In 1990, the United Nations General Assembly designated 1 October as the International Day of Older Persons.

The theme of the 2018 commemoration is “Celebrating Older Human Rights Champions“.

Older People’s Day exists and aims to challenge negative attitudes and outdated stereotypes and focuses on celebrating the achievements and contributions that older people make to our society and the economy.

Almost 700 million people are now over the age of 60. This is expected to reach 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2 billion people by 2050. This means over 20 per cent of the world’s population will be 60 or older. The LGBT Foundation advise that there are at least 7,650 older lesbian, gay and bisexual people living in Manchester.

With this in mind, enhanced attention to the particular needs and challenges faced by many older people is clearly required. Just as important, however, is the essential contribution the majority of older men and women can continue to make to the functioning of society if adequate guarantees are in place.

Human rights lie at the core of all efforts in this regard. The 1 October 2018 is also the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Growing older does not diminish a person’s inherent dignity and fundamental rights.