Materials :
Basic Documents :
Draft Biwako Millennium Framework For Action:
Towards An Inclusive, Barrier-Free And Rights-Based Society For Persons With
Disabilities In Asia And The Pacific
UNITED
NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION
FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Conclude the
Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002
25-28 October 2002
Otsu City, Shiga, Japan
SUMMARY PAPER
Lake “Biwa” is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, in the City of
Otsu. It is in this city that the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to
Conclude the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons is held. Hence,
the name of the framework “Biwako” (“ko” means a lake). A few more notes
of the other words in the framework. The word “Millennium” indicates that
the Framework is being adopted at the beginning of the new millennium and
that it is also structured to supplement the UN Millennium Development
Goals and targets. “An Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society”
represents the guiding principles of this framework. An “inclusive”
society is a society for all, and a “barrier-free” society refers to a
society free from institutional, physical and attitudinal barriers, as
well as social, economic and cultural barriers. A “rights-based” society
means a society based on human rights where the autonomy or self
determination of peoples with disabilities is valued and placed at the
centre of all decisions affecting them.
In May 2002, ESCAP adopted the resolution “Promoting an inclusive,
barrier-free and rights-based society for people with disabilities in the
Asian and Pacific region in the twenty-first century”. The resolution also
proclaimed the extension of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled
Persons, 1993-2002, for another decade, 2003-2012.
The “Draft Biwako Millennium Framework “outlines issues, action plans and
strategies towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for
persons with disabilities.
To achieve the goal, the framework identifies seven priority areas for
action, in each of which critical issues and targets with specific time
frames and actions follow. In all, eighteen targets and fifteen strategies
supporting the achievement of all the targets are identified.
The next decade will ensure the paradigm shift from a charity-based
approach to a rights-based approach to protect the civil, cultural,
economic, political, and social rights of persons with disabilities.
To pursue the targets and strategies, consultations with and involvement
of civil society, inter alia, self-help organizations and concerned NGOs are
essential.
The following sections summarize the seven priority areas for action, the
targets, strategies, time frames, and the supporting/monitoring mechanisms.
(1) Self-help organizations of persons with disabilities
Persons with disabilities and their self-help organizations are the most
equipped, best informed to speak on their behalf and can contribute to
solutions on issues that concern them. Two targets are set to make the
difference:
1) By 2004, Governments, international funding agencies and NGOs should
establish policy to support and develop self-help organizations.
2) By 2005, Governments and civil society organizations should fully
include self-help organizations in decision-making processes. Actions for
the targets include the participation of persons with disabilities in
policy-making, political representations and capacity building.
Self-help organizations should include marginalized persons with
disabilities such as women and girls with disabilities, persons with
intellectual disabilities and persons with psychiatric disabilities.
(2) Women with disabilities
Women with disabilities are multiply disadvantaged through their status
as women, as persons with disabilities, and majority numbers as persons
living in poverty. Three targets are set to solve these problems:
1) By 2005, Governments should ensure anti-discrimination measures to
protect women with disabilities.
2) By 2005, self-help organizations adopt policies to promote full
representation of women with disabilities,.
3) By 2005, women with disabilities should be included in the membership
of national mainstream women’s associations.
(3) Early intervention and education
Less than 10 per cent of children and youth with disabilities have access
to any form of education compared with an enrolment rate of over 70 per cent
for non-disabled children and youth in primary education in the Asian and
Pacific region. This exclusion from education for children and youth with
disabilities results in exclusion from opportunity for further personal,
social and vocational development. Three targets are set for these problems:
1) Children with disabilities will be an integral part of the population
targeted by Millennium Development Goal Target 3, which is to ensure that,
by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete
a full course of primary schooling.
2) By 2010, at least 75 per cent of children and youth with disabilities
will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
3) By 2012, all infants and young children (0 – 4 years) will have access
to and receive community-based early intervention services.
Actions in this area include adequate legislation for inclusive education
and national data collection on children with disabilities (0-16 years).
(4) Training and employment, including self-employment
Persons with disabilities remain disproportionately undereducated,
untrained, unemployed, underemployed and poor. They have insufficient access
to the mainstream labor market partially due to social exclusion, lack of
trained and competent staff and adequate training for independent workers.
Three targets follow:
1) By 2012, at least 30 per cent of the signatories (member states) will
ratify ILO Convention 159 concerning Vocational Rehabilitation on Employment
(Disabled Persons).
2) By 2012, at least 30 per cent of all vocational training programmes in
signatory countries will include persons with disabilities.
3) By 2010, reliable data on the employment and self-employment rates of
persons with disabilities will exist in all countries.
(5) Access to built environment and public transport
Inaccessibility to the built environment, including public transport
systems, is still the major barrier for persons with disabilities. This
problem will only exacerbate, as older people with disabilities are to
increase in the region. Universal design approaches have proven to
benefit all in society such as older persons, pregnant women and parents
with young children, and its economic benefits have been legitimized, yet
substantive initiatives at policy level have not been taken. Three targets
are set to improve the situation:
1) Governments should adopt and enforce, accessibility standards for
planning of public facilities, infrastructure and transport.
2) By 2012, existing public transport systems and all new and renovated
public transport systems should be accessible.
3) By 2005, Governments should adopt and enforce accessibility standards
for planning of public facilities, infrastructure and transport, including
those in rural/agricultural contexts.
(6) Access to information and communication including ICT
In the last ten years, there has been much progress in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) development, and it opens up many
opportunities for people with disabilities in networking, solidarity
employment and independent living. But it has also widened the gap between
persons with disabilities and the non-disabled. The Digital divide includes
inaccessibility to infrastructure for ICT, Internet, and ICT skills.
These problems are acute in rural areas. The multi-media environment
is creating barriers for people with visual disabilities. Three
targets are set to improve the situation:
1) By 2005, persons with disabilities should have at least the same rate
of access to the Internet and related services as the rest of citizens in a
country of the region.
2) By 2004, international organizations should incorporate accessibility
standards for persons with disabilities in their international ICT
standards.
3) Governments should adopt, by 2005, ICT accessibility guidelines for
persons with disabilities in their national ICT policies.
(7) Poverty alleviation through capacity building, social security and
sustainable livelihood programmes
Persons with disabilities are the poorest of the poor. It is
estimated that 160 million persons with disabilities, over 40 per cent of
disabled persons are living in poverty, unable to benefit from their
socio-economic rights. Poverty and disability worsens each other when
persons with disabilities are socially excluded and adequate social services
are not provided. Pursuant to the UN Millennium Development Goal target 1:
1) Governments should halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of
persons with disabilities whose income/consumption is less than one dollar a
day. Actions call for Governments to integrate disability dimensions into
MDG baseline data collection and analysis, to allocate a certain percentage
of the total rural development /poverty alleviation funds towards persons
with disabilities.
National plan of action (five year) on disability
Strategy 1 calls for Governments to develop and adopt, by 2004, a
five-year comprehensive national plan of action to implement the targets and
strategies of the framework.
Promotion of rights-based approach to disability issues
Strategy 2 calls for Governments to adopt and implement
non-discrimination policies. Strategy 3 draws attention to national human
rights institutions as agencies to protect disabled people’s rights.
Strategy 4 calls for Governments to actively involve persons with
disabilities in any policy development. Strategy 5 calls for
Governments to ratify the core international human rights treaties.
Strategy 6 calls for Governments to support the Ad Hoc Committee for the
comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect
the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities
Disability statistics/common definition of disabilities for planning
A common system of definition and classification of disability is not
uniformly applied in the region. Two strategies are set to solve the
problem. Strategy 7 calls for Governments to develop, by 2005, their system
in disability-related data collection and analysis. Strategy 8 calls for
Governments to adopt, by 2005, definitions on disability based on the United
Nations publication “Guidelines and Principles for the Development of
Disability Statistics.”
Strengthened community development approach to prevention, rehabilitation
and empowerment of persons with disabilities
Community-based approach is augmenting and replacing traditional
institutional and centralized rehabilitation programmes for disabled
people’s economic, social and other human rights enhancement. Strategy 9
calls for Governments to immediately develop national policies to promote
community-based approaches.
Cooperation and support for action: subregional, regional and
interregional
Special focus is on strengthening cooperation among governments at the
subregional level. Strategy 10 and 11 call for formulating subregional
priorities and plans of action, by 2004, to achieve the targets. At a
regional level, strategy 12 calls for Governments, the United Nations
system, civil society organizations and the private sector to collaborate,
support and take advantage of the training and communication capability of
the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability. This center is to
be opened in 2004 in Bangkok, as a legacy of the Asian and Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons. It has the capacity of one of the most powerful focal
points in the region. Strategy 13 and 14 call for Governments, civil society
organizations and the private sector to establish a network of centres of
excellence in focused areas to maximize cooperation and collaboration.
ESCAP and other United Nations agencies should assist in the establishment
of a network of centres of excellence. Strategy 15 emphasizes cooperation
between ESCAP and other regional agencies for exchange of information,
experiences and expertise.
Monitoring and review
ESCAP should convene biennial meetings to review achievements and to
identify actions that may be required to implement the Biwako Millennium
Framework for Action. At these meetings, the representatives of national
coordination committees on disability matters comprising Government
ministries/agencies, NGOs, self-help organizations and the media will be
invited to present reports to review progress in the implementation
The mid-point review of the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action should
be conducted. Based on the review, the targets and strategic plans for the
second half of the Decade may be modified and new targets and strategic
plans formulated.
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