By IDA

 - July 18, 2017

In this edition:

1. What happened Thurs 13 - Mon 17 July
2. Coming up

Don’t miss! Caucus Meeting of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities. Join the meeting in person at the UN in New York (room 1525 in the Secretariat building) on Wednesday 19 July from 1pm- 3pm or join by conference call! Registration here. Webinar ID: 250-707-627. 

1. What happened Thursday 13 - Monday 17 July

THURSDAY 13th JULY

MORNING SESSION: Review of SDGs implementation: SDG 14
During the morning session, Joseph Rono, representing the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities (SGPwD), delivered a speech on weather-related disasters and their impact on persons with disabilities. Joseph called on Governments to “ensure that persons with disabilities are actively engaged within the development and implementation of climate change and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes”. Click here to read this prepared statement.

Joseph Rono speaking at the official session of HLPF on thursday

AFTERNOON SESSION: Review of Goals / Thematic review: SDG 17 Advancing science, technology and innovation for SDGs
On behalf of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, Berhanu Tefara highlighted the importance of using of ICT and accessible and assistive technology to improve the quality of life of persons and children with disabilities. Berhanu recommended to include consistently accessibility features in international standards and that accessibility is addressed as “another key characteristic of the digital environment aligned with the CRPD for full implementation of human rights”. Download the statement made by Berhanu Tefara.

SIDE-EVENT: Sharing national experiences of persons with disabilities regarding multiple and cross-cutting discrimination as core issues contributing to poverty
On Thursday, at lunch time, the SGPwD, in partnership with the African Disability Forum, the Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark and the European Disability Forum, organized a side event entitled: “Sharing national experiences of persons with disabilities regarding multiple and cross-cutting discrimination as core issues contributing to poverty”. The event was moderated by Vladimir Cuk and featured the following speakers: Thorkild Olesen, speaking about the European and Danish experience, Judith Umoh, addressing the national challenges of persons with disabilities in Nigeria, Jose Maria Viera, talking about the Latin-American situation and Eeva Tupi, introducing the Global Report entitled: Case Study on the Engagement of Organization of Persons with Disabilities (DPO) in Voluntary National Reviews.” The side event was opened by the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to the UN of Bulgaria and Austria, while closing remarks were delivered by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany. Several Member States – Australia, Ecuador, Nigeria, UK – made interventions. The side event was co-sponsored by Argentine Republic, Austria, Germany, Ecuador, Guatemala, Lithuania, Egypt and the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY.

The conference room during the side-event organised by the SGPwD

FRIDAY 14th JULY

MORNING SESSION: Leveraging interlinkages for effective implementation of SDGs
On the Friday’s morning session of the HLPF, Volmir Raimondi from Brazil, provided remarks on behalf of the SGPwD. Volmir’s statement will be available on the IDA website shortly

AFTERNOON SESSION: Science-policy interface and emerging issues

During the afternoon official session of the HLPF, Berhanu Tefara presented a statement on the critical role science, technology, and innovation will play in poverty eradication and sustainable development at large. On behalf of the SGPwD, Berhanu called on Governments to include persons with disabilities in the development of scientific and technological innovations, in existing and future policies. Download the statement made by Berhana Tefara.

Wrap-up session of the first week

The President of ECOSOC and Under-Secretary General delivered the following closing remarks on Friday afternoon:

  • There are still groups who are at risk of being left behind including persons with disabilities unless corrective actions are taken.
  • Absence of universal health coverage, free primary and secondary education is a treat and should be part of the poverty eradication plans.
  • Possible measures should be taken to data disaggregation.
  • Women and girls are affected by climate changes disasters and lack opportunities. Member states should do everything possible to empower women and girls.
  • Lack of official statistics and reliable disaggregated data is a problem in monitoring and reporting both nationally and globally. Data governance should be an ongoing discussion.
  • We should encourage different methods to collect, disaggregate, analyze data and make it accessible to all.

SIDE-EVENTS

Disaggregation of data by disability – Friday lunchtime
The SGPwD was briefed during a lunchtime session by Stefan Trommel ILO and Mitch Loeb from the Washington Group. Both experts gave an introduction about the ongoing discussions in the UN on the disaggregation of data by disability. Experts explained the rational behind advocating for the use of the short set of questions developed by the Washington Group as the only existing and tested tool to disaggregate data by disability. The members of the SGPwD were encouraged to promote and to advocate for the use of the short set of questions of the WG at the national level in particular with their national statistical offices.

Closing the gender data gap: measuring poverty, disability and multi-dimensional deprivation – Friday lunchtime
Yetnebersh Nigussie, represented the SGPwD in a side-event organized by Australia, entitled: “Closing the gender data gap: measuring poverty, disability and multi-dimensional deprivation”. Yetnebersh made a very strong intervention addressing the importance to disaggregate data by disability when it comes to the SDGs indicators.

SATURDAY 18 JULY 

Action for sustainable development
On Saturday 18 July, a joint session was organized, with all the key civil society of the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders, at the United Nations Church Center in order to discuss citizen accountability and inclusion in the HLPF Voluntary National Review process. On this occasion, Anderson Gitonga Kiraithe, from the SGPwD, spoke on the session “Leave no One behind” with regards to the Kenyan’s perspective on the VNR. In addition, Jose Maria Viera, also part of the SGPwD, spoke on Discussion with Major Groups and Other Stakeholders, connecting regional and national implementation and building collaboration with partners. 

MONDAY 17 JULY

HLPF MORNING SESSION
The Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) have started after the Opening of the High-Level Segment (Ministerial Segment). Throughout the day, all Voluntary National Reviews had a reference to persons with disabilities, either highlighted by Governments or through questions asked to reflect and address the situation of persons with disabilities in their respective countries.

The Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities spoke during the Brazil – Nepal – Luxembourg – Indonesia VNR segments. More detailed analyses of the VNR sessions will be provided at a later stage on the IDA website.

PARTNERSHIPS ON THE SDGs
As part of the morning official panel on the Partnerships for SDGs, Colin Allen, Chair of International Disability Alliance, presented the  International Disability Alliance and the International Disability and Development Consortium’s partnership whose aim is to enhance the capacity of organizations of persons with disabilities in the Global South, monitor and implement the CRPD and 2030 Agenda, and collect and disaggregate data for persons with disabilities. Click here to read the full statement

2. Coming up!

Continue to watch the Voluntary National Reviews in the following order:

09.00-10.30am Belgium - Benin - Peru
10.30-12.00am Guatemala - Italy - Zimbabwe
12.00-02.00pm Argentina - Czech Republic - Jordan - Thailand
03.30-05.00pm Belarus - Portugal - Uruguay
05.00-06.30pm.  Nigeria - Panama – Sweden

Tomorrow at 11:00, Jose Maria Viera will deliver a statement on behalf of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, during a press conference.

Colin Allen and Ekaete Judith Umoh will be participating in the ministerial breakfast with Voluntary National Review countries on Wednesday 19 July.

We are expecting Colin Allen to deliver general statements at the end of the High-Level Political Forum.

Don’t miss! Caucus Meeting of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities. Join the meeting in person at the UN in New York (room 1525 in the Secretariat building) on Wednesday 19 July from 1pm- 3pm or join by conference call! Registration URL https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4418585772280152577 Webinar ID: 250-707-627. 

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