On this page:
1. Summary of the week
2. Day by day at the HLPF
- Sunday, July 7th
- Monday, July 8th
- Tuesday, July 9th
- Wednesday, July 10th
- Thursday, July 11th
- Friday, July 12th
3. Key resources
1. Summary
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The Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities had close to 50 participants attend the first week of the HLPF.
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Mr. George Khoury was an official discussant during the opening session of the HLPF.
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The Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities delivered four official interventions during the first week of the HLPF.
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The SGPwD held an official side event entitled “Reducing inequalities: a look at persons with disabilities”. The side event addressed how to advance the implementation of Goal 10 for persons with disabilities by bringing concrete, action-oriented recommendations in the context of education, employment, peace, justice and strong institutions. The side event was attended by over 100 people!
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Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD, was a keynote speaker on Thursday in the official session on “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality - Perspectives of society.”
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The SGPwD held an official meeting with all HLPF participants to discuss strengthening the Stakeholder Group through the development of a 5-year strategic framework. Forty-five people attended the meeting.
2. Day by day at the HLPF
Sunday, July 7th
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Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities participant pre-meeting #1. The SGPwD delegation held a work dinner at the International Disability Alliance office to go over the HLPF programme. Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD, and Mohammed Ali Loutfy, Alternate Representative of the SGPwD, gave opening remarks and welcomed participants.
Monday, July 8th
Major Groups and other Stakeholders preparatory meeting. The Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) Coordination Mechanism (CM) held an HLPF preparatory meeting on Monday, July 8th at UN Headquarters in New York. The Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities led the work on the voluntary national reviews and the HLPF Review.
During the session, Mohammed Ali Loutfy, Alternate Representative of the SGPwD, provided a brief update on the 2019 regional sustainable development forum in the MENA region.
Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities participant pre-meeting #2. The SGPwD delegation held a second pre-meeting on Monday, July 8th from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM in the Qatar Lounge of the UN Headquarters in New York. Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD, and Mohammed Ali Loutfy, Alternate Representative of the SGPwD, gave opening remarks and welcomed participants. A brief overview of the agenda for the week was provided.
Tuesday, July 9th
Thematic review: Progress, gaps and obstacles: are we on track for leaving no one behind? - Mr. George Khoury speaks as an official discussant on behalf of the SGPwD! During the morning session, George Khoury, representing the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities and National Association for the Rights of the Disability People (NARD) in Lebanon, spoke as an official discussant. Key recommendations included the need for (1) concrete actions to reach the furthest behind, (2) data collection and disaggregation of data by disability to inform policy makers and (3) system-wide resource allocation and commitments on disability spending.
Click here to read the full statement.
Review of SDG implementation: SDG 4 - Quality education. During the afternoon session, Kamil Goungor from the European Disability Forum (EDF) intervened on behalf of the SGPwD by highlighting that “Ensuring that children have equal opportunities to learn and socialize with their peers, using the same language such as sign language, easy read materials, braille documents as well as safeguarding diversity and qualification among teachers are integral parts of an inclusive education system.”
Click here to read the full statement.
Side event: Towards a more accountable, inclusive and participatory SDG implementation that leaves no one behind During lunch time, the International Civil Society Centre organized a side event at the Church Centre which presented key learnings from the Leave No One Behind Partnership. Presentations from the pilot countries, including Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal and Vietnam highlighted excluded groups and the need for sufficient data with many references to people with disabilities. It also focused on how community generated data can be used as a complementary source to in official SDG monitoring and to strengthen accountability.
Wednesday, July 10th
Thematic review: Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality - Perspectives of SIDS including main findings from mid-term review of the SAMOA Pathway. Laisa Vereti from the Pacific Disability Forum stressed on behalf of the SGPwD that to ensure equality and inclusion of all persons with disabilities in regional programmes, “CRPD compliance requires a progressive increase of domestic resource allocation towards disability-inclusive community support services, social protection and economic empowerment measures.” Click here to read the full statement.
Review of SDG implementation: SDG 8 - Decent work and economic growth
During the afternoon session, Jose Rañola from the Philippines World Blind Union and SGPwD recommended to Member States that the “employment of persons with disabilities is included as part of mainstream employment promotion programmes or those targeted at specific populations, such as youth and women with disabilities.”
Click here to read the full statement.
Official side event of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities: “Reducing inequalities: a look at persons with disabilities”. On Wednesday, the SGPwD organized an official HLPF side event in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, Permanent Missions of Australia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Canada and the Republic of Zambia, International Disability Alliance, CBM, European Disability Forum, UNESCO Global Education Monitoring REport, UN OHCHR, Equinet, Leonard Cheshire, Bridging the Gap project, Humanity & Inclusion and Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark entitled “Reducing inequalities: a look at persons with disabilities”. The event was moderated by Mohammed Ali Loutfy and featured the following speakers: Thorkild Olesen - Disabled Peoples’ Organisations Denmark (DPOD), Kamil Goungor - European Disability Forum, Jesús Orus Baguena - European Commission, Maulani Rotinsulu - Himpunan Wanita Disabilitas Indonesia (HWDI), Laisa Vereti - Pacific Disability Forum, Rosario Galarza - RIADIS and Craig Mokhiber - OHCHR.
The side event was attended by over 100 people and accessible with sign language interpretation and real-time captioning. The event was also webcast on the UN’s website. Click here to watch a recording of the event.
SGPwD Official Meeting. The SGPwD held an official delegation meeting on the margins of the HLPF. The meeting was accessible with International Sign interpretation and real-time captioning and broadcast online to allow for remote participation for those not in New York attending the HLPF. At the start of the meeting, Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD, and Mohammed Ali Loutfy, Alternate Representative of the SGPwD provided a brief introduction to the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities and its mandate to engage at the HLPF. The overall objective of the meeting was to propose a method to further strengthen the Stakeholder Group through the development of a 5-year strategic framework which identifies and outlines the goals of the group. The document is still in the initial drafting stage. Forty people attended in person and an additional five joined virtually and engaged in fruitful conversation and provided suggested ways forward.
VNR Lab: Making progress visible - SDG data visualization platforms. The Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities participated in the VNR Lab 2: Making progress visible - SDG data visualization platforms. Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD intervened with a compelling question asking if the new Open SDG Data Hub platform could disaggregate by disability. This is not yet possible, but we have connected with the coordinators and will be sure to collaborate as the platform develops to make it relevant and accessible for persons with disabilities.
Thursday, July 11th
Thematic review: Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality - Perspectives of society. Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD and Co-Chair of the MGoS Task Group on HLPF Reform, opened the panel discussion in Spanish by addressing the question “Which should be the principles to guide the strengthening of the follow-up and review process of the 2030 Agenda, including the HLPF Reform?” Click here to watch the statement be delivered.
Official session: Science policy interface including the briefing from the independent group of scientists on the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR). During the morning, Maulani Rotinsulu from Himpunan Wanita Disabilitas Indonesia (HWDI) delivered an intervention on behalf of the SGPwD which stressed that emerging technologies and new innovations must “comply with the three As: being available, affordable and accessible to all.” She went on to note the importance of a universal design approach from the outset of technological development processes.
Click here to read the full statement.
Review of SDG implementation: Discussion on SDG 10 - Reduced inequalities. Rosario Galarza from RIADIS was on the official interventionist list during the afternoon session to speak on behalf of the SGPwD. Unfortunately due to time constraints, Rosario was unable to deliver her statement. Click here to read the prepared statement.
UN SDGs Learning, Training & Practice - “Participatory and inclusive tools to build capacities in leaving no one behind”. On 11 July, the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities was quite involved in the parallel event UN SDGs Learning, Training & Practice “Participatory and Inclusive tools to build capacities in leaving no one behind.” Risna Utami from Indonesia moderated the opening session. In addition, Elizabeth Lockwood from CBM and Maegan Shanks from Gallaudet University presented on global deaf cultures and how to interact with deaf and hard of hearing people in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure no one is left behind. The event was fully inclusive with real-time captioning, sign language interpretation, and inclusive practices in the dialogue. Maegan Shanks is included in the following IISDRS video from 11 July that highlights the key moments of the day. Click here for the video.
VNR Lab: From presentation to implementation: Regional support to the follow-up on the VNRs. During the morning, a VNR Lab was held to discuss regional support to the follow-up on Voluntary National Reviews. Mohammed Ali Loutfy, Alternate Representative of the SGPwD, expressed during an intervention that regional issues should be addressed more often at the thematic forum. He also emphasized that the principles of inclusion and leave no one behind should be addressed in more VNR presentations.
Conversation with authors of the global Civil Society Report - “Reshaping governance for sustainability: Transforming institutions - shifting power - strengthening rights”. Mohammend Ali Loutfy, Alternate Representative of the SGPwD, attended a conversation held at the Baha’i International Community office with authors of the global Civil Society Report entitled “Reshaping governance for sustainability: Transforming institutions - shifting power - strengthening rights.” The report offers analysis and recommendations on the global governance that sustainability requires, as well as on how to strengthen inclusive and participatory governance to overcome structural obstacles and institutional gaps. Click here to read the full report.
Friday, July 12th
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Review of SDG implementation: Discussion on SDG 13 - Climate action including the link to the Climate Action Summit and six action portfolios (financing, energy transition, industry transition, nature-based solutions,cities and local action and resilience and adaptation). James Thiago Leite Cruz, an independent researcher from Brazil, was on the official interventionist list during the afternoon session to speak on behalf of the SGPwD. Unfortunately due to time constraints, James was unable to deliver the statement. The statement will be available online next week.
Full day event: Unifying the Playing Field - Local and Global Movements to Advance the Right to Education. A full day event was held at the Ford Foundation entitled “Unifying the Playing Field - Local and Global Movements to Advance the Right to Education.” Jose Viera, Permanent Representative of the SGPwD, spoke on securing the right to education and early childhood development (ECD) for children with disabilities. Jose highlighted that in order “to ensure inclusive education becomes a reality, we require systemic change by using a multi-sectoral approach, adopting child-centred and universal design tactics with reasonable accommodations and tailored supports provided.” Jose’s full statement will be available online next week.
3. Key resources
