[Guadalajara, Jal. June 3, 2020] The Rhizome Center for Migrants and more than 100 organizations worldwide have joined with HelpAge International to call for the UN to ensure that, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we build back better and set the stage for a more inclusive and equitable society that considers older people’s rights across the UN system. 

The joint open letter sent to António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, is a direct response to the UN policy brief issued in May on the impact of COVID-19 on older people. The organizations welcomed the Secretary General’s intervention but highlighted critical gaps that need to be addressed in the UN system in relation to older people. 

The UN has no system-wide policy or strategy on ageing and older persons, no lead UN agency, and no formal mechanism for collaboration between UN bodies. The open letter calls on the UN to set a plan to strengthen the inclusion of older people, and older migrants, within the UN system.

View our joint letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres here.

The Rhizome Center for Migrants has written extensively about the challenges faced by elderly migrant workers in the U.S.-Mexico border region and the challenges they face as persons unable to access their right to social security. See our special reports on older people here.