APCD achieves second disability protocol with Hanoi guidelines

Supported and organised mainly by APCD, the Second APCD/JAIF Project Regional Meeting was intended to push forward a collaboration between Asean member countries and community-based inclusive development activities, in line with the upcoming Asean Community in less than two years. The JAIF (Japan-Asean Integration Fund) began funding ACPD activities recommended in the APCD-established “Pattaya Recommendations”, in the first of such meetings held last year in December in Pattaya.

Among key goals in the Hanoi Recommendations is institutionalising the non-handicap environment approach towards creating the Asean Identity on CIBD, which is inclusive of all people in the communities that respects diversity at the individual and societal levels, and embraces peace, unity, and harmony, said ACPD executive director Akiie Ninomiya, during an exclusive interview to The Nation.

Ninomiya highlighted as unique ACPD projects, especially with support from the JAIF, as aiming to mainstream disability into development, whereby persons with disabilities are empowered, capacitated and included as valued members of society, not locally but also regionally, with equal access to human rights, through CIBD and strengthening relations between Asean member countries.

The Hanoi conference reaffirmed the Pattaya Recommendations, which aimed for initial CBID projects in CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) by 2015. APCD had conducted base-line survey in all four countries and set up steering committees, comprising members from the national, local and community levels, to pursue the initial goals in the meantime.

Hanoi was selected as the venue of last month’s conference as it has been considered a capital with potential to put in place sustainable implementation of inclusive development activities, apart from the fact that incumbent Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh is a Vietnamese. APCD, realising Thailand’s potential to further expand relevant activities throughout the region, has welcomed Hanoi as the second city to pursue long-term implementation and further expansion of projects for people with disabilities. 

Under the “Hanoi Recommendations on Community-based Inclusive Development Towards 2015 and Beyond”, the Vietnamese government has promised to consider rectifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by 2014, or even earlier.

It also concludes that APCD/JAIF Project continue working in partnership with local CLMV committees and other stakeholders for implementation, capacity building, evaluation, and documentation of the project with the goal of having accessible communities for all that can be models in their own countries and for Asean as a whole.

The Hanoi Recommendations are supportive of the Bali Declaration by Asean, and announced during “The Asean Decade Of People With Disabilities 2011-2020”. It also aims to put in place CIBD in all 10 member countries between 2016 and 2020, and initial plans for implementation in CLMV from this year to 2015.

In an exclusive interview with Minh, in particular on the Asean Community, he said that by the end of July 2013, 71 per cent of progress on blueprints on political-security had been achieved, 79 per cent on Asean Economic Community, and 83 per cent socio-cultural subjects, including accessibility, also known as Universal Design, and development of people with disabilities. Minh repeated his commitment and Asean’s on sustainability of projects related to disabilities.