News

Volume 6 Issue 11 - November 15, 2009

U.N. resolution to align M.D.G.s towards disability issues

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: United Nation’s General Assembly has come up with a resolution for realising the Millennium Development Goals (M.D.G.s) for persons with disabilities urging governments and Member States to explicitly include disability issues and persons with disabilities in national plans and tools designed to contribute to the full realization of M.D.G.s.

The resolution calls for Governments to enable persons with disabilities to participate as agents and beneficiaries of development, particularly in all efforts aimed at achieving M.D.G.s, by ensuring that programmes and policies on poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combating H.I.V./A.I.D.S., etc. are inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.

The resolution also emphasizes the need for Governments to develop and accelerate exchange of information, guidelines and standards, legislative measures and policies regarding the situation of persons with disabilities and disability issues. And the need to build a knowledge base of data and information about the situation of persons with disabilities that could be used to enable development policy planning, monitoring, evaluation and implementation to be disability-sensitive.

Although ‘disability’ is very relevant to each M.D.G., it is nonetheless not mentioned in any one of the eight goals.

The upcoming high – level plenary meeting to review the implementation of M.D.G.s in 2010 is an important opportunity to enhance efforts in this regard. It is time for disabled rights activists and leaders to write to the Government of India urging them to support this resolution.