International Day of Persons with Disabilities: 3 December 2017

International Day of Persons with Disabilities was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1992 and observed annually on 3 December.

It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of on the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

The theme for IDPD 2017 is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all.”

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006, has advanced the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international development frameworks, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, the New Urban Agenda, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.

The 2030 Agenda pledges to “leave no one behind.”

The UN and other agencies are holding events, such as the Panel Discussion on “Persons with disabilities as agents of change: Lessons from disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction and humanitarian action for resilient and sustainable societies, and side events, such as “Big data analytics and text mining: monitoring and evaluating disability and development for SDGs and CRPD implementation.”

International Day is a day to raise awareness and to promote the rights and perspectives of persons with disabilities around the world.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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