Global Status Report on Disability and Development Prototype 2015 unedited version

Chapter 1.Introduction

Disability is both a human rights issue and a development issue, a duality which has been recognized in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Addressing the importance of disability inclusion for development, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes several development targets for persons with disabilities and for accessible environments for them. In 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank produced a report, using scientific evidence and available data, providing a portrait of the situation of persons with disabilities in various development aspects, such as health care, employment and education, as well as policies developed by countries to address the needs of persons with disabilities. However, since then, no other review of policies and the situation of persons with disabilities worldwide have been produced.

To address this gap, the General Assembly Resolution 69/142, ‘Realizing the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond’, requested the Secretary-General, in coordination with all relevant United Nations entities, “to compile and analyse national policies, programmes, best practices and available statistics regarding persons with disabilities, reflecting progress made in addressing the relevant internationally agreed development goals and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), to be submitted to the General Assembly in a flagship report during 2018 ” (para 21b).

In preparation for the UN flagship report to be submitted to the General Assembly in 2018, the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (DSPD/DESA) produced this prototype Global Status Report on Disability and Development. This report uses available data and information on the situation of persons with disabilities in various aspects of economic and social development. It also presents policies and responses taken by countries to promote the inclusion, participation and development of persons with disabilities. The Global Status Report on Disability and Development – Prototype 2015 is directed at governmental officials, policy-makers and other decision makers at all levels, development agencies, civil society and the public in general.

The overall aims of the Report are:

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  To provide a preliminary assessment of available information, successful policies and key issues for persons with disabilities.
  
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  To serve as a basis for decision on the outline and content of the UN flagship report to be submitted to the General Assembly in 2018.
  

This prototype report is a preliminary assessment of national policies, programmes, best practices and available statistics regarding persons with disabilities. The report covers selected development areas relevant to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Due to its preliminary nature, this report does not aim at reviewing comprehensively and thoroughly all policies and data available. Instead, the report provides illustrative data, analyses and policies.

For every topic discussed in this report, attempts were made to present the most recent data available. Preference was given to internationally comparable data showing the highest number of countries. When no internationally comparable data were available, selected country data were shown with a note alerting for the lack of internationally comparability. Although not comparable, it was judged pertinent to present these data because they show that the disadvantages experienced by people with disabilities are persistent across countries.

Since preference was given to internationally comparable data, some datasets presented are not recent, from the early 2000s and 1990s, and cannot be interpreted as the current situation. Nevertheless, these data sets can provide guidance on the situation experienced by persons with disabilities in the past and possibly still at present. These “old” data sets also highlight the need to produce new internationally comparable data to know the present situation and assess progress so far.

Due to changes in the methodology to identify persons with disabilities across time, there is a lack of data comparable over time, which hampers any assessment of progress. Therefore, this report focuses mainly on providing a snapshot in time of the situation of persons with disabilities.

Outline

Chapter 2. gives a historical perspective of the UN’s work on disability and development and presents the international normative framework on disability. Chapter 3. gives an overview of the situation of persons with disabilities in development and discusses the definition, prevalence and data availability on the situation of persons with disabilities. It also explores accessibility to physical and information environments, by presenting UN mandates, reviewing best practices and available data on accessibility. Chapter 4. reviews the participation of persons with disabilities in education and employment, their health and their access to health care and to social protection. The chapter also reviews the status and participation of persons with disabilities who tend to suffer from double discrimination: women and girls with disabilities, children with disabilities, youth with disabilities, older persons with disabilities, indigenous persons with disabilities, refugees with disabilities as well as persons with mental and intellectual disabilities. Chapter 4. ends by discussing two examples of emerging issues in disability and development: (i) disaster risk reduction and humanitarian emergencies; and (ii) human settlements and urban development. Chapter 5. debates the way forward by identifying measures which can contribute to making the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development disability-inclusive. Most sections in the report end with a conclusion summarizing the section and recommendations on the way forward. These recommendations are based on each section findings and on expert advice.