Julia T. Alvarez, Ambassador, Dominican Republic

ENVISIONING THE 2nd WORLD ASSEMBLY ON AGEING: APRIL 2002

ADDRESS by

H.E. JULIA T ALVAREZ

Ambassador/Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, New York

"From Vienna to Madrid"

Greetings on the 10th celebration of the International Day of Older Persons! It is a day on which we can look back at what we have accomplished, and forward in anticipation of even greater achievements.

Eighteen years ago the first World Assembly on Aging in Vienna signaled our intent to take population aging seriously. We are still serious, I hope, but in many ways now that seems like a distant time, something from another age. For example, the brochure sent out to publicize the event assured the press that media facilities would be available. But it is unlikely that there were any provisions for phone connections or for laptop computers, and I doubt that anyone was sending email. Back then a mouse was only of interest to cats, not something that one attached, like a tail, to a computer. And as for the Worldwide Web B that would have been left to the spiders.

Technologically, we are living in a new day. And on this International Day of Older Persons, it is fair and proper to say that in many important ways we are also living in a new day with regard to aging. The phenomenon of worldwide aging is now a widely recognized fact. The day has long since passed when those of us who spoke out on the issue could not be sure that anyone would hear us. Aging is on the calendar and it is a subject on many political agendas. It has even become an issue deemed occasionally fit for serious discussion on television, the ultimate test of reality!

I think you will agree that we can all look back with pride on what we began at Vienna. Our intent was serious, we worked hard and, as they say, we were willing to go where no one had gone before. Our accomplishments were significant. But as explorers on the frontier of a new era we were bound to set off on a few wrong paths before we found our way.

The first World Assembly on Aging was ahead of its time. That was both its glory and one of its major problems. In hindsight, our hopes, embodied in the Plan of Action, were a bit millennial, and consequently, certain problems became, at least for a while, perennial. We perhaps trusted too much in the idea of a Trust Fund based on voluntary contributions from Member States. Political realism should have suggested that the resources to support bold programs would be hard to come by when there were so many more seemingly immediate priorities demanding attention. Psychological realism should have warned us that we still had a great deal of work to do in the field of consciousness raising.

It is, of course, easy to point out errors in hindsight. But in the spirit of this Day, let us remind ourselves of just how much foresight was contained in the spirit of those days in Vienna. It began with the very call to a conference. In 1978 it was originally proposed as the World Assembly on the Elderly. But two years later it had become the World Assembly on Aging, putting everyone on notice that the aging of individuals needed to be seen in the context of the aging of populations, that we would have to deal with a broad range of social, political and economic issues, and that this was more than a matter of helping yet another victimized group. We established that principle early on. We even had a poster which affirmed that "Old people need what people need", thus implying that older persons had the same rights as others -such as the right to work, equality, non-discrimination because of age, and all the other basic rights enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights. This was, in fact, a clarion call for action!

The prospectus for the World Assembly even spelled out what was to gradually become B although it still awaits full acceptance B a necessary component of any approach to population aging. That is the realization that the drama of aging unfolds differently in different parts of the world, that in most of the world, the humanitarian impulse that often motivates our concern for older people must be expressed in the context of developmental issues.

Another necessary component of any approach to population aging was also highlighted: on a poster: older women's issues.

Even the logo of that Assembly, the Banyan tree, was prophetic. The Banyan covers an exceptionally large area. It does so by sending out offshoots from its branches that take root, forming new trunks. These trunks, in turn, help support the tree over an expanse that would otherwise make it topple. In other words, by efficiently using its support system, the tree makes a small seed go a long way.

In choosing this symbol, we were saying that by efficiently using its support systems, societies could do the same thing: make a small seed go a long way. And what are these support systems? The most important one with regard to aging, of course, is the talent, knowledge and experience of older people themselves. Among other important resources are the marvelous NGO's and cooperative programs with civil society.

There were 124 nations at that first conference out of a potential 157 that could have sent representatives. Now there are 189 countries, but much more important, many more older persons, both in absolute numbers and in their percentage of national populations. I don't think I have to remind you that the absolute figures and percentages continue to grow. For at least the next half-century, aging as a worldwide issue can only loom larger, of necessity becoming an even more important priority in every society.

With the conclusion of the Vienna Assembly, it was clear that for the older people of the world, their day would soon come. That happened literally six years later when the United Nations proclaimed the annual celebration of a day dedicated to older persons, the first of which was actually observed in 1991. Almost a decade later, it is hard to imagine that there was ever a time when we had no such occasion.

Now we stand at the beginning of a new millennium. We have moved from contemplation of a distant Agequake to the point where, I hope, we can all feel the ground begin to tremble. We have seen the industrialized nations take this issue seriously, as aging populations have forced a reconsideration of the actual allocation of national resources; in those countries aging has begun to work its way into everything from taxation to immigration policy. In our Third World there are also, more frequently, signs that at least more attention is being paid, especially in the wake of the just concluded International Year of Older Persons.

Now we enter the period in which we need to think seriously about what we can envision for the Second World Assembly. The first Assembly initiated the dialogue on aging, a necessary first step. But now we need to proceed much farther down the path toward workable solutions to potential problems. We must begin to replace theoretical talk with practical action.

One important way that we can create the framework and structure that will enable us to act is to concentrate more on the issue of interconnectedness, so central to the task of mobilizing all of our resources. The first Assembly raised the issue of inter-agency cooperation and integration to better deal with aging. We have never quite brought this about to the extent necessary to stay ahead of the demographic curve. It also raised the issue of interdependence between generations, which we now realize must be a guiding social principle in the new age of aging.

Similarly, interdependence between the parts of all international agencies and between them and the NGO's and groups and individuals of civil society need be both the spirit and the operative principle behind all of the work we do concerning population aging.

If I may conclude on a personal note, as one of the few people still here from the first World Assembly, I can assure you that my interest in aging has even deepened. I was fifty-six at the time of the Vienna Assembly. And I must admit that the thought had begun to cross my mind, "What kind of a life could it be after age sixty?". Now that I am . . . well - I don't have to do your math for you, I know what kind of life it can be: full and fulfilling. True, sometimes I wish I were young again: I had more free time then!

Now I can speak to you personally and authoritatively from within the heart of aging. From that perspective I can affirm that we can help to make it one of the best of times, if only we do all we can to keep antiquated social policies, neglect, stereotypes, oversight, social near-sightedness and just plain unfairness from making it the worst of times.

We have our work cut out for us. We have started our journey to Madrid and we know what we have to do at the Second World Assembly in 2002.

Won't you join us on this exciting journey?