PRESS RELEASE : The UK will continue to promote the full, active and meaningful participation of disabled people in our work – Minister Pursglove statement at the General Assembly [June 2023]
The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 13 June 2023.
Statement by Minister Pursglove at the UN General Assembly Debate on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP16).
The UK is fully committed to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
We are developing a UK Disability Action Plan outlining speedy actions the Government will take in 2023/2024 to transform disabled people’s lives.
Ensuring the voices of disabled people are properly heard is a priority for the UK Government. That is why we will run a full public consultation and engagement on the draft Plan this summer.
This will build on our recently published “Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper” – an ambitious reform package that will transform the health and disability benefits system.
Last year, we enacted two landmark pieces of disability legislation – the British Sign Language Act and the Down Syndrome Act.
We have also expanded our Disability and Access Ambassadors programme to drive accessibility improvements across different sectors in the business world.
The global context of numerous humanitarian and economic crises, plus the continuing impact of the pandemic, means disability inclusion risks falling further down the agenda.
The UK remains committed to championing disability rights and inclusion globally.
Following the launch of our international Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy last year, the UK is focussed on embedding its principles across our huge diplomatic and development network.
Promoting the full, active, and meaningful participation of disabled people in our work is a key element of this.
Our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has published guidance for all its staff on engaging disabled people in the development of our international policies, programmes, and responses. Ensuring the UK’s global output reaches all of those in need and leaves no one behind.
Furthermore, earlier this year we published our international Women and Girls Strategy, in which we committed to use the full weight of our diplomatic and development offer to put women and girls, in all their diversity, at the heart of everything we do.
