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Staff | Consultants | Volunteers | Major Donors
Programs |
Publications | Highlights
Former Staff, Consultants and
Volunteers
Mission
Global Action on Aging (GAA), based in New
York at the United Nations, reports on older people's needs and
potential within the global economy. It advocates by, with and for
older persons worldwide.
Basic Facts
Global Action on
Aging (GAA), a non-profit organization with special consultative status
with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, was founded in
1994.
GAA carries out research on critical emerging topics and publishes the
results on its website. GAA staff and interns research aging policy and
programs, both in the US and worldwide: income support, health access,
and human rights. Interns post their research daily to our website, www.globalaging.org, one of the
largest in the aging field. GAA posts materials in all six UN official
languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. It
monitors United Nation activity on aging through the "Aging Watch at
the UN" web-section and documents the situation of older persons caught
in armed conflict.
Staff
President:
Susanne S. Paul, formerly chaired
the Non-Governmental Organizations on Ageing Committee at the UN.
Author of many publications
including a book titled, Humanity Comes of Age, she writes and speaks
widely about challenges to older persons world-wide.
Program
Coordinator:
Duygu Başaran,
started working for Global Action on Aging in January, 2011. She is
from Turkey and holds a Master's degree in aging.
Consultants
Rachel McDavid,
Bookkeeper.
Jia Wei Li,
Website Assistant, High School Diploma Candidate, Murry Bergtraum High
School for Business Career, New York City, from China.
Jame Wong, System Administrator, B.S. in Computer Science,
Brooklyn Polytechnic University.
Mei Fong Wong, Database Administrator, B.A. in Management
Information Systems, Pace University.
Volunteers
Nan
Bauer-Maglin, Professor at the City University of New York, Editor
for GAA.
Amina Benser,
Editor for GAA..
Ann Dillon
Stanton, UN Volunteer.
Cristina Dutilh,
pursuing a MA in Spanish Literature from Hunter College of the City
University of New York, NY, US, from Uruguay, Spanish Editor for
GAA.
Marcia Gleckler,
Editor for GAA.
Patricia Green,
UN Volunteer.
Maria C. Rhor,
pursuing a BA in Art History from Queens College City University of New
York, Flushing, NY, US, from Ecuador, Spanish Editor for GAA.
Chiquita Smith,
UN Volunteer
Carol Traynor,
UN Volunteer.
Programs
Elder Rights
This Program
advocates for the protection of older persons as a key element of the
human rights movement. Increasingly subject to physical and emotional
abuse, theft and negative stereotyping and discrimination, older
persons often feel vulnerable and frightened. Older people often face
serious discrimination in the workplace. While many rights issues
affect them negatively, older persons are claiming new sets of
entitlements, including choice of sexuality and sexual activity,
appropriate housing, innovative care-giving programs, as well as more
control over end of life decisions. GAA works with human rights and
research organizations to focus attention on these elder concerns.
Health
Global Action on
Aging examines older persons' access to health care, medicine and care,
both in the US and worldwide. It also documents how the market system
can distort and prevent quality care for most persons. GAA spotlights
the actions of for-profit firms in the health field that restrict or
compromise older persons' chance to live healthy lives.
Pension Watch
Since its
beginnings, Global Action on Aging has examined how income support in
old age, either public or private, shapes how older people can survive
out of the workforce. GAA monitors efforts to reduce pension income and
"reforms" that reduce services and income for older persons. It tracks
policy changes and the debates about "dependence," "entitlements,"
"generational equity," and many other issues. GAA gets immediate
reports from affected pensioner groups and needy older persons in many
countries.
Rural Aging
Most older
persons in the world live in rural areas. Largely isolated from
journalists and researchers, they take the full brunt of rapidly
changing policies, of environmental disasters, disease, and often wars.
GAA seeks to document the barriers that rural elderly face and point to
ways to overcome this isolation.
Armed
Conflict & Emergencies Project
Launched in Spring
2003, this Project posts research on the legal, humanitarian and
physical challenges facing older persons caught in armed conflict. GAA,
along with partner organizations, advocates at the United Nations for
the Security Council's adoption of comprehensive international policies
that address the problems and potential contributions of older persons
at all stages of an armed conflict.
Aging Watch at the UN
This website section tracks on an ongoing basis the reports, decisions,
and other actions in the major United Nations organs charged to
follow-up decisions made at the World Assembly on Ageing in 2002. At
this historic assembly held in Madrid, the Member States of the UN
adopted a Political Declaration and Plan of Action on Ageing. The
agenda spells out the international commitments to integrate older
persons' rights into national and international policies-both economic
and social.
Foreign Language
Programs
GAA's website
contains articles and reports in the six official languages of the UN.
Each language section covers US and World stories as well as country
specific issues about aging. Thanks to the availability of these
languages, GAA's website attracts visitors from Latin America, Asia and
the former Soviet Union. Journalists from these areas routinely use
GAA's information as the focus or background of stories on population
aging.
Internship Program
Global Action on
Aging's internship program offers national and international students
and young professionals a unique working experience. Interns meet
diplomats, UN staff, researchers, policy experts as well as older
persons drawn from trade union, religious, and civic leaders. Learning
about critical aging issues, they enhance their research and writing
skills while building a large contact network.
In 2005 GAA has hosted five resident interns from France, Japan, United
Arab Emirates, Germany and the USA. In addition, "virtual" interns from
Ukraine and China contribute weekly to our website. Interns research
and post over 40 articles per week in the six UN languages.
Newsletter
Every week Global
Action on Aging publishes a free electronic newsletter that features
articles on health, elder rights, pension, rural aging, older persons
in armed conflict and aging topics at the UN gathered from around the
world.
Events
In addition to its
web-based work, GAA organizes educational seminars for its
constituents. It also produces expert panels as "side events" for UN
conferences. GAA staff and interns also join demonstrations and other
public expressions showing our concern over older persons' rights.
Highlights
2008 | 2007
| 2006 | 2005 |
2004 | 2003 | 2002
| 2001 | 2000- 1992
HIGHLIGHTS 2009
UNITED
NATIONS
Commission for
Social Development
On February 13,
2009, GAA partnered with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) to host a
UN Roundtable on “How
Do We Protect Pensions and Social Services for the Aging in the Midst
of Economic Crisis?” The panelists discussed some challenges now
facing retired people, aging workers and the older poor people and what
is needed to craft a human-rights based response to the needs of an
aging society. Speakers included representatives from the International
Trade Union Confederation, the International Commission for Labor
Rights and a Professor of Economics from New School University in New
York.
Following the UN Roundtable, GAA and FES organized a reception to affirm
the rights of older persons to social protection. Guests included
UN staff, diplomats from all 5 continents and NGO’s representatives who
focus on aging.
During the Commission, GAA attended two breakfast meetings organized by
the Permanent Mission of Argentina to discuss why a UN Convention or
Treaty to guarantee older persons’ human rights is needed.
Commission on the Status of Women
During the
Commission on the Status of Women, GAA met and assisted Ferdous Begum,
CEDAW Expert advocating for a General Recommendation on older women. We
also attended side events on caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS.
Expert Group Meeting
From May 5 to 7, 2009, Susanne Paul, GAA President attended a UN Expert
Group Meeting in Bonn Germany on the “Rights of Older
Persons.” The UN’s Department for Economic and Social Affairs
(DESA) invited Susanne and over a dozen other experts to participate in
sessions exploring the state of older persons’ rights. The Group shared
good national practices to protect older people’s rights, tools that
would build capacity in governments and organizations to assure human
rights, as well as ideas about how to guarantee rights of older people
through UN institutions. The experts debated whether a Human Rights
Convention or a Special Rapporteur could better insure older people’s
rights. Susanne also served as a co-rapporteur.
International Day of Older Persons
Over the summer of 2009, GAA played a strategic role planning the
International Day of Older Persons (IDOP) at the United Nations and in
inviting Nora Berra, France’s Secretary of State for Older Persons. On
October 8, 2009, Global Action on Aging’s team participated in the IDOP
which focused on “Aging
Activism: A Global Tool to Create a Society for All Ages.”
In the afternoon, Susanne Paul, GAA President, chaired a workshop focused on
human rights of older persons. Participants included Nora Berra,
French Minister for Older Persons; Javier Vasquez, Human Rights Law
Advisor for the Pan American Health Organization; Maria Luz Melon,
First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United
Nations, and Alexandre Kalache, Global Ambassador, HelpAge
International. Participants made the case for a Convention (or Treaty)
to guarantee older persons’ rights.
NGO COMMITTEE ON AGING
Throughout 2009,
GAA acted as the Secretary and Co-chair of the SubCommittee to Promote
a Human Rights Convention on Aging (CTP). Each month, CTP members met
with Susanne Paul, GAA President, and Norma Levitt, Co-chair, to build
a movement of NGOs toward a UN Convention or other Human Rights
instrument.
To raise awareness of other Committee on Aging members, the CTP
organized in November a workshop entitled “Why we need a UN Convention
and a Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Older Persons.” In this
workshop, Susanne Paul, GAA President and Magali Girod, GAA Program
Coordinator moderated, discussions on the following questions: What is
a human right? What is a Convention? Why is a Convention on the Rights
of Older Persons needed? What are the documents that support a claim to
human rights of older persons? What is the process for a Human Rights
Convention?
PROJECTS AND EVENTS
Throughout 2009, GAA organized eight seminar sessions for CWA 1180
trade union retirees from New York City. This year, GAA focused on
“social inclusion of older persons.” This activity gives our
international interns an opportunity to interact with older persons of
diverse origins and backgrounds.
In January 2009, Susanne Paul, GAA President, attended and participated
in an International Symposium on the Rights of Older People organized
by HelpAge International, the International Federation on Ageing and
Age Concern. She spoke about the recent developments at the UN toward a
Human Rights instrument for older persons.
In June 2009, Magali GAA Program Coordinator spoke at the annual
meeting of the Manhattan Borough Wide InterAgency Council on Aging. She
shared an
international perspective toward a Human Rights Convention for Older
Persons.
In July, GAA monitored the CEDAW sessions and
interviewed Ferdous Begum about the General Recommendation on older
women.
On
October 5 and 6, 2009, Susanne Paul, GAA President, was invited to
join government experts and NGOs from Latin America to discuss the
possibility of a regional convention for older persons. Susanne Paul
described the world-wide NGO aging movement and gave special attention
to the NY NGO Committee in Ageing’s Subcommittee to Promote a Human
Rights Convention. She shared the Subcommittee’s aim to educate its
constituencies about the history of human rights activism as well as
offered basic education around what a convention could accomplish.
In October 2009, GAA organized an evening party for its friends and
donors to celebrate the UN and introduce the new fall intern team.
INTERNSHIPS
In 2009, GAA hosted interns from China, France, Ecuador, Russia, Egypt,
India, Cape Verde, Bulgaria, Palestine, Canada, Peru and the US. During
2009, interns researched and posted over forty articles per week in
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. The interns
participated in multiple networking lunches with UN staff, diplomats
and NGOs.
WEBSITE
Over the summer, GAA launched its new web section dedicated
to a new Human Rights instrument for older persons. This section
tracks down Member States’ opinions on the issue and demonstrates why
such a document is very important for older persons. In 2009,
GAA’s website gathered nearly 14 million hits from over 160
countries.
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2002 Global Action on Aging
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