Old people never die, they just fade away - EDITORIAL

America’s famous Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole, wrote a beautiful song about growing old. It goes like this: “You will never grow old, while there’s love in your heart, time may silver your golden hair, as you dream in an old rocking-chair; So keep my love in your heart, remember the love-tales we told, for with my love in your heart, my darling, you will never grow old; Don’t be fretful, or regretful, that you will grow old much too soon, with a love, dear, to dream of, dear, you’ll stay like a rosebud in June.”   
On October 1, the United Nations marks the International Day of Older People with the theme being “Fulfilling the Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for Older People: Across Generations.”   
In a statement, the 200-nation world body says seventy-five years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted the universal declaration on human rights, a monumental document in the history of 
human rights.   
Written by representatives from around the world with different legal, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, it is the first document articulating the fundamental human rights that are meant to be universally protected. In recognition of this milestone, and looking to a future that delivers on the promise to ensure that all people, including all older people, fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms, the 33rd commemoration of the United Nations International Day of Older People will put a spotlight on the specificity of older people around the world, for the enjoyment of their rights and in addressing violations, and how the strengthening of solidarity through equity and reciprocity between generations offers sustainable solutions to deliver on the promise of the sustainable development goals.   
The work of the international community around intergenerational solidarity has demonstrated, time and again, through various fora that intergenerational solutions, which are guided by the human rights principles of participation, accountability, non-discrimination and equality, empowerment and legality, can contribute to rekindling the legacy, relevance and activism of the universal declaration of human rights.   
This comes by empowering both youth and older persons to shift the needle of political will towards fulfilling the promises of the Declaration for all people across generations.   
The day’s objectives are: To increase global knowledge and awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and generate commitments among all stakeholders to strengthen the protection of the human rights of current and future generations of older persons around the world; To share and learn from intergenerational models for the protection of human rights around the world and to call on Governments and UN entities to review their current practices with a view to better integrate a life course approach to human rights in their work, and to ensure the active and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, including civil society, national human rights institutions and older persons themselves, in the work on strengthening solidarity among generations and intergenerational partnerships.   
On December 14 1990, the UN General Assembly in a resolution designated October 1 as the International Day of Older People. This was preceded by initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing. This was adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing and endorsed later that year by the UN 
General Assembly.   
In 1991, the General Assembly in a resolution adopted the UN principles for older people. In 2002, the Second World Assembly on ageing adopted the Madrid International plan of action on ageing, to respond to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages.   
According to the UN, the number of older people--defined as those aged 65 years or older-- tripled from about 260 million in 1980 to 761 million in 2021. Between 2021 and 2050, the global share of the older population is projected to increase from less than 10% to about 17%.   
Orvon Grover “Gene” Autry, known as the Singing Cowboy, also made famous a memorable song for older people. It goes like this: “Old soldiers never die, never die, never die, old soldiers never die, they just fade away; On the seventh of December, in the year ‘41, the free world met disaster, at the hands of the Rising Sun, from the bastions of Corregidor, Pearl Harbor and Bataan, came the sound of war and fury, and the death march of freeman.”