The #AgeingEqual campaign is the first European-wide effort to raise awareness that human rights do not diminish with age. It calls for equal rights at all ages and raise awareness of the harmful consequences of ageism.

Ageism leads to widespread marginalisation, poverty and abuse of older people and has negative impacts on their health and well-being. Ageism is everywhere, but we tend to deny its negative effects, we do not consider it as serious and harmful as other forms of discrimination and we fail to take action to counter ageism.

Our objectives

With the #AgeingEqual campaign we aim to:

• Establish a long-lasting community of self-advocates and invite older people to become champions of the fight for equality
• Create platform for older people to have a voice and tell their personal stories of ageing and older age
• Raise awareness of the magnitude and gravity of ageism as a barrier to equality, freedom, and participation in older age

Our history

#AgeingEqual started in 2018 with the ambition to raise awareness of ageism as the main obstacle to fully enjoy human rights in older age. Building on the momentum of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the campaign lasted for 70 days, from 1st October – International Day of Older Persons, to 10th December 2018 – International Human Rights Day.

It rallied older campaigners, researchers, civil society leaders, policy makers, to recall that seventy years after its adoption, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is just as powerfully relevant as it was on its first day.

In 2019, the #AgeingEqual campaign was shaped as an invitation to take action to change the way older persons and ageing is perceived in our societies. This year, the campaign will aim at breaking down the stereotypes of older people as passive and dependent through visible activism by older persons themselves!