‘Ageing Equal’: 70 days against ageism

‘Ageing Equal’: 70 days against ageism

1st October-10th December 2018





Why is ageism a human rights issue?

Ageism is the systematic discrimination of persons on the ground of their age. As other discriminations, it takes various forms ranging from stereotypes to mistreatment and abuse. Ageism is often ‘structural’, i.e. sustained by our society and its institutions in laws, policies, practices or culture. This leads to many violations of human rights on the ground of age going unnoticed or being generally accepted, including by older people themselves who are often not aware of their rights being breached. In this context, the negative effects of ageism tend to be denied or are not considered as serious and harmful as other forms of discrimination, and we fail to take effective action to counter it. Read AGE position on Structural Ageism

However, ageism is a major obstacle to the social inclusion and equal participation of older persons. And ageist stereotypes and discriminations ingrained in our society lead to inequalities that undermine people’s enjoyment of their human rights as they age.

A major awareness-raising campaign

Building on the progress achieved at UN level in promoting human rights in old age, AGE is launching the ‘Ageing Equal’ campaign to spread the word about how ageism affects or will affect each of us across the whole life span. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness on ageism as the first step to take action against it.

The campaign in practice

Older Persons, to 10th December 2018.


Take action against ageism!


You can get involved in the campaign by:

  • Changing your profile picture to include a Twibbon;

Useful links

Source: AGE Platform Europe