Promoting Report on Disability Inclusion Strategy, Deputy Secretary-General Stresses Need to Measure Progress, While Raising Standards, Ambition
(Delayed in Transmission)
Following is UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s video message to promote the Secretary-General’s report on the Implementation of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, on 13 October:
The central promise of the 2030 Agenda is to leave no one behind — and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment. It was in that spirit that in June 2019 the Secretary-General launched the first ever United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy to advance transformative and lasting change for persons who are too often left behind.
The Strategy seeks to translate UN principles, values and commitments into action:
Action to raise the standards of our performance on disability inclusion.
Action to make an impact in our policies, programmes and operations.
Action to meaningfully engage persons with disabilities, and not just see them as a vulnerable population, but also as actors of change.
To spur change within our Organization, we have established an accountability framework with concrete benchmarks, and requested all parts of the Organization — from our funds and programmes to our UN country teams — to demonstrate what they are doing to meet those objectives. It will be crucial to measure our progress and continually raise our standards and ambition.
Our commitment to disability inclusion is real and is reflected in the Secretary-General’s first report on the implementation of the Strategy. While there is a long way to go, the Strategy has triggered momentum, with action being taken across all pillars of the Organization’s work: human rights, sustainable development, and peace and security, both at Headquarters and in the field.
In this Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals, we must work with great resolve to leave no one behind and achieve a more inclusive, accessible and sustainable world for all.
Thank you.