DO HUMAN RIGHTS CONSIDER THE SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE LIFE OF OLDER PEOPLE?

Abstract

Over the past forty years, the older people “category” and the specific problems posed by ageing have been the subject of increasing attention from regional and international organizations. At the same time, since the 1990s, issues related to sexuality and reproduction have been addressed by legal and political actors in international and regional human rights protection systems, through the concept of sexual and reproductive health. However, although many aspects of the sexual and reproductive life of older people pertain to international and regional human rights, it remains only very partially addressed. In fact, the two themes that it covers – old age and sexuality and reproduction – uneasily merge in this field because they themselves are poorly treated or precarious. Thus, the two complementary paths envisaged to make the sexual and reproductive life of the older persons visible in human rights, “age mainstreaming” and “age side streaming”, will be assessed.