UN SUMMIT: FG SIGNS 48,063 PETITION ON PROTECTION OF DISABILITY RIGHTS
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Prior to the 2023 UN meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals, at least 48,063 people from 121 countries, including Nigeria, had signed a petition demanding action to defend disability rights.
The demand comes in response to recent UN research that demonstrates that the SDGs cannot be reached without immediate effort to integrate marginalised populations, including those with disabilities, who are now falling further behind in global progress.
On September 18–19, 2023, during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, the SDGs summit will be held.
According to a statement released on Thursday and signed by Joy Tarbo, Communications Associate for Sightsavers, the petition was delivered to Dr. Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, in Abuja.
James Lalu, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, and Dr. Zakariya Mohammed, the Deputy Director of the Office of the Senior Special Advisor to the President on SDGs, are among those who have signed the petition.
The ‘Promise in Peril’ petition was sponsored jointly by the Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign, the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, and the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, according to a report.
The campaign calls on world leaders to uphold the SDG commitment of “leaving no one behind” to make sure that talks of the SDGs expressly include disability.
Nigeria will attend the summit in New York alongside other member nations to make new pledges and evaluate development towards the global objectives.
A political declaration and promises made on a national and international level by UN member states will be the summit’s results.
Sightsavers Country Director, Dr Sunday Isiyaku said, “The world arrives at the halfway point of the 2030 deadline, progress on the SDGs has derailed – they are completely off-track. People with disabilities are being hit hardest by the lack of progress on poverty and inequality. The promise to leave no one behind is in peril.”
The President of JONAPWD, Abdullahi Usman, also said, “We’re calling on all world leaders to speed up action on the SDGs and make sure they are inclusive of people with disabilities. They must ensure that the Political Declaration, and all national commitments made at the Summit, focus on reaching those who are being left furthest behind. This is our last chance to get the SDGs back on track.”
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