Geneva: The United Nations warned today
that attempts to halve world poverty will be doomed unless the
world's estimated 650 million disabled people are pulled out
of neglect and unjust discrimination.
In an appeal to mark International Day for Persons
with Disabilities tomorrow, UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay said disabled people formed "one of the
world's largest and most neglected groups."
About 20 per cent of the world's poorest people have
some kind of disability, while 90 per cent of disabled
children in developing countries do not attend school,
according to UN data.
"These statistics shock our conscience," said Pillay.
"Unless persons with disabilities are brought into the
development mainstream, it will be impossible to cut poverty
in half by 2015 or to give every girl and boy the chance to
achieve a primary education," she added in a statement.
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, formed this year, said many national censuses
simply failed to account for the disabled, effectively hiding
the issue of care, support, opportunities and their rights.
Yet the number of people with physical and mental
disabilities is thought to be growing, while forcible
internment remains a major concern, committee members warned.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 02, 2009, 22:15