The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) has been commemorated since 1992 to promote awareness and mobilize support for critical issues relating to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society and development.
Conference sections
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
UNESCO’s aim is to promote inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities in education, science, culture and communication and information. As one of the UN system organizations, UNESCO contributes to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and Sustainable Development Agenda within the areas of its competence. Concrete efforts are placed to ensure that women and men with disabilities are integrated fully into every aspect of social, political and economic life. It is done in order to create a world which is truly inclusive, pluralistic, open, participatory and knowledge-based.
Of the global population of persons with disabilities, 80% of them live in developing countries. One third of all out-of-school children have disabilities, and fewer than 2% of children with disabilities in developing countries are in school.
These are shocking figures. Events such as this Day hope to raise awareness of this injustice in our world and to mobilize us to make a change in access of persons with disabilities to education, information, employment, health care and other spheres of life.
UNESCO is working to ensure that all persons with disabilities have access to new Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) that allow them access to information and knowledge and that they can benefit from this technological age.
The power of technological and scientific progress for inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities have been acknowledged in the UNESCO Outcome Document – The New Delhi Declaration on Inclusive ICTs for Persons with Disabilities: Making Empowerment a Reality in 2015 by UNESCO’s Executive Board.