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World Programme of Action Concerning
Disabled Persons

Page 3 of 10

Objectives, Background and Concepts

• Concepts adopted within the United Nations System

Concepts adopted within the United Nations system

In the Charter of the United Nations, the reaffirmation of the principles of peace, the faith in human rights and fundamental freedoms, the dignity and worth of the human person and the promotion of social justice are given primary importance.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right of all people, without distinction of any kind, to marriage; property ownership; equal access to public services; social security; and the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. The International Covenants on Human Rights, 3/ the Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons, 4/ and the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons 5/ give specific expression to the principles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration on Social Progress and Development 6/ proclaims the necessity of protecting the rights of physically and mentally disadvantaged persons and assuring their welfare and rehabilitation. It guarantees everyone the right to and opportunity for useful and productive labour.

Within the United Nations Secretariat, a number of offices carry out activities related to the above concepts as well as to the World Programme of Action. They include: the Division of Human Rights; the Department of International Economic and Social Affairs; the Department of Technical Cooperation for Development; the Department of Public Information; the Division of Narcotic Drugs; and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The regional commissions also have an important role: the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), the Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva (Switzerland), the Economic Commission for Latin America in Santiago (Chile), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok (Thailand) and the Economic Commission for Western Asia in Baghdad (Iraq).

Other organizations and programmes of the United Nations have adopted approaches related to development that will be significant in implementing the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons. These include: - The mandate contained in General Assembly resolution 3405 (XXX) on new dimensions in technical cooperation, which directs the United Nations Development Programme, interalia, to take into account the importance of reaching the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society when responding to Governments' requests for help in meeting their most urgent and critical needs and which encompasses the concepts of technical cooperation among developing countries;

• The concept adopted by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) of basic services for all children and the strategy adopted by it in 1980 to emphasize strengthening family and community resources to assist disabled children in their natural environments;
• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with its programme for disabled refugees;
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is concerned, among other things, with the prevention of impairments among Palestine refugees and the lowering of social and physical barriers which confront disabled members of the refugee population;
• The concepts of specific measures of disaster preparedness and prevention for those already disabled, and of the prevention of permanent disability as a result of injury or treatment received at the time of a disaster, advanced by the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO);
• The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), with its concern about physical barriers and general access to the physical environment;
• The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); the activities of UNIDO cover the production of drugs essential for the prevention of disability as well as of technical devices for the disabled.

The specialized agencies of the United Nations system, which are involved in promoting, supporting and carrying out field activities, have a long record of work related to disability. Programmes of disability prevention, nutrition, hygiene, education of disabled children and adults, vocational training, job placement and others represent a store of experience and know-how which opens up opportunities for further accomplishments and, at the same time, makes it possible to share these experiences with governmental and non-governmental organizations concerned with disability matters. These agencies and their programmes include:

• The basic needs strategy of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the principles set forth in ILO recommendation No. 99 concerning vocational rehabilitation of the disabled, 1955;
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with its emphasis on the relation between nutrition and disability;
• The concept of adapted education recommended by an expert group of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on education of disabled persons, which has been reinforced by two guiding principles of the Sundberg Declaration: 7/
  • Disabled persons shall receive from the community services adapted to their specific personal needs;
  • Through decentralization and sectorization of services, the needs of disabled persons shall be taken into account and satisfied within the framework of the community to which they belong;
• The World Health Organization's programme of health for all by the year 2000 and the related primary health care approach, through which the member States of the World Health Organization have already committed themselves to preventing diseases and impairments leading to disabilities. The concept of primary health care, as elaborated by the International Conference on Primary Health Care held at Alma-Ata in 1978, and the application of this concept to the health aspects of disability, are described in the World Health Organization's policy on this subject, approved by the World Health Assembly in 1978;
• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has approved recommendations to contracting States concerning facilities of movement and provision of facilities for disabled passengers;
• The Executive Committee of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which has adopted a recommendation inviting all national postal administrations to improve access to their facilities for disabled persons

Notes:

3/ General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI)

4/ General Assembly resolution 2856 (XXVI).

5/ General Assembly resolution 3447 (XXX).

6/ General Assembly resolution 2542 (XXIV).

7/ United Nations document A/36/766.

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