International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Representative of the Manzini Regional Administrator

Deputy Prime Minister

Programme Director, Principal Secretary in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office

Director, Disability Unit

President of the Federation of Disabled Persons (FODSWA), my brother Sipho

President of the Association of the Deaf

Matsetsa High School for the Deaf

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Honourable Deputy Prime Minister,

On behalf of the UN Development System in Eswatini and on my own behalf, let me start by thanking you and your team for inviting us to be with you this morning at this occasion to observe and celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly in 1992 with the aim to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness on the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

The theme for this year’s commemoration is, “promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda”.

In his message for this year’s commemoration, UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres has rightly pointed out that “when we secure the rights of people with disabilities, we move closer to achieving the central promise of the 2030 Agenda – to leave no one behind.”

The focus for this year is the empowerment of persons with disabilities for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development, as anticipated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Over 1 billion people in the world have some form of disability, that is 1 in 7 persons. More than 100 million disabled persons are children. Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled children. 80% of all people with disabilities live in a developing country.

Evidence and experience show that when barriers to inclusion are removed and persons with disabilities are empowered to participate fully in societal life, their entire community benefits. Barriers faced by persons with disabilities are, therefore, a detriment to society as a whole, and accessibility is necessary to achieve progress and development for all.

While we still have much to do, we have seen important progress in building an inclusive world for all.

Building on many decades of UN’s work in the field of disability, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006, has  advanced the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.

In June, the UN Secretary General launched the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, to raise standards and performance on disability inclusion, across all areas of the UN work around the world.

Furthermore, the UN Security Council adopted its first-ever resolution dedicated to the protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict.

As the UN family, we wish to commend the Government of Eswatini, the Federation of Disabled Persons in Eswatini (FODSWA), and all stakeholders, for working tirelessly to ensure that disability is mainstreamed in national development.

There are numerous examples of this high level of commitment.  Disability is included in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini. In 2007, the country signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and subsequently ratified it in 2012.

Following the ratification, the Disability Policy was developed in 2013.   Last year, the Kingdom launched the Disability Plan of Action, which provides an operational framework for implementing the policy.

The major highlight of last year was the passing of the Persons with Disability Act of 2018.

We urge the Government and all stakeholders to operationalize this Act as soon as possible to pave a way for greater success in the implementation of programmes aimed at improving the lives of people with disabilities and ensure the promotion and the protection of their fundamental rights.

As the UN in Eswatini, we appreciate the partnership with the Government, particularly the DPMO, in ensuring that all national policies and development programmes mainstream disability at all stages of planning and implementation.

On this International Day, we reaffirm the commitment of the United Nations to work with people with disabilities to build a sustainable, inclusive and transformative future in which everyone, including women, men, girls and boys with disabilities, can realize their potential.

I have also made a personal commitment and will encourage my colleagues in the UN to lead by example. We are working closely with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to repair and operationalize 3 schools for children living with disabilities I  Malkerns, Mbabane and Nhlangano. This is also because we believe that ALL children should be in school: that is where they belong. We will also be creating opportunities for internship and employment of people living with disability and ensuring that our premises are more disability friendly.

I thank you.