Pretoria – Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu has expressed support for inclusion of rights of persons with disabilities in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
She was speaking at the 7th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on Tuesday, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York.
“We in particular appreciate the efforts that have to date gone into ensuring that the rights of persons with disabilities will be mainstreamed in the post-2015 Development Agenda.
“We encourage states parties, international development organisations, UN agencies, organs of civil society, persons with disabilities and their organisations in particular, to continue to campaign for an inclusive post-2015 Development Agenda,” said Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu.
She said the inclusion of the rights of persons with disabilities in the post-2015 Development Agenda is the only effective way towards reducing inequalities between persons with disabilities and their able-bodied peers.
This year’s three-day conference will focus its discussions on the sub-themes: Incorporating the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the post-2015 Development Agenda; National Implementation and Monitoring and Youth with Disabilities.
According to the fact sheet on youth with disabilities, produced by the United Nations for the International Year of Youth, there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide, nearly 80 percent of who live in developing countries.
The Deputy Minister said programmes for people with disabilities, where they exist, are seldom inclusive, concentrating either on children with disabilities in schools, or families, or on employment and social integration of adults with disabilities.
She said few address the unique social, psychological, educational and economic needs of youth.
Disability rights indicator matrix
The Deputy Minister also shared with delegates that South Africa is currently finalising its disability rights indicator matrix, which will help monitor and evaluate the development of the national disability rights.
She explained that the framework is built on three pillars, namely tracking statistical trends, evaluating government performance and listening to the voices of persons with disabilities.
“It is envisaged that implementation of this framework will enable us to strengthen disability responsive planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting across the service delivery spectrum of government,” said Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu.
She also added that the country takes pride in having elevated the development agenda of young persons to the Presidency and that young persons with disabilities are represented on the governance structure of the National Youth Development Agency. – SAnews.gov.za
