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International Day of Persons with Disabilities and International Human Rights Day
Posted on 24 November 2010 by
The 2010 International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December has as its theme, “Keeping the promise: Mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals towards 2015 and beyond”. One week later, the 10th December marks International Human Rights Day.
Lobbying by the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) of which ILEP is a Member, helped to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Outcomes Document of a High Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2010.
The UN General Assembly in its 3rd November Resolution, Realising the Millennium Development Goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond (A/C.3/65/L.12/Rev.1) calls upon Governments to enable persons with disabilities to participate as agents and beneficiaries of development, in particular in all efforts aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals, by ensuring that programmes and policies, namely on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development, are inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.
Persons with disabilities include persons with leprosy related disabilities. There are estimated to be around three million people with impairments associated with leprosy and many more are disabled by the continuing experience of discrimination and prejudice. These two important International Days provide an ideal opportunity for ILEP to trumpet its vision of a world where the rights of every person affected by leprosy to receive appropriate treatment and rehabilitation are fulfilled and where all people affected by leprosy are able to participate as fully as they choose at every level of society.
Doug Soutar
ILEP General Secretary
24th November 2010
Download ILEP General Secretary's Statement for these two International Days
Categories: International Collaboration, News and Notes