Your Excellency Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu, Permanent Representative of China,Mr. Yong Jia, Vice President of China Disabled Persons’ Federation,Distinguished delegates, colleagues,Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
Welcome to this side event on “Improving disability data and statistics: evidence-based research for achieving the SDGs for persons with disabilities”. Ambassador Ma, thank you for your insightful and inspiring opening remarks. My Department, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, DESA, is honoured to co-organize this side event with the Government of China. We appreciate China’s continuing leadership in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, for persons with disabilities.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We meet here today, on the first day of the 11th session of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This Conference is an invaluable and unique global mechanism to exchange experiences and new ideas for the implementation of the Convention. The 11th session of the Conference has as its overarching theme: “Leaving no one behind through the full implementation of the CRPD” . This side event is of critical importance to all of the discussions during this session.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the global focal point on the issue of disability in the United Nations system, My Department, DESA, has served as the Secretariat to this Conference since its session in 2008. DESA is entrusted with the mandate to promote disability-inclusive society and development. Our work has focused on: promoting the goals and objectives of the Convention and its implementation, through mainstreaming disability in the development agendas, including the 2030 Agenda, providing evidence-based policy guidance, building multi-stakeholder partnerships for the implementation of the Convention, and enhancing the capacity of governments to produce disability statistics and develop disability-inclusive policies and strategies for development.
As we speak, the international community is stepping up its efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda in alignment with the Convention and other global commitments. Together we are promoting the promise of the Convention in the global agenda toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable world.
In this context, DESA is leading the preparation of the first-ever UN flagship report on disability and development, building on collaborations with experts from Member States, UN agencies, organisations of persons with disabilities, research institutes and other experts. Scheduled for release later this year, this report will provide a much-needed evidence-base for future policy analysis on disability and the SDGs at the global level.
DESA also continues to improve the quality and availability of disability statistics and evidence-based data, through 1) assisting countries in building the capacity of their national statistical systems to generate robust and fit-for-purpose statistics on disability for national planning and monitoring; 2) developing methodological guidelines, to provide guidance on how to effectively monitor the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development programmes and policies, and 3) compiling data, from countries, and creating an online portal for disseminating official disability data and statistics.
We, at the United Nations, are deeply inspired to witness China’s achievements in the implementation of the Convention and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, making much progress in national development strategies, and in promoting regional and global development cooperation.
I recall that, in December 2017, the China Disabled Persons’ Federation in collaboration with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) organized a high-level intergovernmental meeting on the Midpoint Review of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities in Beijing, China.
This joint effort successfully led to the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and the Action Plan to accelerate the implementation of the Incheon Strategy, the outcome document of the meeting. It was another milestone and a great regional contribution for SDG implementation. In the Declaration, China and other Governments in the region set out specific goals to improve the reliability and comparability of disability data.
I am confident that DESA and China will continue to enjoy an excellent partnership to improve disability data and statistics and evidence-based research at the global and regional levels. We look to the leadership of China in the next steps of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, by, for, and with persons with disabilities.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Welcome to this side event on “Improving disability data and statistics: evidence-based research for achieving the SDGs for persons with disabilities”. Ambassador Ma, thank you for your insightful and inspiring opening remarks. My Department, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, DESA, is honoured to co-organize this side event with the Government of China. We appreciate China’s continuing leadership in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, for persons with disabilities.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We meet here today, on the first day of the 11th session of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This Conference is an invaluable and unique global mechanism to exchange experiences and new ideas for the implementation of the Convention. The 11th session of the Conference has as its overarching theme: “Leaving no one behind through the full implementation of the CRPD” . This side event is of critical importance to all of the discussions during this session.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the global focal point on the issue of disability in the United Nations system, My Department, DESA, has served as the Secretariat to this Conference since its session in 2008. DESA is entrusted with the mandate to promote disability-inclusive society and development. Our work has focused on: promoting the goals and objectives of the Convention and its implementation, through mainstreaming disability in the development agendas, including the 2030 Agenda, providing evidence-based policy guidance, building multi-stakeholder partnerships for the implementation of the Convention, and enhancing the capacity of governments to produce disability statistics and develop disability-inclusive policies and strategies for development.
As we speak, the international community is stepping up its efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda in alignment with the Convention and other global commitments. Together we are promoting the promise of the Convention in the global agenda toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable world.
In this context, DESA is leading the preparation of the first-ever UN flagship report on disability and development, building on collaborations with experts from Member States, UN agencies, organisations of persons with disabilities, research institutes and other experts. Scheduled for release later this year, this report will provide a much-needed evidence-base for future policy analysis on disability and the SDGs at the global level.
DESA also continues to improve the quality and availability of disability statistics and evidence-based data, through 1) assisting countries in building the capacity of their national statistical systems to generate robust and fit-for-purpose statistics on disability for national planning and monitoring; 2) developing methodological guidelines, to provide guidance on how to effectively monitor the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development programmes and policies, and 3) compiling data, from countries, and creating an online portal for disseminating official disability data and statistics.
We, at the United Nations, are deeply inspired to witness China’s achievements in the implementation of the Convention and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, making much progress in national development strategies, and in promoting regional and global development cooperation.
I recall that, in December 2017, the China Disabled Persons’ Federation in collaboration with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) organized a high-level intergovernmental meeting on the Midpoint Review of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities in Beijing, China.
This joint effort successfully led to the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and the Action Plan to accelerate the implementation of the Incheon Strategy, the outcome document of the meeting. It was another milestone and a great regional contribution for SDG implementation. In the Declaration, China and other Governments in the region set out specific goals to improve the reliability and comparability of disability data.
I am confident that DESA and China will continue to enjoy an excellent partnership to improve disability data and statistics and evidence-based research at the global and regional levels. We look to the leadership of China in the next steps of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, by, for, and with persons with disabilities.
Thank you.
File date:
Tuesday, Juin 12, 2018