Older Migrants – Vulnerable and Excluded

Introduction

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) by 2050, one in six people in the world will be over the age of 65, up from one in ten in 2021.¹ This demographic change is irreversible and has inevitable consequences for economies, industry, health and social care, and security systems. Various aspects of global ageing and its impact on societies and economies have been analysed in many international reports and scholarship.² In the contemporary world, these demographic changes and intensive population movements overlap. The juxtaposition of these phenomena has a variety of consequences, including a growing number of older people who are “on the move.”

Migrant populations, as whole societies, are ageing. The Global Migration Analysis Centre reported that 12.2 % of international migrants (34.3 million people) are aged 65 and over.³ The recent OECD report shows that, in the EU and the OECD, this category of migrants consists of about 15 % of the foreign-born population.⁴

In high- and middle-income countries, their number escalated by nearly 16 million from mid-1990 to mid-2020, while in low-income countries, it only increased by 76,587. Between 1990 and 2020, the number of older migrants rose by 3,4 % in Europe⁵ and 2,1 % in North America.⁶ The newcomers are also older than those arriving in the past. The Center for Immigration Studies of Census Bureau data showed that the age at which immigrants are arriving in the USA has increased dramatically since 2000. The share of newcomers 55 and older in 2019 was 11 %, double the 5 % in 2000. Meanwhile, in the case of migrants 65 + the percentage was 6 % in 2019, compared to just 2 % in 2000.⁷

Meanwhile, both migrants and older people are heterogeneous groups. They are people of various experiences, ages, genders, ethnicities and diverse legal statuses, health conditions, skills, etc. This multiplied heterogeneity of older migrants causes them to be invisible when gathering various data types and their specific needs are not recognised. What is most important from the perspective of this study is that this situation leaves them vulnerable to human rights violations. Thus, migration in older age, as well as ageing outside the home country, is also an issue of international human rights law. However, older migrants often escape international human rights regulations and determining the obligations of states to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of older people “on the move” is very difficult.

Therefore, the combination of age and other grounds for discrimination, including migration status, needs more research from various perspectives.⁸ Several studies have been published in recent years on specific aspects of the migratory situation of older people, in particular the ageing and social exclusion of older migrants in host countries. For example, on issues such as the burden of migrants and war refugees on national budgets, social pensions for migrants, social, medical and long-term care, ageism towards older migrants,⁹ as well as reunification with older family members remaining in a country of origin.¹⁰ It is worth noting the research on “the triply (at least) vulnerable” groups, including older migrant women¹¹ and older non-heteronormative migrants.¹²

However, these examples refer only to particular aspects of the intersection of migration and ageing, whereas the theoretical and practical threads at this intersection are comprehensively explored in the “Handbook on Migration and Ageing”, edited by Sandra Torres and Alistair Hunter (2023).¹³ It is a profound interdisciplinary study that analyses on the intersectionality of ageing and migration, including issues related to intergenerational relations, ethnicity, diversity and the intersectionality of ageing and migration, integration, social exclusion, ageing in host countries, racism, stereotyping, international retirement, loneliness, access to services and many others. The works of Russell King and colleagues¹⁴ also deserve particular attention, most notably “Unpacking the ageing-migration nexus and challenging the vulnerability trope” (2017),¹⁵ in which they bring to light the nexus between ageing and migration and look at “older people left behind by migration.”¹⁶

However, the area of human rights law and older migrants from the perspective of international law appears to still be relatively unexplored. One of the few texts on the subject is the chapter “Sidestepping Rights: An Analysis of the Intersection of Human Rights Obligations and Their Practical Implications for Older Migrants” by Ada Lui Gallassi and Lars Harrysson in the book by Kieran Walsh and colleagues “Social Exclusion in Later Life” (2021).¹⁷

That is why this study aims to establish whether and how international human rights law protects older migrants and what the states’ obligations are in this regard. Traditionally, the international community agrees that states have the right to decide on their own migration policies. However, international human rights law establishes some limits on the states’ freedom in this area. In 2017, the Human Rights Council stressed that states “have a duty to comply with their obligations under relevant international law, including international human rights law and refugee law, in order to ensure full respect for the human rights of migrants, including migrants in a vulnerable situation.”¹⁸