Asian and Pacific countries Friday agreed to adopt a six-point Jakarta Declaration for disability-inclusive development, including through advancing meaningful participation of around 700 million persons with disabilities in the region.
As of June 2021, 47 of the 53 ESCAP member states had ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Jakarta Declaration on the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities 2023-2032 aims to further implementation of the Incheon Strategy – the world's first set of disability-specific regional development goals adopted in 2012.
The declaration was adopted at the conclusion of a high-level intergovernmental meeting convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and hosted by Indonesia to review the progress made in the past 10 years, share good practices and forge consensus on new strategic directions.
"Our policies should be developed and implemented with the full and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities. This principle should underpin all of our work in disability-inclusive development," United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana said.
"Our consensus today demonstrates our recognition of the criticality of disability-inclusive development. It also reiterates member states' commitment to ensuring the meaningful participation of women and men with diverse disabilities to leave no one behind in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Tri Rismaharini, the minister of social affairs of Indonesia, said.
Despite policy advances in the region, people with disabilities continue to face significant barriers in society – often faring worse in the labour market, being less likely to receive education and remaining underrepresented in political processes compared to their peers without disabilities.
The three-day meeting saw ministers, officials and stakeholder group representatives from 41 countries delve into innovative strategies for the region to remove such barriers while responding to emerging challenges, such as population ageing, digital transformation and climate change.
Several key priorities for the region were also explored such as enhancing disability-specific social protection schemes, strengthening decent work and entrepreneurship opportunities, providing inclusive education for all learners with disabilities, ensuring disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction and resilience measures, and improving the reliability of disability-disaggregated data.