Asia pacific civil society forum on sustainable development includes persons with disabilities

The Asia-Pacific Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development (CSO Forum) was organized by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and Pacific)
And UNEP in collaboration with Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and other civil society partners at Nouvo City Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand and the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok, Thailand in april 2016.
Ms. Manique Gunaratne from The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon Network on Disability and from the South Asian Disability Forum participated at this event representing women with disabilities. Women with disabilities from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indunisia and Sri Lanka participated at this forum.
ON behalf of the civil society networks and on behalf of the Disability Constituency we persons with disabilities would like to thank ESCAP and member states for inclusion of civil society in this meeting. We hope the inputs of CSO will be considered and adopted as your priorities in implementing SDGs.
As you rightly focus on issues of inequality, it is critical to remember that persons with disabilities (10 -15% of the total population) amongst the most likely to live in poverty, to be denied development rights, their right to makes choices over their bodies, to achieve justice and remedies when experiencing gender based violence, to enjoy education, meaningful and decent work, to control resources and to participate in public life.
Government policies that privatize public services, reduce the commons and value economic growth over human rights have a devastating impact on persons with disabilities particularly women with disabilities.
SDG itself lacks of inclusive language and essence. Nor the specific goals or priority action areas are phrased in a way that would embrace an inclusive society that leaves no one behind. Unfortunately, persons with disabilities like us continue to be left behind.
We believe it is important to rely on already existing tools and commitments, which can support national planning/implementation with reference to Development Justice in national and regional level. This will surely pose challenges particularly with regards to some specific indicators. But LGBTI, Older Persons, Youth, Women, Dalits, Migrant Workers, Women in Politics and Persons with disabilities strongly believe that is the only way to gets the measures done.
We are standing ready to provide you with our experiences. We encourage all governments to adopt the principles of Development Justice as they advance their work through ESCAP as well as at national, international and global levels.

Picture descriptions:
1 Presenting the APWWDU statement in session 3.

2 Day 1 at the conference Manique with the participants.