KATHMANDU, Dec 3: The International Day of Persons with Disability is being observed today to promote legitimate rights and welfare of persons with disabilities around the globe.

December 3 was designated as the International Day of Persons with Disability by the United Nations in 1992. The Nepal Government and civil society organizations are organizing various programs today across the country to mark the day.

The Ministry of Social Welfare organized a function to mark day on the premises of Lainchaur-based Social Welfare Council.

Hundreds of people from various walks of life including persons with disabilities joined a rally today morning to mark the day. The rally commenced from Nepal Academy, Kamaladi and converged into assembly at Social Welfare Council.  

President Bidya Devi Bhandari, in her message on the occasion of the day, stressed the need to bring initiatives for the persons with disabilities to make them self-reliant. “Persons with disabilities should be made self-reliant by bringing them onboard the development mainstream. Persons with disabilities should be looked from the right-based approach,” the president said.

In a separate message, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that the constitution has prioritized social security, rehabilitation, participation and inclusion of the persons with disabilities.

"The government is committed to ensure equal access to the persons with disabilities in every aspect of service, facilities and opportunity of the state and they should also be benefitted equal to others,” he said.

The theme for this year’s International Day of Persons with Disability is “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

The theme is focused on the empowering persons with disabilities for the inclusive, equitable and sustainable development envisaged in the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to the United Nations.

The UN 2030 Agenda, pledging to “leave no one behind,” is an ambitious plan of action of the international community towards a peaceful and prosperous world, where dignity of an individual person and equality among all is applied as the fundamental principle, cutting across the three pillars of the work of the United Nations: Development, Human Rights and Peace and Security. 

“It is critical to ensure, in this regard, the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and create enabling environments by, for and with persons with disabilities,” the United Nations said in a recent statement.

The 2030 Agenda places great importance on issues related to sustainable urbanization, particularly in Goal 11: make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Secretary-General of the United Nations is going to launch a first-ever flagship report today on disability and development called UN Flagship Report on Disability and Development | 2018 – Realizing the SDGs by, for and with persons with disabilities.

The Report provides an evidence base for disability-inclusive policy-making, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of an inclusive, accessible and sustainable global development agenda. (With inputs from RSS)

 
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