ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how population ageing is a long-term development that has been apparent for several decades in Europe and, as expected, many countries include ageing-specific plans and strategies in their public policy. Nevertheless, the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing held a low profile within most national policy agendas, and is largely disconnected from other relevant policy frameworks and the overall lack of involvement of older persons, their organisations, or other relevant stakeholders in the Plan’s implementation. Although the Madrid Plan aspires to actively involve older persons, most national governments have failed to involve older people in its implementation and making of the Plan a genuine bottom-up policy mechanism. In many ways, the Madrid Plan was a lost opportunity to trigger policy change in the field of ageing and, ultimately, to improve the quality of life and well-being of older people. For many age-advocacy organisations, it did address the full spectrum of civil, political, economic, and cultural rights, and call for a new binding instrument, such as an international convention, to highlight the specific barriers that older people face in respect of their human rights.
