Building the Baseline Information FOF Policies to Empower Persons with Disabilities

In September 2013, the United Nations General Assembly convened a high-level meeting on disability and development, and adopted an outcome document aimed to promote a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.  This marked an intergovernmental milestone in terms of integrating the long-standing disability-related work of the United Nations – including the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – into the ongoing discussions on the post-2015 development agenda.

In the outcome document of that meeting, representatives of Member States make a commitment to “improve disability data collection, analysis and monitoring for development policy planning, implementation and evaluation, taking fully into account regional contexts”.[1] Several recent global reports addressing disability challenges in the context of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 agenda stress the lack of accurate data as a key obstacle for the formulation of national policies to empower persons with disability.[2]

“More than 1 billion of us live with disabilities. We must remove all barriers that a$ect the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in society, including through changing attitudes that fuel stigma and institutionalize discrimination” 

Ban Ki-moon, Message on the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2013

 At the regional level, several ESCWA reports have also highlighted the lack of accurate and comparable disability data, including in the key areas of education, employment, health and social protection. Some estimates of disability prevalence rates in ESCWA member countries vary from as low as 0.4 per cent in Qatar[3] to 4.9 per cent in the Sudan,[4] in striking contrast with an estimated 15 per cent of the world population (more than one billion people) living with disabilities.

The estimated lower prevalence rates in the Arab region may arise from several factors, including the use of inconsistent definitions and lack of accurate data that meet international standards.  One ESCWA report, for example, calls for the following: (a) the development of a clear regional definition in line with international standards; (b) systematic data collection and analysis; (c) the establishment of monitoring systems that involve key stakeholders; (d) the publication of periodic reports.[5]

In order to address these challenges, ESCWA and the League of Arab States are preparing a major study on disability in the Arab region, which will provide the first comprehensive compilation of regional disability data and country profiles.  The study will also explore key trends related to disability in Arab countries, including disability prevalence, institutional and legal frameworks, and access to education and employment.  The full report is due to be published during the first half of 2014, and will thus come at an opportune time, given the closure of the Arab Decade for Persons with Disabilities in 2013 and ongoing intergovernmental discussions on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the post-2015 development agenda.

 Besides offering baseline information for the formulation of national policies to empower persons with disabilities, this regional study could also provide a regional contribution to a periodic United Nations global report on disability and development, as recommended in a recent report of the Secretary-General.[6]  Such a global report would, in turn, contribute to the monitoring of goals and targets in the post-2015 development agenda.