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12 Jun, 2014

South Africa Supports Inclusion Of Rights Of Disabled In Post-2015 Development Agenda

PRETORIA, June 12 (NNN-SA NEWS) — South African Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu has expressed the country’s support for the inclusion of rights of persons with disabilities in the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Speaking at the 7th Session of the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, she said: “We in particular appreciate the efforts that have to date gone into ensuring that the rights of persons with disabilities will be mainstreamed in the post-2015 Development Agenda.

“We encourage state parties, international development organizations, UN agencies, organs of civil society, persons with disabilities and their organizations in particular, to continue to campaign for an inclusive post-2015 Development Agenda.”

Bogopane-Zulu said the inclusion of the rights of persons with disabilities in the post-2015 Development Agenda was the only effective way to reduce inequalities between persons with disabilities and their able-bodied peers. The text of her speech was released here.

This year’s three-day conference will focus on the sub-themes two — Incorporating the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the post-2015 Development Agenda and National Implementation and Monitoring and Youth with Disabilities.

According to the fact sheet on youth with disabilities, produced by the United Nations for the International Year of Youth, there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide, nearly 80 per cent of whom live in developing countries.

The Deputy Minister said programmes for people with disabilities, where they exist, are seldom inclusive, concentrating either on children with disabilities in schools, or families, or on employment and social integration of adults with disabilities.

She said few programmes addressed the unique social, psychological, educational and economic needs of youth.

She also said that South Africa was finalising its disability rights indicator matrix, which will help monitor and evaluate the development of the national disability rights. She added that the framework was built on three pillars — tracking statistical trends, evaluating government performance and listening to the voices of persons with disabilities. — NNN-SA NEWS