Implementation of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons Realizing the Milliennium Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities

Calls upon Governments to take all necessary measures to advance beyond the adoption of national plans for persons with disabilities through, inter alia, the creation or reinforcement of arrangements for the promotion and awareness of disability issues and the allocation of sufficient resources for the full implementation of existing plans and initiatives, and emphasizes in this regard the importance of supporting national efforts through international cooperation;

Urges Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to promote effective measures, as elaborated in the World Programme of Action, for the prevention of disability and the provision of appropriate habilitation and rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities in a manner respectful of the dignity and integrity of persons with disabilities;

Encourages Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector, as appropriate, to continue to take concrete measures to mainstream the disability perspective in the development process and promote the implementation of relevant United Nations resolutions and agreed international standards concerning persons with disabilities, in particular the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, and for the further equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities;

Encourages Governments to continue and to strengthen their support to non-governmental organizations and other groups, including organizations of persons with disabilities, that contribute to the implementation of the World Programme of Action;

Also encourages Governments to involve persons with disabilities in the formulation of strategies and plans, in particular those pertaining to them;

Urges relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, including the development agencies and funds, relevant human rights treaty bodies and the regional commissions, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions, to incorporate the disability perspective in their activities, as appropriate, and to continue to work closely with the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Secretariat for the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities and the promotion of the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities, including in activities at the field level;

Urges Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to provide special protection to persons with disabilities from marginalized sectors of society, who may be vulnerable to multiple, intersecting or aggravating forms of discrimination, with special emphasis on integrating them into society and protecting and promoting their full enjoyment of all human rights;

Urges Governments to address the situation of persons with disabilities with respect to all actions taken to implement existing human rights treaties to which they are parties and in efforts taken towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals;

Invites Member States and observers to continue to participate actively and constructively in the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, with a view to the early conclusion of a draft text of the convention, in order to present it to the General Assembly, as a matter of priority, for its adoption;

Encourages Governments, intergovernmental organizations, concerned non-governmental organizations and the private sector to continue to support the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Disability, with a view to strengthening its capacity to support catalytic and innovative activities to implement fully the World Programme of Action and the Standard Rules, including the work of the Special Rapporteur, and to support activities to build national capacities, with emphasis on priorities for action identified in the present resolution;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to support the initiatives of relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, as well as those of regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions, for the further implementation of the World Programme of Action, including the promotion of the full enjoyment of all human rights by, and non-discrimination in respect of, persons with disabilities, as well as efforts to integrate persons with disabilities in technical cooperation activities, both as beneficiaries and as decision makers;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its sixty-second session on the global implementation of the World Programme of Action, with respect to overall efforts being made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, also including in the report possible options to improve the complementarity and synergy in the implementation of the World Programme of Action and other United Nations disability mechanisms and instruments, taking into account the strengths and main elements of the World Programme of Action as well as its important role in providing policy guidelines for States.