Background

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in 2015 by Resolution 70/1 of the United National General Assembly. It established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved by the year 2030. The agenda emphasizes the importance of universal respect for human rights and is grounded in the Charter of the United Nations and informed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights treaties. 

To follow up and track the progress made toward fulfilling the SDGs and their targets, the 2030 Agenda encourages States to ‘conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven’¹, which can serve as the basis for presenting Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). Local and regional governments are increasingly engaging in such sub-national reviews of SDG implementation, called Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) ² which have no official status but can complement VNRs. VNRs are presented during the annual High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council by those countries that expressed their intention to do so.

Ensuring that persons with disabilities can effectively participate and be included in the discussions, design, and implementation of national plans and global follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda, is aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which enshrines the obligation upon State Parties to ensure the consultation and participation of persons with disabilities in all decision-making processes that concern them (Article 4.3) and in the monitoring of the implementation of the Convention (Article 33.3) which is intrinsically linked to the implementation of the SDGs. Additionally, persons with disabilities are to benefit on an equal basis with others of international development efforts and cooperation, and thus, structural barriers shall be removed to enable persons with disabilities to participate in and benefit from international cooperation processes and outcomes.³

The last HLPF under the auspices of the General Assembly was the SDG Summit of 2023, in which a Political Declaration was adopted. Persons with disabilities were mentioned in the Declaration and States committed to ensuring that they actively participate in and equally benefit from sustainable development efforts. ⁴ In the Declaration, governments further committed to further strengthen the follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In 2024 the Summit for the Future will take place, which will gather world leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to accelerate efforts to meet international commitments and respond to emerging challenges in achieving the 2030 Agenda. It will result in two outcome documents, the Pact for the Future and the Declaration for Future Generations. So far, the Zero Draft of the Pact for the Future has references to human rights and highlights the need to foster inclusive societies without marginalization or discrimination. However, language referring to disability rights, such as inclusive education, care and support systems, employment in the open market, as well as the need to follow-up and review progress in achieving the SDGs in a manner that includes persons with disabilities is currently not referred to, which represents a major step back. 

In this thematic report, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities seeks to analyze, halfway through the deadline set to achieve the 2030 Agenda SDGs, how have persons with disabilities been included and able to participate in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at the national, regional and international levels. It will further look at the current processes taking place in the international arena, and in particular, the upcoming 2023 High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, the 2024 Summit for the Future and the 2025 Social Summit, to understand how and to what extent persons with disabilities and their representative organizations are being able to participate in these discussions, and their rights being mainstreamed in outcome documents and debates around accelerating progress to achieve the SDGs and on the post-2030 agenda.

Based on her analysis and conclusions, the Special Rapporteur will make recommendations to achieve better inclusion of persons with disabilities in follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda, and making sure their rights are mainstreamed in international development documents being currently discussed or to come in the future. 

Types of input/comments sought

To inform her report, the Special Rapporteur would like to seek written inputs from all interested stakeholders and strongly encourages sharing concrete examples of good practices where available. She is particularly interested in the following areas: 

1. Please inform how persons with disabilities and their representative organizations are meaningfully consulted and their participation ensured during the follow-up and review processes of the 2030 Agenda at the regional, national and sub-national levels.
   1. Is there a specific mechanism for follow-up and review of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the country? How are persons with disabilities included in this mechanism?
2. Please describe the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in gathering data and producing Voluntary National Reviews or Voluntary Local Reviews. Please share good practices in this regard. 
   1. What steps are being taken to facilitate their participation? Are there any awareness-raising campaigns implemented to inform persons with disabilities of these processes?
   2. Are there any platforms in place for persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to contribute to the reporting process? How are they accessible? Is there are reasonable accommodation fund in place to secure the participation of persons with disabilities?
   3. How are the views of persons with disabilities incorporated in these reports?
3. Is the data gathered for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development being disaggregated by disability? If so, how is it accessible for persons with disabilities?
4. Please provide information on whether capacity-building programmes are in place, including specific funding, to allow persons with disabilities to meaningfully engage and participate in the process of follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the regional, national and sub-national level.

For organizations of persons with disabilities, and organizations working on disability rights:

1. Please describe the barriers experienced in participating in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at the international, regional, national and/or sub-national levels. Please share any good practices in participating in these processes and advocating for the mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities. 
2. Please share any experience or barriers encountered related to the participation or involvement in the annual High Level Political Forums, and in particular the SDG Summit of 2023 and the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development. 
3. Describe whether you are currently aware and engaging in the process leading to the Summit for the Future 2024 and its outcome documents and the Social Summit in 2025. Please identify your thematic priorities, if any, when engaging in these processes. 
4. In light of the global crises facing the world, including armed conflicts, natural disasters, and health crises, and the financial implications of these crises, do you find that this has impacted programmes to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in your country? How have your efforts to advocate for the implementation of the sustainable development goals for people with disabilities been affected?

How inputs will be used

Submissions will be posted on the Special Rapporteur’s webpage at the time of the publication of the report, except for those including a clear request not to be publicly disclosed.