AGAC Issue Focus is a biannual periodical that aims to address ageing and human rights issues in a timely fashion. The publication introduces relevant ASEM partner policies and responses to a wider audience in order to promote information sharing and awareness-raising and ultimately enhance ASEM partner cooperation.

The AGAC Issue Focus Team prepared this Fall and Winter Edition of Issue Focus: Dying With Dignity and the Human Rights of Older Persons. Valuable insight and input were provided by the contributors to this issue—Dae Seog Heo at Seoul National University College of Medicine; Derya Nur Kayacan at the Turkish-German University; Rob Jonquière at the World Federation of Right to Die Societies; and Atsushi Asai and Hua Xu at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine.

We hope that this edition will inspire advocates for the human rights of older persons around the world and contribute to improving their quality of life and death, particularly with respect to the controversial issue of assisted dying, a matter of potential importance to everyone of us. It appears that the only thing we can agree on at the moment is the desire for a dignified ending. We urge the international community to discuss the issue in depth.

For more information, please see the accompanying report.