Implementing the new Sustainable Development Agenda for all persons with disabilities will be the main focus of the Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as they meet in New York from 14-16 June.

Gathering hundreds of disability advocates and Government delegates, the 9th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD constitutes one of the largest and most diverse international meetings on disability in the world. The annual review of the Convention will examine the implementation of the binding agreement adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 to reaffirm that the one billion persons with disabilities, 15% of the world’s population, must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals
The Conference is also the first UN gathering on disability since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in January 2016. Disability is referenced in various parts of the SDGs targets, including in relation to: education (to ensure equal access to all levels of education, including for persons with disabilities); growth and employment (to promote decent work and equal pay for all); inequality (as Goal 10 calls for the empowerment and inclusion of all regardless of any status including disability), accessibility of human settlements, as well as data collection and monitoring of the SDGs.

Eliminating poverty and inequality for all persons with disabilities
With 20% of the world’s poorest persons living with disabilities, the link between poverty and disability will be a key emphasis of the meeting. Persons with disabilities are statistically more likely to experience poverty, while poverty itself also increases the incidence of disability. The link between poverty and disability is particularly striking as 80% of persons with disabilities live in developing countries. This also marks disability as a significant cross-cutting issue of the new development agenda.

The rights of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities
The meeting will also address the rights of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities as there is a growing recognition within the international community that invisible disabilities, such as mental, psychosocial or development disabilities, are some of the most neglected yet essential conditions to take into account in order to achieve internationally agreed development goals.

While exact numbers are unknown, persons with such disabilities represent a significant proportion of the world’s population. Millions of people worldwide suffer from mental health conditions and an estimated one in four people globally will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. Almost one million people die due to suicide every year, and it is the third leading cause of death among young people worldwide. Mental health conditions, including alcohol abuse, are among the ten leading causes of disability in both developed and developing countries. In particular, depression is ranked third in the global burden of disease, and is projected to rank first in 2030.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Convention
The Conference will also mark the 10th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) adopted in 2006 by the UN General Assembly. To date, the Convention has been
ratified by 164 Member States.

The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities, identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated or threatened.

The Conference can be followed live at: http://webtv.un.org/

Additional information on the Conference is available at: un.org/disabilities
For more information on the Sustainable Development Goals, please visit: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment or Follow us on Twitter at @GlobalGoalsUN and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/globalgoalsUN.

Media contact
Melanie Prudhomme, UN Department of Public Information
T: 917-367-3541 / E: prudhommem@un.org

 

Available for Interviews

  • Ms. Jahda Abou Khalil, General Dictor, Arab Organisation of Persons with Disabilities (Arabic)
  • Ms. Rosangela Berman Bieler, Chief of the Disability Section at UNICEF (English, Portuguese)
  • Ms. Catalina Devandas Aguilar, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities (English, Spanish)
  • Ms. Priscille Geiser, Chair of the International Disability and Development Consortium, Handicap International (French)
  • Ms. Judith Heumann, Special Advisor for International Disability Rights, U.S. Department of State (English)
  • Ambassador Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, President (elect) of the Bureau for the Conference of the States Parties to CRPD (English)
  • Mr. Lenin Moreno, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility (Spanish)
  • Mr. Victor Santiago Pineda, University of California Berkeley and Director of World Enabled + Inclusive City Lab (English)
  • Mr. Yôhei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation and the World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination (English)