Programme :
Opening Message by Ms. Thelma Kay
Chief, Emerging Social Issues Division
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
(delivered by Ms. Kay Nagata, Social Affairs Officer)
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (UNESCAP), I am very pleased to welcome all of you to this
UN ESCAP/CDPF Field Study cum Regional Workshop on Poverty Alleviation among
Persons with Disabilities (Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China 25-29 October
2004).
I would like to express my appreciation to each of you for having
accepted our invitation. We are indeed very fortunate to be able to bring
together such a distinguished body of regional experts to discuss the
important subject of this Workshop.
UNESCAP is very pleased to join hands with the China Disabled Persons'
Federation (CDPF) to co-organize this Workshop, which is specifically
designed for practitioners and experts who are decision-makers in sectors
important to persons with disabilities and poverty alleviation. We are also
pleased to have many distinguished local leaders of Chinese civil society
attending this Workshop.
I would like to express our gratitude to the Government of China for its
significant support for the efforts of UNESCAP to promote the full
participation and equality of persons with disabilities, not only through
the organization of this particular event but also through many other
activities and initiatives during the first Asian and Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons and the renewed Decade from 2003 to 2012.
My appreciation also goes to our development partners, such as the World
Bank and the World Health Organization which have supported us
substantively.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are at a critical juncture in history with regard to persons with
disabilities. Although the elaboration of a disability-specific
international human rights convention has been the subject of discussion for
more than 15 years, a real process has begun and is gaining momentum.
As you know, in December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly, by
Resolution 56/168, established an Ad Hoc Committee to consider proposals for
a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention to Promote and Protect
the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. At the global level,
the third and fourth sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee on the International
Convention were held at New York twice in this year, in May/June and
August/September respectively, and the process of drafting the Convention
text is on-going.
Concurrently, at the regional level, the Governments in the Asian and
Pacific region have proclaimed the second Asian and Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons from 2003 to 2012. The Biwako Millennium Framework for
Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for
Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF) was adopted as the
major regional policy guideline for the new decade (2003-2012). The BMF was
designed to ensure that persons with disabilities be an integral part of
efforts to achieve the millennium development goals, particularly in the
areas of poverty alleviation initiatives.
In the Asian and Pacific region, it is estimated that of 400 million
persons with disabilities, over 40 per cent are living in poverty. These
poor persons with disabilities have been prevented from accessing
entitlements available to other members of society, including health, food,
education, employment and other basic social services, and from
participating in community decision-making process. Poverty is both a cause
and consequence of disability. Poverty and disability reinforce each other,
contributing to increased exclusion.
Mainstreaming disability into development means that all policies,
programmes and projects should include disability as a key issue, and that
planning, monitoring and evaluation should incorporate “disability impact
assessment” and “disability budgeting”. Recently, a twin-track approach and
a policy for “disability and development” have been given growing interest
and attention by some development agencies, such as the World Bank, the
Asian Development Bank, USAID, Scandinavian bilateral agencies and Jica.
There is an urgent need for Governments to adopt the twin track approach, by
including as a major target group, persons with disabilities in their
national policy alleviation programmes.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In the last two days, we have visited some successful project sites of
empowerment of persons with disabilities at the community level, and
documented some key strategies for innovative and successful field projects
on poverty alleviation among persons with disabilities.
In light of the BMF mandates, this workshop intends to produce an
action-oriented joint statement focusing on key principles and strategies to
integrate persons with disabilities into national poverty alleviation
programmes and projects. Our joint statement will help our Governments,
development agencies and civil society to mainstream disability concerns
into pro-poor development strategies, through participatory evaluation of
existing socio-economic and development policies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to conclude by expressing our shared aspiration towards an
inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society, a society in which all
people with diverse abilities can fully enjoy the fruits of development on
an equal basis.
I wish you success in your deliberations and a pleasant stay in Lanzhou.
Thank you.
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