DISABILITY RIGHTS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

In our world today over 1 billion people suffer from disability. The implication of this is that over 1billion persons are living at a disadvantage in society, most persons with either physical or intellectual disability are often neglected from certain civil rights. However, to achieve the the goal of having a just, fair and inclusive society as dreamed in the international space , more efforts must be made to effectively use the available tools under the 17 sustainable development goals to improve the social, economic and … of humanity.

This article will help us answer the question: what is disability right? What are the sustainable development goals? and how much impact the sustainable development goals have on disability right, the role of safe base and L’Arche International in promoting disability rights as part of SDG’s and the current challenges faced in implementing disability rights and how each individual can be a part of causing change in our society.

What are Disability Rights?

What are Sustainable Development?

In 2012 United Nations Conference on sustainable development (Rio20, Member States agreed to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whose achievement period concludes in 2015. The SDGs are to address all three dimensions of sustainable development (environmental, economic and social) and be coherent with and integrated into the united Nations Global development agenda beyond 2015. The envisaged SDGs have a time horizon of 2015-2030.

Disability is referenced in various parts of the SDGs and specifically in parts related to education, growth and employment, inequality , accessibility of human settlement as well as data collection and monitoring of the SDGs for instance: Goal 4 deals with inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all focuses on eliminating gender disparities in education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disability . in addition , the proposal calls for building and upgrading education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and also provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.

Also Goal 8 promote, sustained inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, the international community aims to achieve full and decent work for all women and men , including for persons with disabilities and equal pay for work of equal value. Goal al 11 aims at making cities and human settlement inclusive , safe and sustainable. To realize this goal. Member states are called upon to provide access to safe, affordable , accessible and sustainable transport system for all , improving road safety notably by expanding public transport with special attention to needs of those in vulnerable situations, such as persons with disabilities.

These and many more SDG’s have shown that the international community is mindful of disability rights and for the SDG’s to have the much needed impact governments, international and national development programs will need to prioritize disability-inclusive development.