{"id":1361,"date":"2020-12-01T10:14:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T06:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ohrc.om\/english\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:13:56","slug":"un-chief-calls-for-greater-inclusion-of-persons-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/un-chief-calls-for-greater-inclusion-of-persons-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"UN chief calls for greater inclusion of persons with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"Achieving a world where all people\u00a0have equal access to\u00a0opportunities is a goal worth fighting for,\u00a0UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio\u00a0Guterres\u00a0said on Monday in a speech calling\u00a0for greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in society, including in\u00a0COVID-19 response\u00a0and recovery.\nThe UN chief was addressing countries that are party to the 2006\u00a0Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,\u00a0which he stressed can only be fully implemented by tackling the obstacles, injustices and discrimination that this population experiences.\n\n\u201cRealizing the rights of persons with disabilities is crucial to fulfilling the core promise of the\u00a02030 Agenda: to leave no one behind,\u201d he\u00a0said, referring to the global action plan to bring about a more just and sustainable world.\n\n\u201cIn all our actions, our goal is clear: a world in which all persons can enjoy equal opportunities, participate in decision-making and truly benefit from economic, social, political and cultural life. That is a goal worth fighting for.\u201d\n\nPandemic widens inequalities\nThe 13th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention (COSP13) is taking place ahead of\u00a0the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, commemorated annually on 3 December.\n\nLike most UN events this year, it is being held in the shadow of the\u00a0COVID-19\u00a0pandemic, with participants meeting both in person and online.\n\nThe pandemic has deepened pre-existing inequalities affecting the world\u2019s one billion persons with disabilities, the Secretary-General said. \u00a0Even under normal circumstances they were already less likely to access education, healthcare and jobs, or to be included in their communities.\n\nA long way to go\nThe Chair of the\u00a0UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities\u00a0echoed this assessment. Danlami Umaru Basharu was concerned that structural barriers, exclusion and discrimination have worsened during the crisis.\n\n\u201cWhile I celebrate that there now 182 parties to the Convention, the pandemic has made evident that there is still a long way to go in fully understanding the human rights model of disability enshrined in the Convention, and therefore in fully implementing its provisions,\u201d he said in a video message.\n\nIn May, the Secretary-General issued a\u00a0policy brief\u00a0highlighting the disproportionate impact COVID-19 is having on persons with disabilities.\n\nAn inclusive future\nHe has called for pandemic response and recovery to be more disability inclusive, starting with recognizing and protecting the human rights of persons with disabilities.\n\n\u201cWe must also ensure that the vision and aspirations of persons with disabilities are included and accounted for in a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 world,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Secretary-General further emphasized that securing the rights of persons with disabilities is necessary for upholding the values and principles that underlie the UN.\n\nLast year, Mr. Guterres launched a UN-wide\u00a0Disability Inclusion Strategy,\u00a0aimed at bringing about lasting and transformative change across the Organization and its operations.\n\nThe strategy also reflects how the UN is working to lead by example, he added, as the global body wants to be an employer of choice for persons with disabilities.\n\n\"\"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Achieving a world where all people\u00a0have equal access to\u00a0opportunities is a goal worth fighting for,\u00a0UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio\u00a0Guterres\u00a0said on Monday in a speech calling\u00a0for greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in society, including in\u00a0COVID-19 response\u00a0and recovery. The UN chief was addressing…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ohrc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":989693,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions\/989693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}