The United Nations has released a report on implementing its Disability Inclusion Strategy in the UN system.
The Strategy was launched in June 2019, aims to enable the UN system to support the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the SDGs, the Agenda for Humanity prepared for the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Strategy will be implemented for five years and then reviewed and updated as needed.
The Strategy features four core areas: leadership, strategic planning, and management – including senior leadership that champions disability inclusion and establishing teams with expertise on disability inclusion; which entails ensuring full accessibility for all and actively involving persons with disabilities in all of its work; programming, and organizational culture.
The first report on implementing the Strategy establishes a baseline on disability inclusion in the UN system. It also provides recommendations for the system, including ways to support Member States in implementing the CRPD and achieving the SDGs. The report identifies challenges in achieving disability inclusion associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and disability-inclusive response and recovery efforts.
“Transformative and lasting change for persons who are too often left behind.” It seeks to spark action to raise the standards of the UN’s performance on disability inclusion, to make an impact with its policies, programmes, and operations, and to “meaningfully engage persons with disabilities, and not just see them as a vulnerable population, but also as actors of change.” said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed
