pacific rim conference

[Guest guest]

Aloha from Hawaii,

This year's 2010 Pacific Rim International Forum on the Rights of Persons

with Disabilities hosted by the Center on Disability Studies at the

University of Hawaii and held in Honolulu on April 10-11, 2010 resulted in

a participant driven Declaration entitled, THE PACIFIC RIM DECLARATION FOR

DISABILITY-INCLUSIVE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS. " Attached is both a PDF

and word 2003 version of the document. Please feel free to use it as an

educational tool, as a support document for advocacy or as a template to

create your own regional declarations or statements. You may also

download or view the Declaration on the following United Nations websites:

http://www.un.org/disabilities/index.asp ,

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1470 .

For more information on the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations

meetings on MDG's in June and September of 2010 where Heads of State and

global leaders will be convening - and other information please visit

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml.

For more information on the International Forum, to view past Forum

proceedings and information on our 2011 Forum as well as the Pacific Rim

International Conference on Disabilities, you may visit

<http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu> www.pacrim.hawaii.edu or email

<mailto:cccrocke@...> cccrocke@... with any questions.

Warm regards, Charmaine

" The Pacific Rim Declaration for Disability-Inclusive Millennium Development

Goals "

April-May 2010

We, the participants in the Pacific Rim International Forum on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities from Australia, China, Federated States of

Micronesia, Fiji, Greece, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, New Zealand, Samoa,

Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States of America, and the Pacific Basin

island jurisdictions of American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern na

Islands (CNMI), and Guam including representatives of Governments,

intergovernmental organizations, and civil society organizations as well as

the private sector, met at the Third International Forum on April 10th &

11th, 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA and decided to call for action by the

international community at the United Nations as follows:

Having Recalled:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes that the

inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the

human family is the basis of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

The United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted in September 2000 whose

eight development goals (MDGs) include eradication of extreme poverty and

hunger, achievement of universal primary education, and development of a

global partnership for development, should include the poorest of the poor

and include all people including persons with disabilities, many of whom

live in poverty;

The 2005 World Summit outcome, adopted in September 2005, which recognizes

the need to guarantee the full enjoyment of the rights of persons with

disabilities without discrimination;

Understanding that disability is part of the human experience; each

Millennium Development Goal must reflect the living tapestry of disability

to improve global human dignity and quality of life for everyone;

Emphasizing that The Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved

without the full effective inclusion of persons with disabilities and their

participation in all stages of the MDG process;

Reaffirming the importance of the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action

towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with

Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF) which incorporated the Millennium

Development Goals;

Reaffirming that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities reinforces universal human rights of persons with disabilities

in society and development and recognizes its essentiality for realization

of human rights and development for all;

Deeply Concerned with the invisibility of disability and persons with

disabilities in the current Millennium Development Goal processes;

Committed to educating and advocating to governments and civil society the

importance of including persons with disabilities in all aspects of the

MDG's;

Determined to support the international community in taking bold new steps

forward towards achieving substantial progress in mainstreaming disability

into all aspects of the on-going Millennium Development Goal processes to

achieve the following objectives:

1. Ensure a continuous effort in mainstreaming disability and empowerment of

persons with disabilities in the attainment of the Millennium Development

Goals;

2. Further enhance and expand coordination and cooperation within the

global, regional and sub-regional cooperation frameworks in order that

disability inclusion in MDGs and other international development goals

benefit from initiatives in disability-inclusive MDGs.

3. Continue to promote awareness and strengthen training programmes for MDG

statistics collection in the Pacific Rim on the urgent need to take action

for Disability-inclusive MDGs and enhance participation of persons with

disabilities, their families and communities in the Pacific Rim;

4. Facilitate the sharing of information, experiences and best practices in

the attainment of Disability-Inclusive MDGs among the Pacific Rim countries

and the international community and institutions;

5. Stress the importance of collaboration between UN Agencies and

development partners working on the Pacific Rim countries as well as in the

international community and assess current concerns which are likely to

adversely affect Pacific Rim countries' efforts to enhance human development

and achieve the Millennium Development Goals;

6. Encourage the close collaboration among the public and private sectors

and civil society and develop strategies on the Millennium Development Goals

particularly in the Pacific Rim countries where there has been limited

progress in the implementation and realization of MDG goals and targets;

7. Develop and implement action plans for the Disability-Inclusive

Millennium Development Goals as a framework for collective actions among the

Pacific Rim countries and all stakeholders to achieve the MDGs;

8. Strengthen collaborative efforts among UN Agencies and development

partners working on the Millennium Development Goals and include

governments, regional intergovernmental organizations and civil society;

9. Strengthen capacity building for collection, monitoring and evaluation of

disability statistics and other information concerning persons with

disabilities in economic and social development, and ensure the inclusion

of disability indicators in existing monitoring and evaluation systems for

the Millennium Development Goals; and

10. Call on All the Members of the United Nations to include in the outcome

document of the upcoming 2010 Millennium Development Goal Summit,

disability as an essential component for all MDG processes, especially

monitoring and evaluation.

DRAFTED on the 11th day of April, two thousand ten in the English Language.

ADOPTED at Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America on 25th day of May,

two thousand ten in the English Language.