Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me, first of all, commend the Government of Qatar and League of Arab States, for your initiative in organizing this important event, within the context of the 61st session of the Commission for Social Development.
DESA has enjoyed a long relationship with Qatar and the League of Arab States in addressing and advancing disability-inclusive development and we look forward to your continued support for equalizing opportunities for persons with disabilities in the world.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As the General Assembly recently emphasized, we must advance social development in our endeavour to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve sustainable development for all.
To advance social progress in a transformative way, requires approaches that consider all parts of society, to ensure that no one is left behind. As such, our recovery efforts must not only seek to address the disproportionate and immediate impacts felt by persons with disabilities but should seek to transform our societies in ways that give persons with disabilities mainstream opportunities and support.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
In September, Member States will gather at the SDG Summit to take stock of progress made in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The 2030 Agenda pledges to leave no one behind and recognizes disability as a cross-cutting issue.
While acknowledging the progress made in the past 8 years, I regret to say that progress has been uneven. Inequality remained. And the COVID-19 pandemic and confluent crises exacerbated the gaps.
Development has, so far, not fully and equally benefited over one billion persons with disabilities across the globe.
Too many persons with disabilities are still living in poverty and are challenged by barriers, discrimination, and exclusion.
Available evidence from 50 countries, shows the percentage of persons with disabilities who completed primary education and who are employed as 10 percentage points lower than that of people without disabilities. And this is but one data point.
But there is hope.
Experiences and good practices from Member States have shown us what can be done.
We need to remove all forms of barriers facing persons with disabilities in accessing education, employment, social protection, and health care.
Promoting a twin-tracked approach¡ªthrough both ¡°mainstreaming¡± and targeted actions- has proved effective.
We need to strengthen monitoring and evaluation, including through disaggregated data, so we can better assess progress made on disability inclusion.
Improved data, monitoring and evaluation can help to drive data-informed and well-designed measures, such as quota schemes, which could increase opportunities for persons with disabilities and narrow the existing gaps, especially in areas such as employment and education.
We also need to raise public awareness on the rights of persons with disabilities and galvanize broad-based support for disability inclusion.
By building partnerships between the public and private sectors and the disability community, and by promoting international cooperation in the field of disability, we can help drive meaningful progress.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
UN DESA looks forward to the discussions in this event today, and the ideas it will generate. And we stand ready to work with you to realize a disability-inclusive recovery.
I wish you every success.
Thank you.