Human Rights of the Elderly at the Digital Age:Connotation and Protection

Abstract： The human rights protection of the elderly is a critical part of the construction of digital society. The human rights of the elderly at the digital age are a bundle of rights， with the core value of \"care for the elderly\"， featuring in the right to life and the right to development of the elderly， including the dignity， the autonomy， the privacy， and the social participation of the elderly in the course of digitalization. The construction of the smart eldercare system at the digital age should follow the principle of \"FAST-SUM\"： \"fair， accountable， sustainable， transparent， supportive， underwriting and motivating\"， by which the dignity， autonomy， privacy and social participation of the elderly will be guaranteed. However， the human rights protection of the elderly at the digital age faces the plight of \"cold services\" and is deeply affected by the reliability and effectiveness of digital service， which can be elaborated from two aspects： firstly， the human rights damage of the elderly from the weak reliability of services. The situation is getting more and more serious that the individualized demands of the elderly are ignored or even rejected； secondly， the risks in human rights enjoyment of the elderly from the low effectiveness of services. It is mainly reflected in the \"cost\" pattern of the autonomous dignity of the service and the privacy of the service data.

In this regard， the human rights protection of the elderly at the digital age should be anchored in the major concept of \"technology for the elderly\"， and adhere to three principal rules： first， enhancing the elderly’s capability to cope with digital technologies， i.e.： there should be specific measures to ensure the accessibility and availability of digital services for the elderly， and help the elderly better adapt to the changing life in the digital society； second， consolidating the reliability and responsibility of digital services， i.e.： the management， offer， contents and mechanism of digital services should be aimed at empowering the well-being of the elderly and protecting their human rights； third， standardizing and optimizing digital services， and have adequate preparations for building an age-friendly society.

China is a state with large population， among which there is a considerable number of older people. China attaches great importance to the human rights protection of the elderly at the digital age， takes the health care of the elderly as a significant part of constructing digital service， deeply embeds digital construction into the development of the eldercare system， and explores the development path of the human rights protection of the elderly at the digital age， with digital care， wellness facilities and ethics， from the following aspects： first， to shape the core concept of the human rights protection of the elderly with digital care， and realize the individualized and demand-oriented design of the digital service system； secondly， to enhance the service of human rights protection for the elderly with digital wellness facilities， and to achieve the concept goal of\"accessible care\"， the development goal of \"restful care\" and the innovation goal of\"respectful care\"； thirdly， to guide the development of human rights protection for the elderly with digital ethics， establish operation mechanism of health management for the elderly， and make \"health and wellness without barriers\" the major connotation of the construction of an elderly-friendly digital society.

KEY WORDS： human rights of the elderly； digital age； digital China； agefriendly； smart eldercare