The Convention on Older Person´s Rights: A Graphic Guide is the title of a new public information comic, created by an international partnership between the Centro Interdisciplinario de Envejecimiento, Universidad de la República of Uruguay and the Scottish Centre for Comics Studies, University of Dundee. A preview of this guide was released to coincide with the UN International Day of Older Persons on 1st October 2021. The official international launch will take place this Friday 10th December on Human Rights Day, this year´s theme is ‘Equality’.
Dr Fernando Berriel, Associate Professor at Universidad de la República in Uruguay met Mayra Crowe, senior lecturer in Spanish in 2019. They went on to collaborate on the 2020 comic The Pandemic Tales: Responses to COVID-19 and lockdown, and Older Person’s Rights: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Mayra Crowe says, “We thought it was important to put emphasis on the fact that older persons are subjects of the law, citizens with rights and able to make decisions about their lives with autonomy.”
In June 2015, the Organisation of American States (OAS) approved the Inter-American Convention of Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons. In order to encourage the implementation of this invaluable legal instrument, it is paramount to promote its ratification in those countries that have not done so. The creation of Monitoring Steering Committee requires a minimum of 10 countries to ratify the Convention. As of September 2021, only 8 Member States have ratified it.
This new graphic guide presents an overview of the Convention. Its aim is to inform and create awareness of the benefits of ratification amongst stakeholders and the general population. It has been published in both English and Spanish.
The creation team includes Adriana Rovira, a Human Rights and public policy expert on Age and Aging. She participated in the commission that created the Interamerican Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons in the Organization of American States. The team also includedDenisse Tonera, a designer and illustrator of educational and literary texts and a member of the Centro Interdisciplinario de Envejecimiento.
Monty Nero, a writer and artist, created the art, lettering, design and layout. His work has appeared with Marvel, 2000AD and Vertigo. Dr Damon Herd, who was in charged of the production, is an artist, researcher and educator and currently is the Programme Director of the MDes Comics and Graphic Novels at Duncan and Jordanston College of Art & Design, University of Dundee.
Dr. Berriel describes the guide in this way: “This new comic wants to inform and thereby influence public policy, but also it wants to showcase the work of many people, especially older persons. It is an instrument to help widen the progress in the field of older person´s rights.”
This project would not have been possible without support and funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Institute (AHRI), School Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee, School of Humanities, University of Dundee. This comic is dedicated to yesterday’s, today’s and tomorrow’s older population.
Digital Downloads of these comics can be found in the links below:
Scottish Centre for Comics Studies 