WBU at the second session of the UN-HABITAT Assembly (Global Outlook 09/23)

September 7, 2023 5:18 am Published by
The WBU, The African Union of the Blind (AFUB) and United Disabled People of Kenya (UDPK) representatives at the UNHABITAT General Assembly in June 2023

The WBU, The African Union of the Blind (AFUB) and United Disabled People of Kenya (UDPK) representatives at the UNHABITAT General Assembly in June 2023. (At the front row)

The WBU, together with the African Union of the Blind (AFUB) and United Disabled People of Kenya (UDPK) formed the caucus of OPDs at the second session of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and stakeholder forum in Nairobi, Kenya. The assembly is where UN member states adopt resolutions about the direction and operations of UN-Habitat for the coming years.

The caucus actively advocated for disability inclusion and accessibility across housing, transport, public spaces, and smart cities and engaged in discussions with government and city representatives, civil society, urban planners, and architects on how we can create cities and communities for all. We were happy to learn that resolutions adopted by member states clearly considered accessibility barriers and participation of persons with disabilities.

During the Assembly, the WBU hosted a side event on the role of localization to close the accessibility gap, and to transfer learnings on accessibility from the World Urban Forum 11 held last year in Poland as part of the roadmap to the next forum planned for in Cairo, Egypt, in November 2024.

The event enabled WUF host country Ministers from Poland and Egypt respectively, UN-Habitat, local government representatives and participating OPDs to discuss the importance of and learnings from, making accessibility and meaningful participation integral in how our cities are managed and developed to break down barriers to inclusion.

WUF 11 was recognized for its achievement in being one of the most accessible global conferences to date, and the forum’s declaration highlighted that “… accessibility and universal design are integral parts of the solutions to the challenges of urbanization, including urban crisis, and constitute an agent of transformative action for a more equitable urban future”. WBU is continuing supporting putting this into action, including working with UN-Habitat to keep the WUF accessibility legacy alive.

Watch some of the remarks the representatives from the disability caucus had:

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This post was written by Fridah Mlemwa