The first week of the HLPF has seen an unprecedented level involvement by the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities. Across the 19 official sessions, 15 interventions were either delivered or submitted by persons with disabilities. Side events throughout the week included eight panelists from the group, including during the President of the General Assembly’s High Level Debate on Human Rights panel on discrimination. Other events covered issues as varied as disaggregated data collection, inclusive education, children's rights and the shrinking space for civil society engagement at the UN.
Friday was the fifth day of the HLPF, and began with a discussion between civil society representatives about experiences and plans for national level implementation and coordination. Colin Allen, Chair of IDA, and President of the World Federation of the Deaf, shared experiences of organisations of persons with disabilities, and engaged the representatives on ways to include persons with disabilities in wider national strategies.
The first official meeting of the day was a large roundtable discussion with both Major Groups and other Stakeholders, and Member States as respondents, to discuss 'From inspiration to action: Multi-stakeholder engagement for implementation'. Yetnebersh Nigussie, of Light for the World, presented findings of a survey by the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities on the inclusion and engagement of persons with disabilities at the national level, in their preparatory processes for their voluntary national reviews. The survey results highlighted challenges and barriers faced by persons with disabilities in SDG implementation at the nation level.
Mr. Abdelmajid Makni of the Arab Organisation of Persons with Disabilities, José Maria Viera of the World Blind Union, Lauro Purcil of the ASEAN Disability Forum, and Ambrose Murangira of the Uganda National Association Of the Deaf, collaborated across the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders to prepare statements on behalf of all stakeholder representatives which will be delivered during next week's ministerial national voluntary reviews at the UN.
The afternoon session was an interactive dialogue, focused on experiences at regional level. The discussion included Chairs of Regional Forums and Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions. José Maria Viera made an intervention on behalf of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities of the experience of organisations of persons with disabilities of engaging at regional levels, including his experience across Latin America.
The HLPF will continue again this Monday, July 18th, and main sessions of the HLPF are broadcast live on the UN's WebTV with closed captioning, and will be made available for replaying later.
The Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities will be hosting a town hall-style discussion on Monday, at 1:15pm at the Ford Foundation, close to the UN Building, in New York. The discussion will be on the opportunities and barriers DPOs have faced in engaging with and contributing to national implementation of the SDGs, with panelists from Germany, Latin America, Morocco, the Philippines and Uganda. Click here for more information on the event, which is open to all - R.S.V.P. to msmith [at] ida-secretariat.org
Follow us throughout the HLPF online here: http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/events/high-level-political-forum-2016
And by using #HLPF2016 #SDGs and #LeaveNoOneBehind
Photos from the HLPF are now available on our Facebook page, click here.
