..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 28 March 2007
Press Release No. G/07/2007

PACIFIC ISLANDERS WITH DISABILITIES FACE NEGATIVE ATTITUDES, PREJUDICES, IGNORANCE, APATHY

NGOs spearhead effort at UN-backed meeting to make Pacific island societies more inclusive for people with disabilities

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) -- A UN-backed Pacific-wide meeting aimed at making Pacific island societies more inclusive for people with disabilities opened today in Nadi, Fiji.

“People with disabilities in Pacific island countries are among the poorest and most marginalized members of their community. Negative attitudes, prejudices, ignorance and apathy of policy makers remain significant barriers faced by people with disabilities and their families,” Ms. Tewai Halatau, Chairperson of the Pacific Disability Forum, told experts at the opening of the meeting.

“Our challenge is to move disability into the mainstream so that it is not a marginalized issue. NGOs and disability self-help groups will be leading the way in this effort,” she added.

The Expert Group Meeting on Disability in the Pacific, 28-30 March, is organized by the Pacific Operations Centre of the Bangkok-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Pacific Disability Forum, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

Attending the meeting are government and non-governmental representatives from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Australia and New Zealand, as well as representatives from the Pacific islands Forum Secretariat, UNDP, and other bilateral and multilateral donors.

In his opening statement, Mr. Hervé Berger, who heads UNESCAP’s Pacific Operations Centre in Suva, Fiji, emphasized the need to strengthen partnerships between governments, civil society, disability self-help organizations and the wider community to create a society that is inclusive to people with disabilities.

He urged governments in the Pacific to show greater commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities in the Pacific.

“The experts are tasked to make concrete recommendations to Pacific island governments on ways to meet international commitments including the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is the first convention of the 21st century now ready for countries to ratify, and the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action Towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for people with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific in the twenty-first century,” he said.

Mr. Berger noted that the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have developed policies for people with disabilities that meet international standards, and said that other Pacific governments were also addressing this issue.

“Close collaboration among governments, civil society organizations and regional and international organizations is key to these achievements. The challenge moving forward is to implement these policies so that Pacific island countries are inclusive of all members of society,” Mr. Berger said.

For further information, please contact:

Margaret Hanley, Information Officer
UN Information Services Bangkok
+(66) 2288 1862
Email: unisbkk.unescap@un.org