Disability Programme Mission Statement
wheel chair bound ladyAn estimated 10 per cent of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. In Asia and the Pacific, the population of persons with disabilities could be as many as 400 million and the number is increasing due to multiple factors including that of population aging. Persons with disabilities face all forms of discrimination and prejudice as well as all types of barriers. Rights-based and comprehensive policy actions should be taken. Barriers should be removed and participation of persons with disabilities in all relevant decision-making processes should be ensured. To attain these goals in the region, ESCAP works with Governments, representatives of disabled people's organizations and experts on human rights laws and accessibility, and provide effective policy options, useful data and information, and promote multi-stakeholders networking. Our mandates are the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific and its supplement, Biwako Plus Five within the framework of the Second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (2003-2012). Our work is also guided by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
  • According to the United Nations estimates, some 400 million out of the world’s 650 million persons with disabilities live in Asia and the Pacific. The disability of one family member impacts his/her entire surrounding.
  • In many countries, disability data collection is at an early stage of development-being given low priority or often excluded from official statistics. Available data reveal wide disparities in the proportion of persons with disabilities in the region-ranging from 0.7per cent in Cook Islands to 20 percent in Australia and New Zealand.[1] The variance is due to differences in definitions of disability, methods of data collection as well as capacity of data collecting professionals. Also, the lack of availability and the quality of demographic data and socio-economic indicators concerning disability continue to be major challenges.
  • In developing countries, in many cases, disability is caused by inadequate maternal and childhood nutrition, infection and disease, the lack of clean water, accidents, armed conflict, terrorism and anti-personnel landmines. In Afghanistan, for example, 17 per cent of causes of disability are linked to conflicts.2
  • The numbers of persons with psycho-social disabilities is on the rise due to tougher competition and rising level of stress, especially in countries which are going through globalization at a fast pace. Conflicts and natural disasters have also contributed to the increase.
  • Persons with disabilities are among the poorest of the poor. This group is the most marginalized in the society. Persons with disabilities have limited access to education, employment, housing, transportation, health services and recreation, leading to their economic and social exclusion.
  • The International Labour Office (ILO) recognizes that the unemployment rate among persons with disabilities is usually double that of the general population and often as high as 80 per cent.3 They frequently face various barriers such as negative attitudes of employers, lack of accessible facilities, and lack of vocational and technical trainings.
  • Women and girls with disabilities in developing countries face triple discrimination due to their status as a woman, a person with disabilities and their over representation among the poor. They are 2 to 3 times more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse may it be at home or in institutions for persons with disabilities. Few victims ever talk or file a grievance due to lack of confidence and knowledge of where or whom to turn for help.4
  • Children with disabilities are largely excluded from educational opportunities. It is estimated that for the majority of countries in the region less than 10 per cent of children with disabilities are enrolled in school. The ESCAP Survey in 2004 indicates for example that the school enrolment rate of children with disabilities is 2 per cent in the Philippines and 4 per cent in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
  • Mainstreaming ICT accessibility is important, especially given the fast growing ICT-based services, such as e-government, Internet banking and shopping and online education, that have an impact on persons with disabilities. In the Republic of Korea, for example, only about 52 per cent of persons with disabilities use internet compared to 77 per cent of the total population.
  • Recognizing the marginalized status of persons with disabilities, ESCAP took the initiative to declare the world’s first regional decade on persons with disabilities from 1993-2002 to promote disability-sensitive policy development and implementation. This decade was extended to another one from 2003-2012.
  • The “Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific” (BMF) was adopted as guideline for action at the high-level intergovernmental meeting held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan in October 2002. The BMF promotes a paradigm shift from a charity based to a rights-based approach to disability.
  • Recognizing the need for legal protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities and for mainstreaming disability into the development agenda, the sixty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its optional protocol on 13 December 2006.5 The Convention and the optional protocol went into force on 3 May 2008 and was the first human rights treaty to be adopted in the twenty-first century and the most rapidly negotiated human rights treaty in the history of international law.
  • The newly adopted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides an evolving concept of disability. It describes persons with disabilities as those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. The concept draws our attention to the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing information, physical infrastructure, society’s system and peoples’ attitudes.
  1. Disability at a Glance 2009: a Profile of 36 Countries and Areas in Asia and the Pacific, November 2009, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
  2. Handicap International: National Disability Survey in Afghanistan, 2005.
  3. http://adb.org/Documents/Events/2002/Disability_Development/perry_paper.pdf
  4. Hidden Sisters: Women and Girls with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region, 1995; a publication of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
  5. For more information about the Convention, please visit http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention.
Disability Programme Activities

Concluded Events

 

please wait while the requested page is loading ..
Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 1993-2002