The United Nations Family Hands Over Food and Household Items to 50 Persons with Disabilities

The hand-over of items, on Tuesday, 5th October 2021, was done in an act of solidarity, as well as a part of ongoing support, by the United Nations Family with EmaSwati living with disabilities, including children. Donated food and household items included: rice, mealie meal, cooking oil, beans, candles, bars of green soap and masks.

Under the leadership of the Inkhundla representative of persons with disabilities, Ms Joyce Nunn, the items were distributed by UN staff and personnel to all registered persons with disabilities in the Motshane Inkhundla. Ms Nunn extended her deep appreciation to the United Nations Family, on behalf of community members in her Inkhundla, for the ongoing support received, as did she extend a token of appreciation to the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms Nathalie Ndongo-Seh, for her personal commitment to persons with disabilities in Eswatini.

The Kingdom of Eswatini is home to over 140,000 EmaSwati living with disabilities; all of whom are at great risk of being left behind in the nation’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent civil unrest. Persons with disabilities are immensely vulnerable to social and economic inequalities, with disability determining their access to food, shelter, education, healthcare, employment and more.

Thus, there is an urgent need for ambitious action to include persons with disabilities, of whom account for 15 percent of the world’s population, as agents of change and in turn, beneficiaries of development.

Central to Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, which serves as a blueprint towards a more peaceful and prosperous world, is the principle of ‘leave[ing] no one behind’, as well as the respect of all person’s dignity, including persons with disabilities. According to the United Nations’ Disability and Development Report on the ‘Realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by, and for Persons with Disabilities,’ people living with disabilities are at a severe disadvantage in the achievement of most SDGs.

Thus, in December 2019, UN Member States adopted two resolutions entitled: ‘Promoting Social Integration Through Social Inclusion’ and ‘Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ respectively.

The United Nations remains committed to empowering persons with disabilities, through the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the realisation of Agenda 2030, as both beneficiaries of development and most importantly, agents of change.