The conversation around disabilities and accessibility is one that should be occurring more frequently, says President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Abdulla Shahid.
He made this statement in his remarks at the training session on accessibility and sensitivity awareness, held on Thursday.
Expressing pleasure in partnering with the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management in convening the “valuable” session, PGA Shahid stated that the conversation around disabilities and accessibility is one that should be occurring more frequently, especially with an estimated one billion persons around the world having a disability, including one in every ten children.
Stressing that “no one” can enjoy a human right that they cannot access, PGA Shahid said that those with disabilities face many such barriers including institutional, physical, informational, attitudinal and cultural, that hinder full and equal access to their enjoyment of human rights and full social inclusion.
This, he said is “all the more” significant in the face of Covid-19, which has presented additional complications for those who struggled with accessibility.
With this being brought under the spotlight, the PGA noted the significance of the practice of improving accessibility being applied to both physical and online spaces.
I am encouraged by continued efforts at the United Nations, including ongoing dialogues with stakeholders; initiatives like the Steering Committee on Accessibility (SCA); system-wide policies such as the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy; and infrastructural upgrades, such as the Accessibility Gate, which together illustrate the commitment of the United Nations to ensuring that the needs of all are met.”Abdulla Shahid, PGA.
Highlighting that the UNGA President had hosted the eighth 'Holhuashi Dialogue' on the topic of Accessibility of the UN Headquarters in April, Shahid said that the discussions during this dialogue saw observations that awareness and training for delegates and staff are key components of addressing issues relating to accessibility and disabilities.
PGA Shahid went on to reveal that there will be an informal briefing by the UN Secretariat on ‘lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic’ and on the progress made to improve the accessibility of the UNHQ premises for persons with disabilities, on Tuesday.
Before concluding, the PGA urged to use the session, which is on the cusp of the 15th Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities, to reflect on the efforts being made and the commitments needed in order to not to leave anyone behind, especially at the UN , the heart of multilateralism.
