Countries across Europe are confronting the social, economic and political challenges of an ageing population. Among the most pressing of these challenges is the organisation and financing of long-term care and support for older people. While people are living longer than previous generations, they are not necessarily living these additional years in good health, and most will require some form of care or assistance in later life (Colombo et al., 2011). This working paper, the second in the series attached to the project “From disability rights towards a rights-based approach to long-term care in Europe: Building an index of rights-based policies for older people”, presents a conceptual framework for a human rights-based approach to care and support services, and attempts to detail what the fulfilment of universal human rights entails when applied to the particular case of older people with care and support needs.
