Child to Child participates in the Global Partnership for Children with Disabilities with UNICEF

September 2012

Child to Child was in New York City, USA, on 14-15 September, for the first meeting of the Global Partnership for Children with Disabilities led by UNICEF.

I can do it too

Created in 2011, this Partnership gathers over 240 members including international organisations, governments, academia and private sector. It aims at ensuring the post-2015 development framework will be fully inclusive, not overlooking the needs of disabled children in particular.

The event was opened by Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, and featured Carsten Staur, Ambassador to the UN for Denmark, Chris Stokes representing Ambassador  to the UN for the Australian Mission Gary Quinlan; Timothy Shriver, CEO and Chairman of Special Olympics; and Ariel Ary, Special Olympics Global Messenger.

For two days, the 180 participants discussed the need to advocate for an inclusive post-2015 agenda. They decided to form four task forces – focusing on nutrition, education, humanitarian action and assistive technology –  in order to mainstream disability rights in future international child rights development debate.

It was stressed during the meeting that about 1 in every 10 children in the world copes with a disability and only 2-3% of disabled children in low income countries go to school, according to World Health Organisation estimates from 2011. The Global Partners agreed on a Concept note which shed light on the difficult conditions disabled children face around the world:

Children with disabilities (CWD) are among the most stigmatised and excluded of children around the world; girls and adolescent girls with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged due to discrimination against their sex, disability and other factors, such as poverty and ethnicity. Children with disabilities are likely to have poorer health, less education, less economic opportunity, live in greater poverty and deal with more inequalities than their counterparts without disabilities.

They concluded making a Call to Action, which strives to meet the critical need for inclusive, integrated and collaborative rights-based development with a focus on children with disabilities.