E&OE TRANSCRIPT
UNITED NATIONS MIKTA STATEMENT
NATIONAL STATEMENT: 17TH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF STATES PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (COSP17)
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, NY
TUESDAY 11 JUNE 2024
SUBJECTS: Protection of the human rights of people with disability.
HIS EXCELLENCY AMBASSADOR TAREK LADEB, PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE (TUNISIA): Now I kindly invite His Excellency, Mr. Bill Shorten, Minister of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services of Australia, to deliver a statement on behalf of the Group of MIKTA. And then a national capacity of Australia. Your Excellency, you have the floor.
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS, AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Thank you. Chair. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the MIKTA countries, Mexico, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia. MIKTA countries are strong supporters of the rules based multilateral system, effective global governance, upholding international law and the protection and promotion of human rights. We share a vision of realizing a strong, inclusive and resilient world. Disability, equality and rights are central to this collective ethos and a priority for our partnership. Despite the near universal ratification of the CRPD and the promise of the 2030 agenda to leave no one behind, significant action is still required to ensure and promote the full realization of universal human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities. We're deeply concerned that progress remains persistently slow. MIKTA calls on all state parties to implement the 2030 agenda and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, with the CRPD as a guiding framework. Chair. This year's overarching theme of the conference prompts us to rethink disability inclusion today and into the future. MIKTA emphasizes the disability equity and rights are an integral part of sustainable development to improve equity and outcomes for all persons with disabilities. We also note that conflict has severe and long lasting effects on persons with disabilities, yet their voice is frequently missing from peace building and reconstruction efforts. Technology and innovation present both risks and opportunities to improve accessibility and the lives of persons with disabilities globally. The summit of the future is an opportunity to galvanize action. We encourage state parties to give due recognition to disability in the pact for the future. The outcome document of the summit, with it embodying the principles set out in the CRPD. We would like to register our concern that the current draft of the pact could better reflect the role and representation of peoples with disability, who make up 16% of the world's population. Chair. The summit of the future must recall that persons with disabilities must be guaranteed the full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms, without discrimination of any kind. I thank you.
AMBASSADOR LADEB: Now, Your Excellency, you will deliver a statement on your national capacity. You have the floor.
SHORTEN: Australia's strength from the diversity. Australia's strength comes from the diversity inherent in our society, which includes more than 60,000 years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The Australian Government strives for a community where citizens of disability participate in Australian life with equal rights. Australian disability rights advocates were instrumental in negotiations on the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Civil society partners joining me here today remain a driving force in achieving equity and inclusion. The journey of disability in Australia has been the story of struggle and progress. And in 2013, the National Disability Insurance Scheme commenced. It is a social model of disability, not a medical model. Separate and in addition to our disability pension, the Scheme provides individualised funding packages to participants based on their reasonable and necessary needs, allowing choice and control over the types of supports and services they engage. The NDIS is a massive national undertaking where we invest greater than 1% of our national GDP in Australians with severe and profound disability. It embeds our nation's commitment to the principles enshrined in the CRPD and displays our national commitment to actions, not just words, in consultation with the disability community. We are now advancing the biggest sets of reform to our NDIS since it began. We're putting Australians with lived experience at the centre of the Scheme, consulting with them on to reform the design and delivery of programs.
We reject the deficit model of disability. We seek to empower what Australians with disability can do, not what they can't do. Australia's forthcoming International Disability Equity and Rights Strategy will identify priorities to improve the lives of persons with disabilities globally through foreign policy development, cooperation and humanitarian action. Conflicts and crises worldwide, including in Gaza and Ukraine, Myanmar and Sudan call for greater international action. The upcoming summit of the future is an opportunity for the international community to galvanise action to meet our CRPD commitments and the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development promise to leave no one behind. We call on Member States to ensure the summit of the future process and outcomes give due recognition to disability. We encourage the UN and all humanitarian partners to fully implement the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines on Inclusion of persons with disabilities in Humanitarian Action. Persons with disability must participate in our collective future on an equal basis, living lives of independence and dignity. We recognise disability is universal. We recognise it as all of us. Any one of us or anyone we love. Disability is the expression of our humanity, and inclusion is a true measure of a nation's commitment to the human rights of all its citizens. Thank you.
AMBASSADOR LADEB: I thank His Excellency Bill Shorten for his statements.