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On 23 September, there was an important meeting.
In the meeting, countries talked about making sure They also spoke about working together |
During the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on Disability and Development, UN officials and civil society called on the Member States to ensure greater support for inclusion of persons with disabilities in global development agenda.
The High Level Meeting heard statements from over 50 Member States, UN agencies and civil society organisations in support of mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities in post-2015 development framework.
Some 1 billion people are estimated to live with some form of disability. Nevertheless, the Millennium Development Goals adopted at the Millennium Summit in 2000 contained no reference disability and persons with disabilities have routinely left behind in the global development efforts. 134 countries in the world ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“Given the size of such a marginalized group, the onus is on us all to ensure that any future sustainable development goals include the disabled,” UN General Assembly President John Ashe stressed.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted: “We must further strengthen the international normative framework on disability and development. We must act now to remove barriers to access to physical environments, transportation and information and communications. And we must not only lift the physical barriers – but also the barriers in attitudes that fuel stigma and discrimination.”
The meeting resulted in the adoption of the outcome document The way forward, a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond. In the document, the governments underlined the need for urgent action by all relevant stakeholders towards adoption and implementation of more ambitious disability-inclusive national development strategies with disability-targeted actions, backed by increased international cooperation and support.
The delegation of the International Disability Alliance was led its Chair and the President of the European Disability Forum Yannis Vardakastannis who spoke on behalf of organisations of persons with disabilities at the opening of the meeting. Persons with intellectual disabilities and their families were represented by Inclusion International Ambassador to the UN Diane Richler and the Executive Director Connie Laurin-Bowie.
“The High Level meeting was an important first step in ensuring that governments understand the inextricable link between the rights of people with disabilities and global efforts to eradicate poverty. Presidents, Prime Ministers and foreign ministers spoke about the importance of including people with disabilities in development efforts. This provides our movement with an opportunity to promote inclusive international cooperation, “ she said after the meeting.
