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3rd December is a day of persons with disabilities.
People everywhere in the world celebrate this day. It is a chance to make everyone more aware Many meetings about rights of persons with disabilities In Europe, people talked about |
People with disabilities- a priority for development cooperation
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated worldwide on 3 December. “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all” was a featured topic of this year’s International Day, stressing the importance of inclusion of persons with disabilities in the post-2015 development framework. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General addressed a speech to all countries celebrating this ocassion, emphasizing the UN engagement for a disability inclusive development agenda in 2015.
There are over one billion persons with disabilities worldwide. More than 80% of them are living in developing countries, overrepresented among those living in absolute poverty. Despite this fact, persons with disabilities as a vulnerable social group were excluded from the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations development agenda 2000-2015.
The worlds’ celebration of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities was therefore an opportunity to raise awareness of disability and accessibility as a cross-cutting development issue and further the global efforts to promote accessibility, to realize the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.
Worldwide celebration
Various events around the world took place on 3rd December to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Governments, organisations of persons with disabilities and public institutions organisied numerous events to raise awareness about accessibility of persons with disabilities.
European Day of Persons with Disabilities
On 3-4 December, the European Commission and European Disability Forum organised an annual conference known as the ‘European Day of Persons with Disabilities’. This year, the conference tackled the topic of accessible tourism. Persons with disabilities, tourism and disability professionals and European decision-makers discussed the main obstacles faced by people with disabilities when travelling on holidays, including the lack of accessible services, information and transport.
Tourism for all
As stated by the Commission, making tourism more accessible is a social responsibility, but also a compelling business case to boost the competitiveness of tourism in Europe. More accessible tourism would create a benefit for both, tourism providers and people with disabilities and contribute to more inclusive society.
