Pacific Disability Forum

The Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) in partnership with the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Team on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action currently conducting a regional Consultation Workshop for humanitarian actors in the Pacific. The workshop which is the first regional consultation undertaken by the IASC Task Team and first such regional meeting in the Pacific will be an opportunity for disabled people’s organisations (DPO), Governments, UN Agencies, CROP Agencies, and other humanitarian actors in the region to contribute to the development of a global guideline on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Humanitarian Actions.

In 2016, the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Working Group agreed to establish a Task Team on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. The Task Team is mandated to create the IASC Guidelines on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action between January 2017 and December 2018. The Guidelines will assist humanitarian actors, governments, affected communities and organizations of persons with disabilities to coordinate, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate essential actions that foster the effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency of humanitarian action, resulting in the full and effective participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities and changing practice across all sectors and in all phases of humanitarian action, based in international legal frameworks – International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law and Refugee Law. The Task Team membership spans UN agencies, humanitarian actors, NGOs and organizations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) and includes Member States as observers. The Task Team is led by three co-chairs: Handicap International, the International Disability Alliance and UNICEF.[1]
Further details on the Task Team, including Terms of Reference and Work Plan, can be found on the IASC website:
https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/iasc-task-team-inclusion-persons-disabilities-humanitarian-action

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The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed every year on 3 December with the aim to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society, development and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all’. The theme reiterates the 2030 Agenda plea of leaving no one behind and encourages a society that is sustainable and resilient for all

International Day for Persons with Disabilities 2017: “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”
 
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed every year on 3 December. It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development and to increase awareness of and on the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.
                                                                                            
This year’s theme is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”. Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) in the Pacific are commemorating the day to raise awareness on persons with disabilities’ issues and interest in transforming a society to be sustainable and resilient for all Pacific persons with disabilities. These issues range from empowering persons with disabilities and their families’ to highlight the important roles they play in building a sustainable and resilient society for all to building the capacity of duty bearers on the rights and interests of persons with disabilities in the Pacific.
 
Below is a highlight of the various activities happening around the Pacific to commemorate the International day of persons with disabilities.

Resource Team for the national disability association, Fusi Alofa Association Tuvalu (FAA Tuvalu) is undergoing a 2-day refresher training on the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - CRPD.

The annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3 in 1992. It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of on the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

Building on many decades of UN’s work in the field of disability,  the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006, has further advanced the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international development frameworks, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, the New Urban Agenda, and  the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.

The theme for this year’s IDPD is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”.

I’ve been asked to speak to us or share with us, as colleagues in the civil society space on this project on Raising Pacific Voices. This thought came through my mind. This project Raising Pacific Voices, is not really about whose voice is the loudest, or whose voice will be the loudest. Because that is then instilling, that is then implying, that we are here in the CSO space which is already competitive, that it will be a competitive project. 

SUVA, Fiji – Strengthening communities and the voice of civil society in regional and international policy-making is the aim of a three-year program launched in Suva today by the European Union Ambassador to Fiji and the Pacific, H.E. Andrew Jacobs. 

“Women and girls with disabilities do not report cases of violence, abuse and exploitations due to barriers and challenges they face as a woman and as a person with a disability”, said Mr Setareki Macanawai, the CEO for Pacific Disability Forum (PDF). Mr Macanawai made this comment at the first ever regional dialogue on Ending Violence against women and girls with disabilities (EVAW) in the Pacific.