UN pushes to end poverty among disabled

By Hong Xiao at The United Nations | China Daily | Updated: 2019-06-13 07:17

China's envoy to the United Nations stressed that eradicating poverty among persons with disabilities is essential to achieving the UN's sustainable development goals.

"To live free from poverty is a fundamental right of people pursuing a better life. And to end poverty in all its forms everywhere is the primary goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

"As equal members of the community of mankind, persons with disabilities face special difficulties in poverty eradication," he said on Tuesday at a side-event of the 12th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

About 100 people from more than 50 member states, including the Greece, Italy, India, Kenya and the United Kingdom, on Tuesday attended the opening of the annual conference on the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They discussed challenges and solutions in poverty eradication for persons with disabilities.

Ma said there are 85 million people with disabilities in China, more than any other country in the world, and the Chinese government is committed to supporting them.

"As President Xi Jinping once said, in building a well-off society, we must not leave anyone with disabilities behind," Ma said.

Ma illustrated some highlights of the government's efforts. China has set up a living allowance program for disabled people with financial problems and a care allowance program for persons with severe disabilities.

Since 2016, 20 million persons with disabilities have benefited from these programs and seen their lives improved.

Through hard work, the number of poverty-stricken persons with disabilities in China has dropped to 1.7 million by the end of 2018 from nearly 6 million in 2014, he said.

At present, poverty alleviation for persons with disabilities "remains an uphill battle", said Ma. "The government will make strenuous efforts to resolve the problems and continue to move forward in poverty eradication."

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. "Over the past seven decades, China has achieved a lot in poverty reduction," he said.

According to Ma, from 1978 to 2018, the numbers of China's rural poor have been reduced from 770 million to 16.6 million. Based on World Bank estimates, in the past four decades since the launch of reform and opening-up, China contributed more than 40 percent to poverty reduction worldwide.

"When China turns itself into a well-off society next year, all the rural poor under the current standards will be lifted out of poverty. This will be a miracle in the history of poverty reduction," Ma said.

According to the latest UN report, goals for poverty reduction in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will not be achieved on schedule.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a similar appeal.

He called on the gathering to "do much more to address discrimination and exclusion.

"Together, we can raise awareness and remove barriers", he maintained. "Together, with persons with disabilities as agents of change, we can build an inclusive, accessible and sustainable world".

"My hope," he concluded, "is that people with disabilities - particularly women and girls - one day live in a world that protects, respects and values us."

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com