Regional advocacy for persons with disabilities: Regional Sustainable Development Forums and regional integration.

The European Disability Forum produced a report compiling information on how DPOs can use these opportunities to advocate for inclusion in the SDGs, using examples of current practice from different UN regions and their Regional Integration Organisations. Read the report: Regional advocacy for persons with disabilities: Regional Sustainable Development Forums and regional integration.

Regional Constituencies for Persons with Disabilities

Engagement within the implementation of the 2030 Agenda must occur at the national, regional and global levels, and the three tiers must continuously feed into each other in order to ensure that SDG implementation is relevant, effective and reaches all populations.

Regional-level engagement within sustainable development is relatively new for all actors, including the UN, and the level and format of engagement varies largely from region to region. It was only in 2017 when for the first time regional sustainable development forums were announced in all regions. Since then the regional forums are hosted by UN regional commissions at various locations. Persons with disabilities engage in all five of the forums on sustainable development. 

At the regional level persons with disabilities as a stakeholder group / or constituency have the same rights as at the global level: to make interventions, submit position papers and documents, hold side events and engage fully as a civil society stakeholder. Most regional forum have mainstream stakeholder engagement mechanism, and all recognize the disability constituency as a stand alone right holder stakeholder group. The main role of the regional constituency is to ensures collaboration between the regional secretariats of the UN and among the different stakeholders. 

Below, you can find more information on the preparations for the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), by the UN regional commissions: