Making the United Nations Relevant to all People– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly
12 June 2019
Your Excellency Gabriela Michetti, Vice President of Argentina,
Your Excellency, Tijjani Muhammad Bande, President-Elect of the 74th session of the General Assembly,
Honorable Ministers, Excellencies,
Dear colleagues and friends,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this High-level Luncheon on Disability-Inclusive Development, which I am honored to hold during the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with the support of Republic of Korea as the major sponsor. It is wonderful to see so many old friends and fellow disability rights’ advocates here today.
Empowering persons with disabilities has long been a priority of mine. It is something I worked on in Ecuador – which proposed the appointment of a UN Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility in 2013 – and it is something I have prioritized during my Presidency.
More than one billion people – almost one in every seven of us – have some form of disability. At present, 80% of persons with disabilities live in developing countries.
But the figures are increasing throughout the world, due to medical advances and longer life-spans. According to estimates, in countries with life expectancies over 70 years of age, the average person spends over 10 percent of their lives with disabilities. So disability-inclusive development is about as far away from a “niche” issue as you can get.
And yet, despite the progress we have made in recent years, persons with disabilities continue to face multiple barriers to enjoying their human rights. They continue to suffer disproportionately from poverty, from lack of access to vital services, and from discrimination and abuse.
This runs counter to the values of the United Nations, and to the promise we made through the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind.
Indeed, it puts the whole Agenda at risk. We will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals without harnessing the energy, creativity and full potential of 15% of the world’s population.
Dear friends,
Throughout this session, my team has been working closely with the Group of Friends on disability and other stakeholders. We have ensured that persons with disabilities have been represented at high-level events of the General Assembly, and I have sought to meet local advocates in the countries I have visited.
We have also sought to advance the mainstreaming of disability across the work of the United Nations – because it is essential that we practice what we preach. So I am delighted that we will hear today from Under-Secretary-General Menendez, on behalf of the Secretary-General, on the newly launched United Nations Disability-Inclusive Strategy.
We will also hear recommendations from the Steering Committee on Accessibility I launched in late 2018. And here, I must commend the Committee’s Co-Chairs – Ambassador Webson of Antigua and Barbuda, and Ambassador Park of the Republic of Korea – for their leadership, and the Committee’s members – representatives from states, the Secretariat and civil society – for their hard work.
And we will hear from the Kyrgyz Minister of Labor and Social Development, whose country recently became the 178th state party to the CRPD – welcome Kyrgyzstan! It is wonderful to see our campaign for universal ratification of the Convention gathering steam.
Empowering persons with disabilities has long been a priority of mine. It is something I worked on in Ecuador – which proposed the appointment of a UN Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility in 2013 – and it is something I have prioritized during my Presidency.
Excellencies,
2019 is a crucial year for development – from the High-Level Political Forum in July to the SDG Summit and other key meetings that will be held during High-Level Week in September. We must use every opportunity to further disability-inclusive development, and to promote leadership by persons with disabilities – particularly women – in political and public life.
They are the best advocates, not only for persons with disabilities, but for the wider social and economic transformations we need to deliver the 2030 Agenda.
So, I hope we will all increase our ambition and accelerate our plans to achieve the full inclusion of persons with disabilities, for the benefit of our world.
Thank you.
