Promoting Rights of People with Disabilities and Sustainable Development in China: Concluding Symposium on the UNPRPD Project in Support to the Rights and Entitlements of Persons with Disabilities in China

The forum takes stock of existing achievements of UN Partnership on Rights of Persons with Disabilities-China Project, while suggesting next steps for the UN agencies in China to further support the Chinese Government in order to accelerate the process towards systematic changes for mainstreaming equal rights of persons with disabilities.

Background 

China has the largest community of women and men with disabilities in the world, with over 85 million persons. The Chinese government has demonstrated a strong commitment to reducing the gaps currently affecting the well-being of persons of disabilities. To support the Government’s efforts, since 2015 the ILO, UNDP, UNESCO and UNICEF in China have been working together with national partners and stakeholders to promote rights and entitlements for persons with disabilities, with the support of the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD).

ILO Beijing, its constituents and other core partners played active roles in designing, implementing and supporting this project. On the one hand, ILO brought in ILO Disability Equality Training (DET) and Training of Facilitators-DET to support the institutional capacity of national/local Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) and partnership with others, as well as to support the capacity and awareness raising of UN officials in disability issues. ILO focused on developing piloted project of supported employment and China Business and Disability Network (CBDN), in order to protect the rights to employment for persons with disabilities and redefined policy or made new policies.

The end of Phase I of the UNPRPD project is an opportune moment to take stock of existing results and achievements, and to suggest next steps for the UN agencies in China to further support the Chinese Government in advancing the disability agenda in the country. The objective is to identify how to accelerate the process towards transformational change for persons with disabilities, mainstreaming equal rights in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and contributing to realization of China’s national development targets.

Purpose of the Symposium

  • Familiarize the participants with best practices& polices on SE, CBDN and employment of persons with disabilities;
  • network with over 100 key stakeholders working in the field of disability in China, including representatives from government, academia, media, companies and civil society - in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations;
  • to share resources including policies and services in hiring employees with disabilities; and
  • to share the experience of policy makers, leading companies and service providers on how to work more effectively with disabled employees.