Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Presents Report to the General Assembly

The Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas, presented her first report in September at the 70th session of the General Assembly.  The report aims to provide guidance and recommendations to states and other responsible actors for creating disability-inclusive social protection systems.

The report touches on key issues related to providing rights-based social protection for persons with disabilities; including the role of social protection floors, the importance of non-discrimination and recognizing the role that gender plays in accessing social protection.

The report is highly relevant in light of the Sustainable Development Summit, which was also held in September during the General Assembly. The outcome document of the Sustainable Development Summit makes explicit references to persons with disabilities, demonstrating increased international awareness of the importance of respecting the rights of persons with disabilities, which were conspicuously absent from the Millennium Development Goals. The Special Rapporteur’s report also calls on states and other actors to pursue inclusive and sustainable development strategies in designing social protection systems.

The report also calls on practitioners to develop non-discriminatory social protection systems, address the link between poverty and disability and provide adequate social protection across the life cycle.

The report also touches on key aspects on designing, implementing and monitoring social protection systems; including the importance of adequate legal and institutional frameworks, participatory processes, assessing eligibility of recipients and relevance of benefits provided.

Access the report here.

Photo credit: “Smile, Despite the Disability” by MD. Hasibul Haque Sakib (CCBY 2.0 via Flickr).