Abstract

Active ageing is considered to be one of the prevalent policy responses to the unprecedented challenge of global ageing, embracing, in its initial conceptualization at the international level, a holistic, life course-oriented perspective based on the recognition of the human rights of older persons and intergenerational solidarity. In practice, however, active ageing policies have been criticized for being dominated by a narrow economic or productivist and paternalistic perspective. Remarkably, human rights issues relating to age and ageing are dealt with on an everyday basis by local authorities within a state, while trends of decentralization and urbanization, particularly across Europe, have shifted the responsibility for delivering many public services towards older persons to the local level. Against this background, the study examines whether international human rights law endorses a human rights-based approach to active ageing and encompasses active ageing elements. At the same time, the article addresses the question whether there exists a connection between international human rights law and local government action on active ageing, especially considering the growing interest in the roles that local governments play in the application and enforcement of universal and regional human rights treaties in recent years. In that context, the study pays particular attention to the Council of Europe’s European Social Charter in combination with the European Charter for Local Self-Government and the work of their monitoring bodies, to assess whether international law provides a legal framework for implementing active ageing rights and policies at the local level.