Persons With Disabilities Must Lead Not Follow

Biwako Millennium Framework for Action Adopted

OTSU (United Nations Information Services) -- A Wide-ranging regional framework for action was adopted today in the picturesque central Japanese City of Otsu.

The regional framework for action, named for Japan's largest lake (670.33 sq km), incorporates the Millennium Development Goals with targets to ensure persons with disabilities' concerns become an integral part of efforts to achieve the goals. Forty per cent of the 400 million persons with disabilities in the region live in poverty.

Some of the priority areas and policies are access to built environments and public transport, information and ICT, education, training and employments and regional cooperation - all with special emphasis on the needs of women and children.

"What we want is neither charity nor handouts but appropriate education, a chance for rehabilitation and a place to work," said deafblind Professor Satoshi Fukushima, communicating in "Finger Braille," a method invented by his mother.

More than 300 representatives from 27 countries including NGOs, United Nations agencies attended the meeting to officially conclude the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled People. They reviewed the achievements of the last ten years, which includes a growing awareness of the special challenges faced by persons with disabilities and their inherent rights.

The meeting unanimously launched another Decade - 2003-2012. The new decade is expected to continue the improvements in awareness with the theme, "Towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities."

Less than 10 per cent of children and youth with disabilities have access to any form of education compared to an enrolment rate of over 70 per cent for non-disabled children and youth in primary education in the region. Women and girls with disabilities are also one of the most marginalized groups in society.

Approximately two-thirds of the world's 600 million persons with disabilities live in the Asian and the Pacific region.

"The Government of Japan is fully committed to further improving the welfare of people with disabilities," said Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Junichiro Koizumi in a statement read by Mr. Issei Anan, Parliamentary Secretary of the Cabinet office and Chairman of the Conference. "We have made tremendous progress and now we ought to achieve more. UNESCAP will do its part," said UNESCAP Executive Secretary Mr. Kim Hak-Su.

For more information, please check the website: http://www.unescap.org/decade

For more information, please contact:

Mr. David Lazarus, Chief, United Nations Information Services
UN Building, Rajadamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Tel: +66(0)2-2881864-9; Fax: +66(0)2-2881052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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