Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities
HLPF General Debate: Leave No One Behind
Trusteeship Council Chamber
Colin Allen
18-20 July
(2 minutes)
Possible delivery times: 18th, 19th or 20st July, after 7pm
Globally there are one billion persons with disabilities of whom 80 per cent live in developing countries and are overrepresented among those living in absolute poverty. Furthermore, persons with disabilities are particularly at risk to the effects of climate change, such as natural disasters and food insecurity; they are also more adversely affected in situations of conflict. We must ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind.
Persons with disabilities were excluded from the MDGs and consequently left out of the subsequent framework. In contrast, persons with disabilities are strongly included in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs with 11 explicit references. Yet this needs to be translated into action at the national level.
Persons with disabilities, in particular the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, have been collaborative and consequently active and visible in the implementation of the SDGs at the global level.
Some achievements of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda:
• We have engaged in the SDGs implementation worldwide.
• In collaboration and in partnership we carried out focused SDG advocacy trainings in: Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Samoa and Thailand. As a result, approximately over 300 persons with disabilities attended these workshops.
• We compiled a comprehensive guide and toolkit on the 2030 Agenda for persons with disabilities to foster understanding and to facilitate implementation by establishing linkages between the SDGs and the UN CRPD.
• In preparation to the HLPF we mobilized in the 22 countries that report next week. Our aim was to engage in national consultations and to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the SDGs implementation process.
• Twenty-three representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities from all regions of the world are attending the HLPF to remind the leaders of the world, governments and the UN system that we do not want to be left behind.
Despite these achievements, persons with disabilities were largely left out of the national-level consultations. DPOs are looking for opportunities to work with governments, and many are being turned away. Public consultations often exclude persons with disabilities themselves and their representative organisations. Even when wider civil society is invited to participate, meetings and documents are not accessible for many persons with disabilities, thus excluding them from democratic processes. Persons with disabilities encounter barriers to participate fully in designing, implementing and reviewing national development programmes.
We would like to recommend that governments consider working with organisations of persons with disabilities take part actively in the national SDG implementation.
Trusteeship Council Chamber
Colin Allen
18-20 July
(2 minutes)
Possible delivery times: 18th, 19th or 20st July, after 7pm
Globally there are one billion persons with disabilities of whom 80 per cent live in developing countries and are overrepresented among those living in absolute poverty. Furthermore, persons with disabilities are particularly at risk to the effects of climate change, such as natural disasters and food insecurity; they are also more adversely affected in situations of conflict. We must ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind.
Persons with disabilities were excluded from the MDGs and consequently left out of the subsequent framework. In contrast, persons with disabilities are strongly included in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs with 11 explicit references. Yet this needs to be translated into action at the national level.
Persons with disabilities, in particular the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, have been collaborative and consequently active and visible in the implementation of the SDGs at the global level.
Some achievements of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda:
• We have engaged in the SDGs implementation worldwide.
• In collaboration and in partnership we carried out focused SDG advocacy trainings in: Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Samoa and Thailand. As a result, approximately over 300 persons with disabilities attended these workshops.
• We compiled a comprehensive guide and toolkit on the 2030 Agenda for persons with disabilities to foster understanding and to facilitate implementation by establishing linkages between the SDGs and the UN CRPD.
• In preparation to the HLPF we mobilized in the 22 countries that report next week. Our aim was to engage in national consultations and to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the SDGs implementation process.
• Twenty-three representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities from all regions of the world are attending the HLPF to remind the leaders of the world, governments and the UN system that we do not want to be left behind.
Despite these achievements, persons with disabilities were largely left out of the national-level consultations. DPOs are looking for opportunities to work with governments, and many are being turned away. Public consultations often exclude persons with disabilities themselves and their representative organisations. Even when wider civil society is invited to participate, meetings and documents are not accessible for many persons with disabilities, thus excluding them from democratic processes. Persons with disabilities encounter barriers to participate fully in designing, implementing and reviewing national development programmes.
We would like to recommend that governments consider working with organisations of persons with disabilities take part actively in the national SDG implementation.