Outcome Document of the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Realization of the Millennium Development Goals and Other Internationally Agreed Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities : The Way Forward, a Disability-Inclusive Development Agenda Towards 2015 and Beyond

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 27b Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family, published in 2013.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Subprogramme 2	Inclusive social development	59

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Subprogramme 2	Inclusive social development	59	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Accessibility Development Strategies Human Rights Persons with Disabilities

What’s in this document?

28 operative paragraphs

Adopts the following outcome document:

Outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities: the way forward, a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond

I.Values and principles

We, the Heads of State and Government, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 23 September 2013 to reaffirm our resolve to work together for disability-inclusive development and the commitment of the international community to the advancement of the rights of all persons with disabilities, which is deeply rooted in the goals of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.²

²Resolution 217 A (III).

We reaffirm the need for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond, and recognize persons with disabilities as agents and beneficiaries of development, acknowledging the value of their contribution to the general well-being, progress and diversity of society.

We are concerned that this commitment has yet to be fully translated into the inclusion of disability in internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and, as 2015 approaches, strongly reiterate our determination to ensure the timely realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities, who make up an estimated 15 per cent of the world’s population, or 1 billion people, of whom an estimated 80 per cent live in developing countries. In this regard, we stress the importance of ensuring accessibility for and inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of development and of giving due consideration to all persons with disabilities in the emerging post-2015 United Nations development agenda.

II.Realizing the development goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond

We underline the need for urgent action by all relevant stakeholders towards the adoption and implementation of more ambitious disability-inclusive national development strategies and efforts with disability-targeted actions, backed by increased international cooperation and support, and resolve to undertake the following commitments leading to 2015 and beyond:

Achieve the full application and implementation of the international normative framework on disability and development by encouraging the ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities³ and by considering the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention,⁴ as both human rights and development instruments;

³United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2515, No. 44910.

⁴Ibid., vol. 2518, No. 44910.

Ensure that all development policies, including those regarding poverty eradication, social inclusion, full and productive employment and decent work, and access to basic social services, and their decision-making processes take into account the needs of and benefit all persons with disabilities, including women, children, youth, indigenous peoples and older persons, who can be subject to violence and multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination;

Develop specific plans, including, when necessary, the enactment or amendment and enforcement of national legislation, the harmonization of national legislative, policy and institutional structures and the adoption and implementation of national plans relevant to the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities;

Recognize the right to education on the basis of equal opportunity and non-discrimination by making primary education accessible, free and compulsory, and available to all children with disabilities on an equal basis with others, ensuring that all children have equal opportunity for access to an inclusive education system of good quality and making early and secondary education generally available and accessible to all, in particular to children with disabilities from low-income families;

Ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities to health-care services, including primary health-care and specialized services, inter alia, by investing in and improving the affordability of such services for persons with disabilities;

Strengthen social protection for meeting disability-related needs and promote access to relevant schemes based on social protection floors, on an equal basis with others, including income support, and access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance;

Encourage Member States to take sustainable measures to ensure equal access to full and productive employment and decent work on an equal basis and without discrimination to persons with disabilities, including by promoting access to inclusive education systems, skills development and vocational and entrepreneurial training, in order to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence;

Ensure accessibility, following the universal design approach, by removing barriers to the physical environment, transportation, employment, education, health, services, information and assistive devices, such as information and communications technologies, including in remote or rural areas, to achieve the fullest potential throughout the whole life cycle of persons with disabilities;

Improve disability data collection, analysis and monitoring for development policy planning, implementation and evaluation, fully taking into account regional contexts, share, where appropriate, relevant data and statistics with relevant agencies and bodies within the United Nations system, including the Statistical Commission, through appropriate mechanisms, and underline the need for internationally comparable data and statistics disaggregated by sex and age, including information on disability;

Strengthen and support, in coordination with academic institutions and other relevant stakeholders, research to promote knowledge and understanding of disability and development, and adequately and efficiently allocate resources in this regard;

Urge Member States, the United Nations system and humanitarian actors, in accordance with their relevant mandates, to continue to strengthen the inclusion of and focus on the needs of persons with disabilities in humanitarian programming and response, and include accessibility and rehabilitation as essential components in all aspects and stages of humanitarian response, inter alia, by strengthening preparedness and disaster risk reduction;

Encourage increased understanding, knowledge and the greatest social awareness about persons with disabilities, inter alia, by developing and implementing communication and social media campaigns by and in conjunction with persons with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities, in order to promote positive perceptions of persons with disabilities, and seek to eliminate discriminatory social and attitudinal barriers so that they participate fully in society;

Strengthen national efforts, including with the appropriate support of international cooperation, upon request, aimed at addressing the rights and needs of women and children with disabilities and the realization of the internationally agreed development goals and commitments related to gender equality and to the rights of the child;

Encourage regional and international development banks and financial institutions, consistent with their mandates, to include disability in all their development efforts and lending mechanisms, taking into account that persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected also during economic crises;

Encourage the mobilization of public and private resources on a sustainable basis to mainstream disability in development at all levels, and underline the need to promote and strengthen international cooperation and the exchange of good practices, including regional and subregional, South-South and triangular cooperation as a complement to rather than a substitute for North-South cooperation, and partnerships for disability-inclusive development, in support of national efforts, inter alia, by ensuring that resources, capacity-building and technical assistance, including by facilitating access to and sharing accessible and assistive technologies and through the transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms and other interventions, advance disability-inclusive development, ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities and promote their empowerment; special attention should be paid to developing countries that are experiencing increasing difficulties in mobilizing adequate resources to meet pressing needs in mainstreaming disability in development, including rehabilitation, habilitation, equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities, health promotion and public health campaigns for the prevention of diseases, and in addressing social, environmental and health risk factors, inter alia, by improving health care, maternal health and access to vaccination, clean water supply and sanitation and safe transport;

Encourage private sector entities to partner with the public sector and civil society, in particular organizations of persons with disabilities, to integrate, adopt and implement a disability perspective in accordance with national plans, policies and priorities in their corporate social responsibility initiatives;

Support the objectives of the United Nations Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Multi-Donor Trust Fund, including through voluntary contributions, and encourage other stakeholders to do so.

III.Follow-up of the outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities: the way forward, a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond

We urge the United Nations system as well as Member States to stay engaged in the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond, and encourage the international community to seize every opportunity to include disability as a cross-cutting issue in the global development agenda, to give due consideration to disability in the emerging post-2015 United Nations development agenda with a view to enhancing cooperation, and to provide relevant technical assistance to Member States upon their request.

We call upon the Economic and Social Council to give due consideration to the issue of disability and development, including within the framework of United Nations operational activities, in accordance with relevant mandates, in order to enhance awareness and cooperation at all levels, including the participation, where appropriate, of United Nations agencies, multilateral development banks and institutions and other relevant stakeholders, while ensuring coordination and avoiding possible overlapping.

We note the inclusive preparatory process for this high-level meeting, including the online and regional consultations.

We request the Secretary-General, in coordination with all the relevant United Nations entities, to include information on progress made in the implementation of the present outcome document in his existing and already mandated periodic reports on issues concerning disability and development, and to make recommendations, as appropriate, for concrete and further steps to implement the present outcome document within the context of the development agenda beyond 2015.

We underline the importance of closely consulting with and actively involving, as appropriate, persons with disabilities, including through their representative organizations, as key actors and stakeholders in the elaboration, implementation and monitoring of the emerging post-2015 development agenda.

We request the General Assembly to include in its final review on progress made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals steps taken to implement the present outcome document. We also request the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session to follow up on the status of and progress made towards the realization of the development goals for persons with disabilities.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities: the way forward, a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond

I.Values and principles

II.Realizing the development goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?