The International Disability Allliance (IDA) and the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) welcome the concrete references to persons with disabilities, inclusive education and accessibility in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the outcome document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development
The Addis Ababa Action Agenda contains 6 explicit references to persons with disabilities and disability, 1 to “inclusive education”, 1 to “inclusive learning environment” and 2 to “accessible” technologies and infrastructures.
In addition to these disability-specific references, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda also includes a number of references to “inclusive” (e.g. “inclusive growth”, “inclusive societies”), a number of references to “access” (e.g. access to beneficial ownership information) and an additional one to “accessibility” of data (Para 128).
The Millennium Development Goals failed to improve the livelihood of persons with disabilities: they were not mentioned in any of the 8 Goals or the attendant 21 Targets or 60 Indicators of the current MDGs. The references to persons with disabilities, disability-inclusive education and accessibility in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda represent an important opportunity to contribute to inclusion and to leaving no-one behind in the Financing for Development agenda and in the wider post-2015 framework.
IDA and IDDC are grateful to all UN Member States that supported and promoted the rights of persons with disabilities during the negotiation process and we count on their continued support as we enter the implementation phase.
With the references to disability, inclusion and accessibility in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, governments have given visibility to one billion persons with disabilities worldwide, of whom 80% live in low-income countries. Persons with disabilities are mentioned in the following areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which are very important in the fight against poverty and the empowerment of marginalised people: social protection, employment, education, infrastructure, technology and data.
However, it is important to recognise that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda could have been far more ambitious in dealing with a number of challenging issues, including private finance, tax and Official Development Assistance. The lack of concrete commitments in these areas is likely to have a negative impact on the poorest and most marginalised people, including persons with disabilities.
Learn more
Polly Meeks and Rachele Tardi, “After Addis Ababa: What lies ahead for ‘leave no one behind’?
Rachele Tardi, Light for the World Representative to the UN, Blog from Addis Ababa: https://racheletardi.wordpress.com
Outcome document of FFD3: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.227/L.1
Civil Society Response to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda: https://csoforffd.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/cso-response-to-ffd-addis-ababa-action-agenda-16-july-2015.pdf