earnings again go
back to maintain the families of
their offspring.
Wo m e n c o n t i n u e t o p l ay
voluntary roles within thecommunities. However, due tointerventions of bothgovernment and nongovernmental organizations
their leadership seems moremeaningful and is engaged in
the transformation for change.
The National Secretariat for
Elders in Sri Lanka is mandated
to ensure the rights of older

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
people based on the United
Nations Principles and the
Madrid International Plan of
Action on Ageing (MIPAA).4 It is
the responsibility of theSecretariat to, together with the
Ministry of Health, and theMinistry on Women Affairs,
share their National Plan of
Action with the District andDivisional Secretariats andallocate sufficient funds tointervene in the issues of older
persons. This includes
community-based mobile
programs to address issues ofolder women for which they
have limited access.
Stringent policies, civic society
and private sector interventions
are required to make the older
population active andproductive and even change theperspective of the “dependent
population” through a lifecourse approach to intervention.
Women’s rights organizations(WROs) have a strong role toplay to ensure that the CEDAWConvention General
Recommendations on Older
Women are followed andespecially advocated with the
Ministry of Women, Child
Affairs and Social Empowerment
to address the issues of older
wo m e n . A l l W R O s wh i chparticipated in the assessment
expressed the importance ofaddressing the issues of older
women through their projects
and programs.
Conclusion
Sri Lanka is becoming a country
with the oldest people in theSouth Asian region. It is also
one of the fastest ageing
countries in the world, with alarger proportion of womeno v e r 6 0 . Th e r e f o r e , i t i s

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116
appropriate to perceive Sri
Lanka with a higher proportionof women’s population over 60
facing feminization of the older
population.
While analyzing the data, oneof the key questions that
surfaced was whether thequantity in years added to life
has added quality to life of Sri
Lanka’s older women and men.
Th e a s s e s s m e n t c l e a r l yhighlights the precipitating
factors of structural inequality
being more sharply reflected in
the end of their lives. With
longevity, if corrective actions
are not taken at the appropriate
time, the suffering can belengthened for many years.
The life-course approach further
elaborates how the life-long
discrimination has madewomen subordinate to men
through the acculturation into
“unpaid gender roles” that havemade most older women poorand subservient. The women,
more than men, also were notsent to school but were kept athome to look after siblings andengage in other householdchores. The denial of education
has resulted in poor
opportunities to engage in a
substantial livelihood andholding at least some means of
independent living.
The Centre for Social Concerns
is an organization registered as a
not-for-profit company with avision of a society that hasrealized the human potential toharness justice, peace andhumaneness. It engages inadvocacy on behalf and with
marginalized groups withspecial commitment to the4elderly who are one of the mostneglected groups in Sri Lanka.
For more information, pleasecontact: Centre for Social
Concerns 228, Walauwatte,
Batagama North, Sri Lanka,
phone:+94-11-2240078; e-mail:centreforsocialconcerns@gmail.
com.
* This article is an edited excerptof the report of the same title
prepared by the Centre forSocial Concerns.

Endnotes
1 Sri Lanka Population aged 60+
years, 1950-2021, https://knoema.com/atlas/Sri-Lanka/t o p i c s / D e m o g ra p h i c s / A g e /Population-aged-60-years.
2 Sri Lanka Population aged 60+
years, 1950-2021, ibid.
3 CEDAW/C/GC/27, 16
December 2010, https://
daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/
Get?OpenAgent&DS=CEDAW/
C/GC/27&Lang=E.
4 Political Declaration andMadrid International Plan of
Action on Ageing (MIPAA),
Second World Assembly on
Ageing, Madrid. Spain, 8-12
April 2002, is available atw w w. u n . o r g / e s a / s o c d e v /d o c u m e n t s / a g e i n g / M I PA A /political-declarationlivepage.apple.co.jpen.pdf.

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JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116

The Elderly in Central Asia
Kanat MakhanovC

entral Asia, comprised of
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, andUzbekistan, is currently home
to about seventy-five million
people, with about 12 percentof the population being elderly.
Over the past two decades, theregion has faced significant
economic challenges
exacerbated by widespreadlabor migration. This migration
has introduced further socioe c o n o m i c d i f fi c u l t i e s ,particularly impacting theelderly population who areoften left behind and deprivedof essential support systems.
There are different thresholds
and internationally accepted
standards of age at which people
start to be considered elderly,
typically ranging from 60 to 65.
However, when considering thesocio-economic context, themost relevant age threshold for
defining people as elderly is theage beyond retirement, which
varies from country to country inCentral Asia. For men, the lowest

retirement age is in Turkmenistan(62 years), and the highest is in
Uzbekistan (65 years). For
women, the lowest retirement
age is in Turkmenistan (57 years),
and the highest is in Kazakhstan(61 years), according to current
legislation.
As of 2024, the combined
population aged 60 and abovein the five Central Asian states isabout nine million (UN DESA,
2024), and around 8.9 millionof them are registered as
pensioners entitled to pensionb e n e fi t s f r o m t h e s t a t e(Ministries of Social Protectionof Central Asian states, 2024).
Despite the small number ofpensioners relative to the total
population, the economic wellbeing of the elderly in theregion remains highly
concerning due to low amountof pension and high inflation
rates over the past several years.
For instance, the averagepension in Tajikistan in 2024 isaround 400 somoni(approximately 37.30 US

dollars), the lowest among all
former Soviet states. Other
countries in the region, such as
Uzbekistan with an averagepension of 86.80 US dollars andKyrgyzstan with an averagepension of 107.10 US dollars,
have the second and third
lowest pension rates in theentire post-Soviet space(Ministries of Social Protectionof Central Asian states, 2024).
These low pension rates imply
that a significant share of theelderly population in thesecountries is exposed toconditions of poverty andextreme poverty. It should be
admitted that the governmentsof these countries were rather
active in raising the social
benefits and pensions in recent
years. However, given the highinflation rates that have hit theregion over the past several
years, the socio-economic wellbeing of the elderly in Central
Asian countries has become
increasingly challenging inrecent times. On the other

Table 1. Number of pensioners and average level of pension benefits in countries of Central Asia in 2024
measured in current US dollars
Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Tajikistan

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

Average pension (USD)

295.2

107.1

37.3

201.3

86.8

Minimal pension (USD)

128.8

79.0

23.3

143.1

51.1

Number of pensioners(thousand people)

2,354.0

762.0

796.1

524.3

4,470.0

Source: Data sourced from the Ministries of Labor and Social Security of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

5

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
hand, the degree of exposure of
the elderly to poverty is not
uniform across the region.
Kazakhstan has relatively decent
pension levels compared to theother countries in the region.
Tu r k m e n i s t a n a l s o h a s
somewhat higher pensions
according to official statistics;
however, the accuracy of thesestatistics from this highly
isolationist country isquestionable.
Labor Migration and the Elderly
As it has been for many years,
the labor migration of youth andthe high dependency of someCentral Asian states on
remittances constitute acomplex issue affecting various
aspects of life in these countries.
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, andKyrgyzstan are particularly
dependent on remittances. For
instance, before the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, remittancesfrom labor migrants made up
about 10 percent of
Uzbekistan's Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) and 30 percent
of Kyrgyzstan's and Tajikistan's
GDP (ADB, 2023). This patternis less prevalent in Kazakhstan
a n d Tu r k m e n i s t a n . I n
Kazakhstan, the relatively higher
income levels reduce the needfor labor migration, while in
Turkmenistan, strict restrictions
on travel abroad limit the
movement of its workforce
abroad. The remittances sent toUzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan andTajikistan from incomes earned
abroad play a crucial role in theeconomies of these countries,
including alleviating poverty
among the elderly. The realeffect of the remittances on
elderly welfare in thesecountries is hardly quantifiable,
as remittances are often

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116
transferred through informal
channels and redistributed
within households.
It is commonly believed that thealtruism motive prevails in
sending remittances in which
migrant workers send money
back to their home country
primarily out of concern andcare for their family members
and relatives. This concept isbased on multiple observations
wh e n r e m i t t a n c e s i n fl ow s
increase with age dependency
ratio (number of dependents
aged 0 to 14 and over 65,
compared to the total
population aged 15 to 64),
consistent with the altruism
motive such as supportingchildren and elderly. However,in the case of some of theCentral Asian countries, thefinal effect of remittances might
appear somewhat debatableespecially in recent periods.
Despite the fact that regionswith the poorest economies andhighest unemployment rates are
the primary sources of migrant
workers (Cabar.asia, 2021), theoverall effect of remittances on
alleviating poverty in Central
Asia may be very limited in thelong run. One possible reason isthat labor migrants come fromfamilies that are not at theextreme end of poverty, andthus long-term labor migration
may not benefit the poorest
section of the population.
Moreover, most migrant workers
prefer to resettle permanently in
Russia after years of labor
migration, which does not leadto the eradication of the root
causes of poverty (Nawaz
Kayani, 2022). This can lead tofurther stratification between
rich and poor households,
impacting the elderly

6

population, as they often cannot
rely on state pensions anddepend on the younger
generation for support.
Extended periods of laborm i g r a t i o n h av e p r o m p t e dworkers to settle permanently in
Russia rather than move backand forth (Nawaz Kayani, 2022).
For instance, since 2016, over
800,000 citizens of Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan
have received Russian passports,
the vast majority of whom are
migrant workers living in Russia(Russian Ministry of Internal
Affairs, 2024). The number ofholders of Russian passports
from these countries has been
rapidly rising over the past
several years, up until 2023.
Understanding the effects ofthese trends on the elderly inthese countries is challenging
and requires extensive research.
However, acquiring a Russian
passport usually implies thatworking-age migrants resettle inRussia along with their family
members, which negatively
affects the elderly. Unlike theyounger generation, elderly
people are usually reluctant tomove to another country due tohealth issues, inability to receive
their state pension abroad,social bonds, climate, and otherfactors. However, staying intheir home country weakens
social bonds with their children
and grandchildren living abroadand causing socio-emotional
stress.
One of the risks stemming frommassive labor migration fromc o u n t r i e s l i k e Ta j i k i s t a n ,Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan isthat it is primarily concentrated
in Russia. It should be admitted
though that precise and reliable
statistics on the number ofFOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
migrant workers in Russia arelacking. According to United
Nations (UN) estimates from2019, there are probably morethan eleven million labor
migrants in Russia, the majority
from former Soviet Central Asian
countries (UN, 2019). Around63 percent of all labor migrants
from Central Asia worked in
Russia in 2020 (UN DESA,
2020). Since the full-scaleinvasion of Ukraine by Russia in
February 2022, subsequentinternational sanctions andeconomic hardships might havedecreased remittances,
negatively impacting the wellbeing of the elderly in Central
A s i a . Tra ck i n g r e m i t t a n c e
dynamics is difficult as much of
it is not reflected in statistics.
However, recent estimatessuggest that the deceleration of
the Russian economy might
have heterogeneous effects on
remittances sent to Central
Asian countries (ADB, 2023),
with serious downturns in some
sectors and growth in others.
Generally, it can be said that thewelfare of elderly people inCentral Asia remains dependent
on remittances from Russia to acertain extent.

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116
traditional bonds, often affecting
the elderly the most. With theirchildren working thousands ofkilometers away from home, theelderly gradually lose theiremotional and sociopsychological connection withthem, resulting in a loss of the
traditional privileged position
they used to enjoy within thesocial structure. In many cases,
labor migration weakens thebonds between parents working
abroad and their children left intheir home country. When thechildren of migrant workers
remain in their home country,
they are usually left in the careof their elderly grandparents.
Consequently, the elderly
grandparents become the ones
who bridge the generational
gap. Raising grandchildren isquite challenging for the elderlyboth physically andpsychologically (Ablezova et al.,2008). This profound shift
highlights the multifaceted
impact of labor migration,
which not only affects
economic stability but alsoerodes the traditional social
fabric and intergenerational
relationships in Central Asiansocieties.

Impact of Labor Migrations i g n i fi c a n t p o p u l a t i o noutmigration becomes highly
imbalanced in terms of genderand age structure, further
deteriorating local economies
and social life. Moreover,national economic policies inCentral Asian states sometimes
exacerbate regional inequalities,
leading to additionaloutmigration. For instance, thepropiska (obligatory residence
permit) registration policy in
Uzbekistan, inherited from the
USSR system, prohibits
migration to urban centers,
forcing people to live and workin their native regions. This
policy severely restricts internalmigration, prompting people
from areas with highu n e m p l oy m e n t t o m i g ra t eabroad in search of jobs, often
resulting in the massive
migration of essential highskilled specialists as well. For
example, large-scale migrationof medical specialists has been
observed in many areas of
Tajikistan due to low wages(Vasilyevich and Khasanovich,2024). This led to a noticeable
deterioration of the country’s
healthcare system, which has
had the greatest impact on theelderly population, who require
medical care the most.

The significant outmigration ofyouth and the working-age
population from Central Asian
countries produces a complex
array of changes that, over time,
tend to deteriorate the lives ofthe elderly population. As
m e n t i o n e d e a r l i e r, t h eoutmigration of the working-age
population from Central Asianstates can be estimated inmillions, leading to noticeablechanges in regional
demographics. As a result, theage structure in some areas with

Although labor migration fromCentral Asian countries is often
a means of economic survival,
this process frequently has aclear negative effect on the
traditional social organization inthese countries. The populationof Central Asian countries,e s p e c i a l l y i n r u ra l a r e a s ,typically comprises traditionalsocieties where the elderly playa key role in decision-making.
The departure of youth fromthese complex networks of
personal relationships disrupts

With more than two decades ofactive labor migration fromCentral Asian countries, theelderly population has not only
been marginalized in economic
and socio-demographic
dimensions, but also
experienced regional
marginalization. Regions withthe poorest economies andhighest unemployment rates are
the primary sources of migrant7

Marginalization of the Elderly(Continued on page 14)

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JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116

Ageism in Southeast Asia
Kanwaljit SoinS

outheast Asia is home tosome of the world’s most
rapidly ageing countries. This is
the result of increased life
expectancy and falling fertility
rates.
In 1970, women in Southeast
Asia had an average of 5.5
children. By 2017, that number
was down to 2.1, and the total
fertility rate dropped below the
replacement level in Brunei,
Malaysia, Singapore an dThailand.1

and social care and financial
security for retirement needs.
The term “ageism” was coinedby gerontologist and author
Robert Butler, MD. According tohim, ageism has three elements– prejudicial attitudes towards
older people and the ageing
process, discriminatory
practices against older people,
and institutional practices andpolicies that perpetuatestereotypes about the elderly.3

Countries with slow population
growth tend to be ageing ones.
This has held true throughout
the ASEAN region as every
nation has experienced anincrease in median age since1970. By 2035, it is projectedthat 26.6 percent of Singapore’s
population will be 65 or older,
wh i l e t h e s a m e g r o u p i s
expected to reach 22.8 percent
in Thailand. In Vietnam, theproportion of those over 80 willrise to 20 percent by 2038.2

The
World
HealthOrganization’s Global Report on
Ageism4 states that one out of
every two people on earth may
harbor ageist attitudes. Ageism
is everywhere and it impacts
everyone. We need to recognize
it in our part of the world andtake measures to reduce it.
Compared to racism andsexism, ageism is the mostsocially normalized “prejudice.”
Its consequences affect us
deeply as individuals and thesocieties we live in.

An ageing population shifts then a r ra t ive f o r t h e r e g i o n ’s
economic growth prospects, asa declining working-age
population pairs with anincreasing old-age dependency
ratio.

Like the racist and the sexist, theageist relies on the concept of“othering” — where we see agroup of people as being unlikeo u r s e l ve s . Th a t p e rc e ive ddifference leads to bias andprejudice.

On a cultural scale, two factors
tend to make a society moreageist — scarce resources and a
growing percentage of older
people in the population. Moreolder people will need healthAgeism exists because of fearand denial that we will become
the other person — the older
person whom we see as an
unwelcome stereotype. All of us
are exposed to negative images

8and messages about older
people from society at large, themedia, movies and negative
stories about older people.
Through these experiences, ourbrains become wired to
implicitly believe that becoming
old means going downhill bothcognitively and physically. Thus,
we might consider ageism to bea coping mechanism that allows
people to avoid thinking about
their own mortality.
All “isms” are sociallyconstructed ideas that pit usa g a i n s t o n e a n o t h e r, b u t
ageism’s target makes it asingular and strange
phenomenon. Of the three
categories of ‘isms’ — sex, race
and age — age is the only one
in which the members of the ingroup (the young) are destined
to join the out-group (the old).
Ageism is therefore prejudiced
against our future self — ourfeared future self. That is why I
find it strange that althoughageism can compromise thequality of our own life into oldage, many of us become ageists.
Ageism in the Workplace
D a t a f r o m A D P ’s G l o b a l
Workforce View 2020 reportshows that Singaporean
workplaces have some of thehighest incidences of age
discrimination in the AsiaPacific region, with 17 percent
of workers saying they haveexperienced such discriminationin their current role. The survey

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
found the regional average to be
12 percent and Asia-Pacific has
the highest regional incidenceof perceived discrimination.5
Embracing today’s greater
longevity requires policymakers
and employers to rejectyesterday’s preconceptions
about ageing. Chronologicalage does not equate withfunction and does not equate
with cognition. Ageing is also
very heterogenous and so it
should not be used as a proxyfor capability. As such, weshould do away with ourpolicies of fixed retirement andre-employment age, as is thepractice in Singapore.
Despite reported ageism in theworkplace, the Philippines is the
only country in our region thathas any legislation which
expressly prohibits age
discrimination. In Singapore,
there are only guidelines
regarding fair treatment in theworkplace by the Tripartite
Alliance for Fair & Progressive
Employment Practices (TAFEP).
This is not enough. Fortunately,
Singapore is working to codify
the current workplace antidiscrimination guidelines intolaw. Employers have to face thereality that the workforce isageing, and it would be to theirbenefit to continue to upskill
and retain their older workers.
Practicing ageism is not a
productive way to go.
Companies must ensure that
their employees — including
their leadership — attend
sessions to be aware ofunconscious biases directed
towards older workers. This
needs to be part of theirdiversity, equality and inclusion(DEI) agenda. We are living

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116
longer, so each new cohort ofthe older population iseffectively younger and should
not be discriminated against
because of chronological age.
Their ability to do the work iswhat is important. Leaders must
recognize the value of theexperience and institutional
memory of older workers. They
should also organize the transferof skills between generations
and teach younger leaders
about reverse mentoring.
In addition, older workers haveto rid themselves of the negative
perceptions of ageing. They
should engage in lifelong
learning and try to build allies
with younger co-workers
throughout their working
careers. Doing so will deliveri n d iv i d u a l a n d c o l l e c t iv e
benefits.
Ageism and Gender
Outside of the workplace,ageism also impacts our daily
lives and the gender dimensionof ageism is a double blow for
women. For some women,
ageism is worse than the ageing
process itself. In our culture andelsewhere, youth and beauty are
greatly prized, especially for
women. Women become “older
earlier” and are more often
j u d g e d b y t h e i r p hy s i c a lappearance, rather than theiraccomplishments.
Grey hair and facial lines areseen as making men look
distinguished and experienced
whereas they merely makewomen look “old.” Therefore,
women often disguise the factthat they are ageing. That is one
reason why many women do
not like to tell their age. Old age
seems to make women invisible

9

and therefore, many women
want to avoid looking old sothat they are not overlooked intheir attempt to remain sociallyand professionally engaged. Thisis one reason why the aesthetic
industry is so successful and somany of its clients are women.
We should work toward agenderless outlook on ageing inwhich everyone is recognized
and appreciated for theexperience their years havegiven them.
Ageism and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic hashelped expose ageism and age
discrimination in society. In astatement published during the
pandemic, Claudia Mahler, theUnited Nations Independent
Expert on the enjoyment of all
human rights by older persons,called for urgent action against
ageism. As she noted, “Ageist
comments and hate speech
were ripe with older persons
being blamed as the reasons for
lockdowns and labelled asvulnerable and burdens tosocieties.”6 In reality, society
placed greater burdens on older
people during that time as ourageist assumptions made it“more difficult for older persons
to get equal access to medicalcare.”7
One study found the pandemic
compounded the impact ofageism and that those effects
might outlast the challenging
circumstances in which theyarose.
As the researchers noted, “Being
the target of ageism during thecrisis negatively affects older
adults’ self-perceptions ofageing and this impact may befelt beyond the current crisis.”8

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICThe same study noted that while
we develop subjective
perceptions of ageing early inlife, they “can change over thelife span as a function ofexperiences.”
Internalization of Ageism byOlder People
One of the most insidiouseffects of ageism is that older
people internalize negative
attitudes which become selfrelevant and self-fulfilling
prophesies. The older personthen feels that it is not worth
trying to age actively, not worth
doing routine health screening,
not worth living a healthy
lifestyle and that nothing can bedone about frailty and disease
as they are part of getting old. It
is crucial that we consider theeffects of ageism as we develop
and enact policies to keep older
people healthy via beneficial
efforts like age-friendly housing,affordable health care andsenior centers.
It is interesting to note thatcredible scientific research has
s h o w n t h a t n e g a t iv e a n dpositive self-perceptions ofageing can have profoundeffects on health and longevity.
One study found that older
people with more positive selfperceptions of ageing, measured
up to twenty-three years earlier,
lived 7.5 years longer than thosewith less positive selfperceptions of ageing. Thisadvantage remained after age,gender, socioeconomic status,
loneliness, and functional
health were included ascovariates.9
The results of another study
suggest that positive age beliefs

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116— which are modifiable andhave been found to reducestress — can act as a protective
factor. It further found that thesebenefits occur even for older
individuals at high risk ofdementia. This is the first study
to link the brain changes related
to Alzheimer’s disease — adevastating neurodegenerative
disorder that causes dementia in
millions of people worldwide —to a culturally-based
psychosocial risk factor. This last
study suggests that combatting
negative beliefs about ageing
could potentially offer a way to
reduce the rapidly rising rate of
Alzheimer’s disease.10
In Singapore, the statistics fordementia are worrying — one inten people over the age of sixty
and one in two over the age of
8 5 h av e d e m e n t i a . O v e r
100,000 are estimated to bediagnosed with dementia in
Singapore. 11 Therefore, ourhealth strategy must prioritize
combatting negative beliefs
about ageing.
Managing Ageism
Ageism exists in our institutions,
our relationships and ourselves,and so we have to work at allthese levels to reduce ageism.
On an individual level, we
should explore and explode ourown unconscious biases. A
common example is when anolder person forgets something,he or she will say apologetically,“I’m having a senior moment?”
Younger people also forgetthings, but they do not say, “I
am having a junior moment.”
Ageism can change us in many
ways. It can alter our
perceptions of ourselves and10

negatively impact our health,longevity and well-being. It cancreate generational divides,
thereby limiting the benefits ofinteraction between thosegroups. Ageism can also foster
seriouseconomicconsequences.12
On the family level, someyoung people here and in other
Asian societies have amisplaced sense of filial piety.
They show their love anddevotion by putting too many
restraints on their elderly
parents.
While moderate shows ofaffection elevate the mood of
the older person, too muchsupport can reinforce feelings ofinadequacy. This can makeolder people feel powerless andvulnerable, which can lead todepression.
Tough love is a concept that isfamiliar to many. The phrase
commonly applies to raising
youth. However, older people
can also benefit when adultchildren allow their elderly
parents to live as independently
as possible and accomplish
certain activities by themselves.
In the long run, tough lovetactics can help the older
person.
On the societal level, we haveto work towards building ageintegrated societies. Such ageintegration could bring about
positive changes in our thinking,b e h a v i o r, p o l i c i e s a n dinstitutions.
Singapore is one of the fastest
ageing countries in the world
and is going through an
unprecedented demographictransition. For Singapore to cope
effectively with this

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116

demographic challenge, it needs
to convert its ageing society intoa longevity society. Andrew J.
Scott offers this wisdom: “Anageing society focuses onchanges in the age structure of
the population, whereas alongevity society seeks to
exploit the advantages of longer
lives through changes in how
we age. Achieving a longevity
society requires substantialchanges in the life course andsocial norms and involves an
epidemiological transition
towards a focus on delaying thenegative effects of ageing.”13

d i r e c t e f f e c t o n p e o p l e ’s
livelihoods, health and function.

Ageism is a major barrier toachieving an age-integrated
longevity society.

How can we become an ageintegrated longevity society?

The media plays a major role inperpetuating stereotypes of age.
The ways in which older people
are represented in the media
can have a lasting impact on
attitudes, reinforcing stereotypes
held both by the young and byolder people themselves.
Dr Becca Levy and hercolleagues estimate that age
discrimination, negative age
stereotypes, and negative selfperceptions of ageing lead tobillions of dollars in excess
annual spending in the US on
common health conditions likecardiovascular and respiratory
disease, diabetes, and injuries.
We need data like this inSoutheast Asia to spur us to takeaction against ageism instead ofwringing our hands about how
the ageing population ispushing up health care costs.
To say the least, ageism is hardly
benign --- it can foster serious
economic, social and healthconsequences. It can have a

A wide-ranging publicconversation is essential, as theageing of the population is oneof the biggest demographic andsocio-economic challenges inour recorded history. Whether
this challenge will be a boon orbane depends on each nation’s
policy response. If we make theappropriate adjustments tobecome an age-integrated
longevity society, then we canbenefit from the “longevity
dividend.”

An age-integrated society builds
on the complementarity ofqualities and skills of bothyounger and older people. We
must more vigorously create theconditions for the old and the
young to study, work, and live
together. Older people want toage and die in the communityand not in old age homes. We
can adapt our built environment
to create more spaces where oldand young interact and support
and learn from each other. For
example, why not build senior
care centers that are also
student care centers, with
opportunities for the different
generations to bond overc o m m o n i n t e r e s t s ? Th e
Aconchego program in Portugal
aims
toincreaseintergenerational contact byarranging for older people toprovide housing to university
students. In exchange, thestudents help alleviate older
p e o p l e ’s l o n e l i n e s s a n disolation.14
Why not ensure that all working
spaces are multigenerational?
Why not do away with policies

11that have fixed retirement ages?
Because age is not a reliableindicator for judging workers
potential productivity or
employability — chronologicalage does not equate withfunction and does not equate
with cognition. To bring about
this shift will require changes tothe way we run businesses, aswell as the outlooks and actionsof individuals and society as awhole.
It is worth pointing out that theestablishment of an ageintegrated society will spur theformation of an inclusive
society. Older people are fromdifferent genders, ethnic groups,
religions and abilities, and if we
accept them for themselves andfeel no prejudice against themand our future selves, then other“isms” will also melt away fromour consciousness and we will
be on our way towards universal
human solidarity.
Dr Kanwaljit Soin is a wellrespected orthopaedic andhand surgeon. She is also aformer and Singapore’s firstfemale Nominated Member ofParliament, from 1992-1996. Dr
Soin, who was inducted into theSingapore Women’s Hall of
Fame in 2014, is actively
involved in welfare andadvocacy organizations. She isalso the author of Silver Shadesof Grey: Memos for Successful
Ageing in the 21st Century.
For further information, pleasecontact: The Head Foundation,
20 Upper Circular Road, The
Riverwalk #02-21 Singapore
058416; ph (65) 6672 6160;
fax (65) 6672 6189; e-mail:(Continued on page 15)

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116

New Educational Programs of the Human Rights
Commission in Iran
Iranian Islamic Human Rights CommissionT

he Iranian Islamic Human
Rights Commission (IHRC)
was formally established in
December 1994. But its major
activities began one year later in
December 1995 as anindependent national institution
in Iran. It has so far been
operating for twenty-eight years.

international standards, Iran's
legal system and Islamic
thought. In some cases, thetraining is focused on
c o m p a r a t i v e s t u d i e s . Th efollowing discussion reviews
some of the most importanteducational programs
implemented by IHRC.

In 1996, the United Nations(UN) Human Rights
Commission (replaced by the
Human Rights Council)
welcomed the establishment of
the Human Rights Commission
in Iran in the resolution related
to national institutions (E/CN.4/
RES1996/64). It has the mostprominent Iranian legal scholars
and academics among its
members, and has beensystematically implementing avariety of educational programs
within its Research, Educationaland Promotional Department.

Recent Activities

Educational Program
Inspired by the Paris Principles
on National Institutions
approved by the United Nations
General Assembly (1993), theIHRC has made human rights
education one of its mainfunctions at different levels. It
implements various programs
every year for various groups,
including those in government
agencies and civil society, andthe general public. Usually, thetraining programs of IHRC are
conducted with a focus on

From summer 2023 to spring
2024, the IHRC has
implemented the following
human rights education
programs:
1. A training course on Poverty
Alleviation and Human
Rights from the perspectiveof international standards,
Iran's legal system, andsocio-economic foundations
Th i s t h r e e - w e e k c o u r s e ,conducted on Wednesdays at
the IHRC central office, featured
presentations by the Human
Rights Council rapporteur on
extreme poverty and humanrights issues, as well as thediscussion of relevant reports
submitted to UN specialized
agencies such as theInternational Labor
Organization. Additionally, theIranian government's
obligations under theInternational Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights are examined. A
representative from non-12

governmental organizations
engaged in poverty alleviationin deprived areas of Iran also
p r e s e n t n o n - g ove r n m e n t a linitiatives. The course is publicly
advertised, and participation is
open to all interested
individuals, primarily attracting
graduate students or doctoralcandidates and professionals
working in relevant
governmental bodies.
2. The Police and Human
Rights Education ProgramThis program, conducted withthe participation ofrepresentatives from various
departments of the Iranianpolice organization, provides anopportunity for guest lecturers
to discuss internationallypublished books in the field andengage in discussions on
relevant works translated into
Farsi with the presence of theirtranslators, who werethemselves legal scholars in
Iran. The works translated into
Farsi describe the international
human rights standards
regarding the police.
3. Artificial Intelligence andHuman Rights Education
ProgramLed by a human rights law
professor, Baqer Ansari, PhD,
Director of the Master's
Department of Human Rights,
Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
University (located in Tehran),this program consists of three
sessions held over three
separate weeks andpredominantly attracts graduate
students in law and computerengineering.
It is noteworthy that in Iran,masters programs in humanrights law have been establishedin four universities (Shahid
Beheshti, Tehran, Allameh
Tabatabai, all located in thecapital of Iran, Tehran, and thefourth Mofid University locatedin Qom city) for over two
decades, admitting five to sevenstudents annually. Over the past
two decades, students in thisfield authored numerous theseson various human rights topics,
many of which have been
published as books, significantly
contributing to the expansion of
specialized human rights
literature in Iran.
4. Examining a number ofIslamic movements in theworld in terms of theirattitude towards humanrightsIn this four-session course
conducted over four weeks,
from mid-December 2023 tomid-January 2024 the instructorof this course, Bahman Akbari,
PhD, a researcher of Islamic
movements at the global level,
examined the extent to which
various political and social
movements identifying with
Islamic ideology in the past
three decades have prioritized
human rights. It was observed inthis course that some of thesegroups, purporting to advocate
for change and socialtransformation based on Islamicprinciples, have failed to grasp
the proper standards of human

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116
rights or demonstrate adequate
support for human rights.
Consequently, many of thesegroups are perceived by
Muslims as misusing Islam andare viewed with suspicion in theIslamic world, akin toorganizations like ISIS or the
Taliban.
5. Familiarization with theDraft International Covenant
on
the
Right
to
Development
Three professors (Nasreen
Mosfa, PhD, Professor of Tehran
University, Baqer Ansari, PhD,
Associate Professor of Shahid
Beheshti University, Mahmoud
Khani, PhD, Head of the
Department of Social
Development of the Ministry of
Fo r e i g n A f f a i r s o f I ra n )elucidated on the theoreticaland practical dimensions of thedraft International Covenant on
the Right to Development on 25
October 2023 in an event heldat the headquarters of IHRC andsimultaneously broadcast
online. This draft covenant waspresented at the Human Rights
Council in 2023.1
The event revealed significant
disagreements between
developed and developing
countries on various issues in
the finalization process of thisdocument, emphasizing theimportance of its finalization
and approval for development
processes worldwide.
New PlansTh e I H R C h a s p l a n s t oimplement several educational
programs starting from April
2024. These programs include:• Understanding the Internalor External Challenges and

13

Impacts of International
Human Rights Mechanisms;• Familiarization with the
Ju d i c i a l P r o c e d u r e s o f
Iranian Courts regarding
Child Rights Support andCompliance with theConvention on the Rights of
the Child;• Understanding International
Judicial and Quasi-Judicial
Processes Dealing withViolence Against Women;• Exploring the Dimensions of
the Right to Energy andGovernments' Commitments
to Respect this Right andProtect the Environment;• Training on the content of
the Practical toolkit for law
enforcement officials to
promote and protect humanrights in the context ofpeaceful protests presented
by the Special Rapporteuron the Right to Assembly to
the Human Rights Council;• Tra i n i n g o n N e w
Developments in the United
Nations regarding Trade andHuman Rights (Special
P r o g ra m f o r E c o n o m i c
Activists).
IHRC aims to collaborate withother active human rights
organizations in the Asian
region to jointly implement
some of its educationalp r o g r a m s t h i s s u m m e r.
Furthermore, IHRC hastranslated into Farsi several
books on human rights
education and published them.
Th i s o n g o i n g t r a n s l a t i o ninitiative of IHRC welcomes
proposals for additional works
to be translated into the Persian
language.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC

JUNE 2024 VOLUME 116

For further information pleasecontact: Iranian Islamic Human
Rights Commission, No. 2,
Soltani Alley (former Qarqavel),
Seyyed Khandan, the beginningof North Sohrawardi, Tehran,
Iran; ph 88768623;
fax
88768807;
e-mail:ihrciran@yahoo.com,
i h r c @ i h r c . i r ; w w w. i h r c . i r,
www.humanrightsiran.com;
Fa c e b o o k : w w w. f b . c o m /IHRCIran; telegram: https://t.me/ihrciran.

EndnoteThe Elderly in Central Asia

the elderly population faces
multiple problems in their daily
lives related to infrastructuraldegradation,poor
transportation, and limitedaccess to healthcare, sanitation,and drinking water.

(Continued from page 7)

workers (Cabar.asia, 2021).
Over extended periods,
economic marginalization ofthese regions relative to otherparts of the country occurs
without adoption andi m p l e m en tation of proper
measures for harmonious
regional development by central
authorities. With the passage oftime, the development of thesepartially depopulated regions
becomes increasingly difficult
due to the shortage of theworking-age population. Many
villages and small settlements insouthern Kyrgyzstan and eastern
Ta j i k i s t a n e x e m p l i f y t h i sphenomenon. The governmentsof these countries have largely
been unsuccessful in
implementing policies thatwould stimulate development in
the most underdeveloped partsof these nations. As a result,these settlements, typicallysmall towns and villages, havebecome marginalized areas
with predominantly elderly andsometimes predominantly
female populations. As a result,

1 See Intergovernmental Working
Group on the Right toDevelopment Presents to the
Human Rights Council a Draft
International Covenant on the
Right to Development, Human
Rights Council, 20 September
2023, www.ohchr.org/en/news/
2023/09/intergovernmentalworking-group-rightdevelopment-presents-humanrights-council-draft. (To see thetext of the draft, refer to: A/HRC/
54/50/Add.1)

Kanat Makhanov is a research
fellow at the Eurasian ResearchInstitute. He is a PhD candidate
at the Department of Social
G e o g r a p hy a n d R e g i o n a l
Development. His current
research is related to geographyof population in post-Soviet
countries with a particular focus
on Kazakhstan.
For further information, pleasec o n t a c t K a n a t M a k h a n ov,
Eurasian Research Institute, ph+7 (727) 279 97 94, fax +7(727) 279 24 26, e-mail:username1006@gmail.com;
kanat.makhanov@eurasianresearch.org). He can also be
contacted at the University of
Debrecen, ph (mobile): +36 70
346
9957,
e-mail:kanat.makhanov@science.unideb.hu).

14

References
ADB (2023). The economic
impact of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine on the
Caucasus and Central Asia:
Short-term benefits andl o n g - t e r m ch a l l e n g e s .
Retrieved
fromwww.adb.org/sites/default/
files/publication/863591/
ado-april-2023-specialtopic.pdf. Accessed: 1 June
2024.
Nawaz Kayani, F. (2022).
Analyzing the impact offoreign remittances upon
poverty: A case of
Uzbekistan from Central
Asia. International Journalof Economics andFinancial Issues, 12(1): 1-6.
Vasilyevich, R. S. and R. A.
Khasanovich (2024).
Emigration of medical
personnel from Tajikistan
abroad: Causes andconsequences. Migration
Letters, 21(4): 1755–1767.
https://doi.org/10.59670/
ml.v21iS68489
United Nations Departmentof Economic and Social
A f f a i r s ( 2 0 2 4 ) . To t a lpopulation by single age.

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Retrieved
fromwww.un.org/development/
desa/pd/data-landing-page.
Accessed: 1 June 2024.

www.un.org/development/
desa/pd/content/
i n t e r n a t i o n a l - m i g ra n t stock. Accessed: 6 June
2024.

United Nations Departmentof Economic and Social
Affairs(2020).
International migrant
stock. Retrieved from

Cabar.asia (2021). Labor
migration from Central
Asia: constantly relying on
Russia is a wrong strategy.

Ageism in Southeast Asia
(Continued from page 11)

info@headfoundation.org;
www.headfoundation.org.
* This is an edited version of thearticle of the author in Digest,
18 August 2023, entitled “TheStory of Ageism in the Southeast
A s i a n R e g i o n ,” h t t p s : / /d i g es t. he adfoun dat ion .org/
2023/08/18/the-story-of-ageismin-the-southeast-asian-region/#easy-footnote-3-40502.

4

5Endnotes
1 Fertility, OECD logoSociety at a
Glance: Asia/Pacific 2022,
OECD iLibrary, www.oecdilibrary.org/sites/c416afed-en/
index.html?itemId=/content/
component/c416afed-en; The
ASEAN Post Team, Declining
fertility rates in ASEAN, The
ASEAN Post, 29 March 2020,
https://theaseanpost.com/article/
declining-fertility-rates-asean.
https://theaseanpost.com/article/
declining-fertility-rates-asean
2 T h e A S E A N P o s t Te a m ,Southeast Asia’s rapidly ageing
population, The ASEAN Post, 16
Fe b r u a r y 2 0 2 0 , h t t p s : / /theaseanpost.com/article/
southeast-asias-rapidly-ageingpopulation.
3 See Sheldon Ornstein, Ageism
and Aging, American College of

6

7

8

Health Care Administrators,
www.achca.org/index.php?
option=com_dailyplanetblog&vi
ew=entry&category=aging&id=
50:ageism-and-aging. Read also
Robert N. Butler, MD, “Age-Ism:
Another Form of Bigotry,” The
Gerontologist, Volume 9, Issue
4_Part_1, Winter 1969, pages
243–246, available at http://agisme.eu/wp-content/uploads/
2018/02/Butler-Ageism.pdf.
Global report on ageism, WHO,www.who.int/teams/socialdeterminants-of-health/demographic-change-andhealthy-ageing/combattingageism/global-report-on-ageism.
Mint Kang, Singapore has mostage discrimination in APAC,
PeopleMatters,www.peoplemattersglobal.com/
news/diversity/singapore-hasmost-age-discrimination-inapac-27840.
Pandemic exposes ageism andage discrimination in society,says UN expert, United Nations,
30 September 2021,w w w. o h c h r. o r g / e n / p r e s s releases/2021/09/pandemicexposes-ageism-and-agediscrimination-society-says-unexpert.
Pandemic exposes ageism andage discrimination in society,says UN expert, United Nations,ibid.
Anna E. Kornadt, Isabelle Albert,
Martine Hoffmann, Elke
Murdock, Josepha Nell,“Perceived Ageism During theCovid-19-Crisis
Is
Longitudinally Related to
S u b j e c t ive Pe rc e p t i o n s o fAging,” Frontiers Public Health,
Volume 9, 13 July 2021,

15

Retrieved from https://c a b a r. a s i a / e n / l a b o rmigration-from-centralasia-constantly-relying-onrussia-is-a-wrong-strategy.
Accessed: 7 June 2024.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/
public-health/articles/10.3389/
fpubh.2021.679711/full.
9 Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D.,
Kunkel, S. R., & Kasl, S. V.,“Longevity increased by positive
self-perceptions of aging,”
Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 83(2), 261–270,
2002. https://doi.org/
10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.261.
10 Becca R Levy, Martin D Slade,
Robert H Pietrzak, and Luigi
Fe r r u c c i , " W h e n C u l t u r e
Influences Genes: Positive Age
Beliefs Amplify the CognitiveAging Benefit of APOE ε2," J
Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci.
2020 Oct; 75(8): e198–e203,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC7489069/.
11 U n d e r s t a n d i n g D e m e n t i a ,Dementia Singapore, https://dementia.org.sg/dementia/
singapore/.
12 Questions and answers/Ageing:
Ageism, WHO, 18 March 2021,
www.who.int/ageing/features/
faq-ageism/en/.
13 See Andrew J. Scott, “Thelongevity society,” The Lancet,
www.thelancet.com/journals/
l a n h l / a r t i c l e /PIIS2666-7568(21)00247-6/
fulltext.
14 For more information on the
Aconchego Program, read Agefriendly World, https://e x t r a n e t . w h o . i n t /agefriendlyworld/afp/
aconchego-program/.

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HURIGHTS OSAKA welcomes submission of articles on human rights education that focus on specificsectors such as youth, the elderly, workers, fisherfolk, indigenous people, etc. These articles can be
included in the 14th volume of Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific.

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HURIGHTS OSAKA, inspired by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, formally opened in December 1994. It has the following aims: 1) to engender popular understanding in Osaka of the international human rights standards; 2) to support international exchange
between Osaka and countries in Asia-Pacific through collection and dissemination of information andmaterials on human rights; and 3) to promote human rights in Asia-Pacific in cooperation with nationaland regional institutions and civil society organizations as well as the United Nations. In order to achievethese goals, HURIGHTS OSAKA has activities such as Information Handling, Research and Study, Education and Training, Publications, and Consultancy Services.
FOCUS Asia-Pacific is designed to highlight significant issues and activities relating to human rights in
the Asia-Pacific. Relevant information and articles can be sent to HURIGHTS OSAKA for inclusion in thenext editions of the newsletter.
Sender: HURIGHTS OSAKA(Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center)
8F, CE Nishihonmachi Bldg., 1-7-7 Nishihonmachi, Nishi-ku, Osaka 550-0005
Japan
Phone: (816) 6543-7002
Fax: (816) 6543-7004
E-mail: webmail@hurights.or.jp Website: www.hurights.or.jp

HURIGHTS OSAKA