An estimated 15% of the population, or 650 million persons with disabilities, live in the Asian and Pacific region. The majority of these persons live in poverty and suffer discrimination, exclusion, inequality and prejudice.
Building a more disability-inclusive society was a challenge that countries in the Asia-Pacific region addressed at the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Final Review of the Implementation of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003-2012, which was convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Incheon, Republic of Korea, from 29 October to 2 November 2012.
The Meeting was attended by Ministers and senior officials of governments, as well as civil society leaders from across Asia and the Pacific. The Meeting considered measures to empower persons with disabilities and promote greater equality, particularly through the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)– the first disability-specific human rights treaty in the world.
The past ten years have seen substantial progress in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in Asia-Pacific. 24 Governments in the region have ratified the CRPD, and many others have adopted and implemented national laws to promote disability-inclusive development. The ESCAP Intergovernmental Meeting reviewed this progress and also launched the new Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013-2022.
The Meeting adopted the Incheon Strategy, a pioneering document that will guide national and regional action in a multitude of domains: reducing poverty among persons with disabilities; improving accessibility of the physical and ICT environments; enhancing access of persons with disabilities to education and employment opportunities; promoting their participation in decision-making processes, promoting gender equality for women with disabilities; making disaster risk reduction disability-inclusive; and accelerating the ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the ESCAP region. Through the Incheon Strategy, ESCAP countries will be charting the course of regional cooperation during the new Decade with a view to improving the lives of the 650 million persons with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Meeting also saw the launch of the first Disability-Inclusive Business Award in the region, a partnership between ESCAP, the Nippon Foundation and the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD). Building a disability-inclusive society is not only a moral imperative, but also a tremendous social and economic opportunity to realize the potential of 15% of the region’s population.
In conjunction with the ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting, three civil society conferences on disability took place in Incheon in October, creating a global platform for information exchange and an opportunity for leaders to shape a more disability-inclusive future. “Incheon 2012” is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to “Make the Right Real” for persons with disabilities.