CONCEPT OF VULNERABILITY IN CEDAW’S “GENERAL RECOMMENDATION NO. 27 ON OLDER WOMEN AND PROTECTION OF THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS”

CEDAW published “General Recommendation No. 27 on Older Women and Protection of Their Human Rights” and term of vulnerability is used in several places. Vulnerability has been used in broad and narrow meanings in the literature. In this study, which opinion is suitable in terms of vulnerability of elderly women has been argued considering usages of the recommendation. Arguments of both sides discussed and which side’s arguments are proper for the protection of elderly women’s human rights evaluated. It has been stated that defining vulnerability broadly has a risk of missing the context of women elderliness. Then, from the standpoint of that risk how CEDAW used vulnerability has been tried to be propounded. When narrow definition is handled, it is seen that context is considered and specific situations like natural disasters, accessibility to basic resources and elderly widows’ riskiness to exploitation are handled in detail. However, especially in revealing the problem considering graduation rather than context and value knowledge seems risky. For example in using particularly vulnerable there is more graduation than vulnerable and this means particularly vulnerable is closer to broad definition of vulnerability when it is compared with vulnerable. However, this approach cannot answer such question: “Women are not more vulnerable than men. So, is there no specific need for the protection of human rights of elderly women?” Therefore, it has been concluded that an approach considering context rather than graduation of vulnerabilities could eliminate this risk.