Global Aging and The United Methodist Church
by Susanne S. Paul

In April 2002, government delegations from 142 countries gathered in Madrid, Spain, for the Second World Assembly on Ageing organized by the United Nations. In addition, representatives of more than 800 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) attended the four-day event preceding government meetings.

Although the majority of the world's elderly live in developing nations, only one in ten persons at the NGO Forum lived in a poor country. The Spanish government helped underwrite the costs of governmental delegates from the poorest lands, but it did not assist NGOs from Africa, Asia, Latin America, or Eastern Europe. NGOs from rich countries and a few donor governments helped a few dozen representatives from poor countries with costs. Sub-Saharan Africans, Pakistanis, Iranians, and many others faced great difficulties obtaining Spanish visas. Some had managed to get over the financial hurdle only to be turned away by Spanish authorities at the border. As a result, there were few voices to speak for the poorest elderly in the developing world.

At the Forum, NGO representatives, many of whom were older people themselves, crowded into rooms for dozens of workshops, panels, and speeches. Sometimes they had contradictory viewpoints on hot topics — increasing versus decreasing the age of retirement, for example, and separate versus age-integrated housing.

NGO panels explored new subjects: Should mandatory retirement be considered elder abuse? Could global taxes on currency trading or carbon emissions produce revenues to relieve the poverty of old people? Would working Europeans agree to a voluntary wage deduction to support social insurance for the poorest old people around the world? Will elder migrants from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America be tolerated in the rich countries? Will older people resist privatization — and growing inequality — of retirement income? What programs for the elderly can assist developing countries on a country-to-country basis?

As the NGO Forum ended, many interesting answers emerged. Everyone reaffirmed the need to solve aging policy issues . . . soon. Information abounded on good health habits — diet, exercise, and avoidance of harmful products, such as tobacco. But larger issues facing elderly in developing countries — access to food, water, income, and public health — remained contested among different options for economic development.

As the inter-governmental Assembly got under way, it focused on crisis issues, such as AIDS. Fifty-one countries, mostly in Africa and the Caribbean, now see longevity rates declining due to the pandemic. Everyone lauded the efforts of African grandparents who raise grandchildren orphaned by AIDS.

Delegates tackled older women's issues, too. Widowed, often poor with little workforce training, sometimes chronically ill, older women are frequently vilified or powerless in their communities. Womenn's issues gave rise to 29 references in the International Plan of Action. Elder abuse and violence suffered in armed conflicts gained attention, as well as more conventional issues such as safe housing. Delegates increasingly described the elderly as engaged in shaping their later years, involved in choosing to work or leave the workforce, keeping active to stay healthy, and getting involved as volunteers and experts in their communities. Government delegates adopted 117 specific recommendations to ensure that older people can age well.

When the Assembly ended, delegates had high hopes that their recommendations would find their way into regional, national, and community programs to improve the lives of older people. The delegates saw religious organizations as an important channel for accomplishing this great task. The Plan of Action begins and ends with appeals for the assistance of religious communities to help make the plan a reality.

A number of Methodist bodies sent representatives to Madrid. The World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women brought representatives. Three United Methodist General Boards — Church and Society, Discipleship, and Global Ministries — participated. The worldwide Methodist Deaconess movement and many active Methodist laypeople attended as well. Thanks to this presence, we can expect world Methodism to take up the urgent topics of aging. Here are some suggestions:

First, we should study the International Plan of Action for ourselves. The text can be found at www.un.org or at www.globalaging.org, as well as in other interpretative materials. Global Action on Aging is preparing a Resource Kit and Seminar Modules as a study guide for local groups.

Second, we must select critical issues that the denomination can adopt for education and action.

UNITED STATES

• Pension
  Continue to defend Social Security, keep it public, and oppose privatization. Social Security, the most successful public social program in the country, helps women, minorities, and retired workers live with dignity in old age, with financial benefits earned during working years. Insist on public regulation of private pension plans, so that older people who have corporate, union, or personal retirement funds can be safe from malfeasance.

• Health Care
  Demand public regulation of medical insurance and pharmaceutical charges. Better yet, press for a single payer universal health care plan as endorsed by resolution of The United Methodist General Conference. Otherwise, public benefits for private care simply subsidize profits of drug and medical care providers. Advocate for better preventive programs that forestall sickness and disability with health education and promotion, including physical and mental exercise in a social setting.

• Decent Work
  Call for decent work with adequate pay for all older people who work or want jobs. At present, older people are often pushed out of mainstream employment and forced into joblessness or degrading jobs with low wages that have few or no benefits.

• Fight Age Discrimination & Exclusion
  Oppose age discrimination, both formal and informal, that denies opportunity or access on the basis of age, within the church as well as in society. Insist on the inclusion of older people in every part of society, inviting retired people to use their talent and energy to volunteer and to be involved fully in meaningful activities.

• Support Caregiving
  Take action to support informal caregivers for the sick, disabled, and frail elderly. Practical aid to informal caregivers should include public compensation, training, respite, and support groups. Family members and friends often become informal caregivers since older people cannot afford or do not want to use nursing homes.

• Oppose Elder Abuse
  Draw public attention to the many forms of elder abuse — physical, emotional, financial — that older people face in families and communities. Identify causes for such abuse and take steps to end it.

INTERNATIONAL

• Include Older People in Mission
  Evaluate mission and service programs of the denomination to include older people. Design programs to engage the capacities of older people and include older people among their recipients.

• Protect Elder People in Conflict
  The denomination's humanitarian relief work requires an assessment and a protocol to protect older people in armed conflicts or under foreign occupation.

• Cooperate with the United Nations
  Join the United Nations' efforts to implement the International Plan of Action on Ageing in our mission agencies. And monitor and publicize the policies of the international financial institutions that harm the social and economic security of older people in developing countries.

• Connectional Denominations
  Work with the World Methodist Council and the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women to encourage adoption and implementation of the International Plan of Action in their affiliates.

• Conclusions
  United Methodists have a social vision of a more just world for all. We should advance the social justice agenda contained in the International Plan of Action on Ageing. Every United Methodist has a direct stake in the outcome. After all, each one of us will one day be elderly, too.

Susanne Paul is the Founder and President of Global Action on Aging, susanne.paul@globalaging.org.