December 04, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 5, 1429

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that people with disabilities — the vast majority of whom live in poor countries — have a fundamental role to play in development processes.

The world body marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights next week being observed with the theme, “Dignity and justice for all of us”.

Mr Ban pointed out that the General Assembly had underscored the need to include people with disabilities in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets, by their 2015 deadline.

“With 80 per cent of persons with disabilities – more than 400 million people – living in poor countries, we need to do much more to break the cycle of poverty and disability,” he said.

Noting that the international disability community’s slogan is “Nothing about us without us”, the secretary general called upon governments and others to guarantee that persons with disabilities were an integral part of all development processes.

“In this way, we can promote integration and pave the way for a better future for all people in society,” he said.

Mr Ban stressed that there was much to celebrate this year, with the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in May.