Port Moresby Recommendations to Make the Right Real

We, the representatives of disabled people’s organizations (DPOs), domestic and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Government of Papua New Guinea in total 76 persons, participated in the Stakeholders’ Meeting on Reviewing the Implementation of Second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (2003-2012), from 28 to 29 March 2011 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 

We thank the organizers, the Department for Community Development (DfCD) of the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), the National Advisory Committee on Disability (NACD), the National Board for Disabled Persons (NBDP), Papua New Guinea Assembly of Disabled Persons (PNGADP), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for their successful arrangement of the Meeting;

Recognizing the significance of all international and regional documents on disability, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 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) and the Biwako Plus Five, the supplement to the BMF;

Appreciating efforts made by the Pacific Island Forum (PIF), ESCAP including its Pacific Office and the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) in promoting disability rights in inclusive development in the Pacific;

Welcoming the commitment made by the Government of PNG on the National Day of Persons with Disabilities, 29 March 2011 to the ratification of the CRPD and their efforts thus far in promoting rights of persons with disabilities, disability-inclusive development and implementing the BMF and the Biwako Plus Five;

Recalling the Sub-Regional Training Seminar on Capacity Building of Self-help Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (CBSHOD) in PNG organized by the Government of PNG and APCD in collaboration with JICA from 12 to 16 February 2007, which resulted in the adoption of the National Policy on Disability and acceleration of disability rights movement in PNG;

Recognizing also that the Workshop on the New Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) Guidelines, held in Mt. Hagen from 20 to 24 March 2011, established the CBR PNG Network which was supported by the Hagen CBR Workshop participants;

Acknowledging the efforts to further build on the momentum created by committed disability stakeholders and the Government of PNG in promoting rights of persons with disabilities;

Mindful that, despite significant achievements during the Second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (2003-2012), there still remains challenges to realizing the rights of persons with disabilities in the country. These challenges include lack of awareness in society on the importance of disability issues in the development agenda; lack of comprehensive and rights-based disability law; lack of recognition of the diverse rights of persons with disabilities in particular issues facing women with disabilities; insufficient system for disability data collection and its management; insufficient coverage of services such as access to assistive devices and rehabilitation, particularly in rural and remote areas; inaccessible environment information and services such as availability of sign language interpretation;

Noting the need to strengthen the partnership built amongst multi-stakeholders in supporting a proposal on a new disability decade and the “Make the Right Real” campaign as well as acknowledging the preparatory process leading up to the ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Final Review of the Implementation of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003-2012;

Hereby unanimously recommend as follows:

1. The Government of PNG, DPOs and other major stakeholders should lead the “Make the Right Real” campaign in PNG, with concrete and measurable outcomes with a view to report its progress at the ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting in October 2012 at Incheon, the Republic of Korea. This includes raising public awareness on combating stereotypes against persons with disabilities;

2. The Government of PNG should harmonize domestic legislation with the CRPD to accelerate its implementation through multiple actions, in close collaboration with NACD, NBDP, PNGADP, other disability-related NGOs in PNG and key regional partners such as ESCAP, PIF, APCD and PDF. In this context, the Government of PNG should update and revise the National Policy on Disability and its Action Plan, taking into account of the cross-disability perspective;

3. The Government of PNG, DPOs and other disability stakeholders should support the launching of a new Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2013-2022) to further promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society;

4. The Government of PNG should strive to further mainstream disability perspectives into all key human rights and development agenda; 

5. Gender perspectives, especially women with disabilities, should be further promoted and mainstreamed in all relevant stages of implementing the CRPD;

6. The Government of PNG in collaboration with DPOs and other disability stakeholders should further support the establishment of a mechanism to systematically collect and manage nation-wide data on persons with disabilities;

7. Financial means should be made available on a sustainable basis to DPOs that demonstrate tangible outcomes in line with the CRPD by the Government of PNG in cooperation with donor organizations;

8. CBR PNG Network should be strengthened to promote community-based inclusive development in line with the new CBR Guidelines;

9. The Government of PNG in collaboration with DPOs and other disability stakeholders should collect and disseminate information of good practices and lessons learned at all levels to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities;

10. The Government of PNG, DPOs and other disability stakeholders in PNG should continue to partner with ESCAP and APCD for further regional cooperation in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities; and

11. Persons with disabilities and their representative organizations should be an integral part of any decision making processes concerning their rights. 

(Picture of Pledge Board)