The silent epidemic: social disconnection among older adults. An analysis of its protection under the international human rights framework, and the proposed Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

Abstract

Social disconnection is a silent but increasingly recognized public-health issue nowadays. However, social health has historically been neglected, and in the face of an aging population, it can be a relevant issue to address to ensure healthy aging. Although human rights protect our basic necessities, they have not done so in the case of social connection. Therefore, this thesis aims to address this issue by framing social disconnection within the context of human rights, focusing on older people. To do so, this thesis takes a qualitative, desk-based approach. First, it engages into a literature review of social disconnection as a global issue, including its prevalence, impact, and potential interventions, focusing on older people and aging factors. Then, after a review of human rights scholarship on social rights, it conducts a doctrinal and qualitative analysis of the content of current human rights instruments for older persons and state submissions concerning a possible United Nations convention on the rights of older persons, using a framework of analysis based on different dimensions of social connection. This thesis demonstrates that social disconnection is a relevant issue that still requires further attention and interventions due to its negative impacts and the different factors that can relate to it. Furthermore, by analyzing the human rights documents and state inputs this thesis argues that social connection is a dimension that is not sufficiently protected under the current older persons rights’ framework, and that the draft of the convention presents an opportunity to address this issue that has not been taken yet.