Disability Data and Sustainable Development Goals (post 2015) Thilo Kroll CECHR Annual Symposium 2015
Problem: Millenium Development Goals (MDG) and Disability • Estimated 1 billion people worldwide with a disability • Not represented in MDGs
Opportunity: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – post 2015 Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Goal 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation (‌.) ‌.
Legal framework: UN CRPD • UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD, 2006) – 159 State signatories (151 ratifications) – as of 15 Dec 2014 • The purpose is “to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity”. • Adopts a social model perspective, a shift away from seeing “persons with disabilities as "objects" of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as "subjects" with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society” (UN Convention).
Specific recommendation • To include ‘disability’ in the preamble of the zero draft of the SDG Outcome document • “All people, of all ages and abilities, are at the centre of sustainability development. The indicators that track the goals should be disaggregated to ensure no one is left behind, and targets should only be considered ‘achieved’ if they are met for all relevant income and social groups, including disability, gender, age, and any other social group relevant to the national context”.
Conclusions • Opportunities in developing standardised approaches to disability data at scale; disaggregation of census and national survey data by disability • Comparable data for the monitoring of both the implementation of the UN CRPD and Sustainable Development Goals • Need for further methodological innovation and to thoroughly evaluate and disseminate at scale (e.g. measures of the environment and ecological real time measures) • Need for UN Statistical Division and regional offices to adopt a coordinating role and provide technical assistance – avoid duplication of effort • Greater Involvement of Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) is required