Seminar to discuss infrastructure for people with special needs on World Health day

The symposium was organized in cooperation with the Arab cities, the World Blind Union, the Kuwait Municipality, the Municipal Council, and several specialists, workers, and activists in the field of the disabled, education, childhood, and city affairs.

The Director of the UN-Habitat Program for the Arab Gulf States, Dr. Prince El Hassan inaugurated the session. He remarked that the agenda of the session is to arrive at a joint recommendation for improving the education system city-wide for handicapped children.

Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Kuwait, Dr. Tariq Al-Sheikh, said in his speech that about 6.25 billion people, 15 percent of whom are persons with disabilities, are expected to live in urban cities by the year 2050.

Urbanization can be a major factor in achieving inclusiveness and sustainable development. The current lack of accessibility faced by persons with disabilities, particularly in many cities of the world is a major challenge.

Dr. Tariq stressed that the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy 2018 provides the basis for sustainability and progressive transformation with the inclusion of persons with disabilities. “The realization of the human rights of all persons with disabilities is an integral part of collective action, which cannot be compromised or divided from human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said Dr. Tariq.

The United Nations Secretary-General in April 2018 developed a strategy to promote system-wide access for people with disabilities. The strategy includes a system-wide policy, accountability framework, and other implementation tools.

The accountability framework includes two coherent components:

(a) The United Nations system accountability framework, focusing on four areas: Leadership, strategic planning and management,  Inclusiveness, and lastly Programming and organizational culture.

(B) Accountability of the United Nations country team through the Disability Inclusion Scorecard.

H.E The Secretary-General of the Arab Towns Organization, M. Ahmed Al-Subaih focused on the positive role of the Organization in cooperation with Arab cities for achieving ease of movement and access to special infrastructure.

The regional representative of UN-Habitat Dr. Irfan Ali stressed the willingness of the UN-Habitat program for technical cooperation with all relevant authorities, including the Kuwait Municipality, to implement projects following the new urban agenda for ease of people with disability.

Tayeb Adam, UNICEF Representative in the Gulf region gave a speech in which he stated that over the next decade UNICEF will intensify its efforts to support services for children with disabilities and their families. “On behalf of UNICEF, I am delighted to be a part of this initiative in Kuwait. I wish you fruitful and successful deliberations today, and I look forward to continuing to support more efforts. He reiterated UNICEF’s commitment to the Government of Kuwait and the Kuwait City Municipality in their efforts.” said Tayeb.

On the one hand, Mr. Hans Lagreelius, the World Blind Union stressed the importance of comprehensive pre-planning instead of improving the conditions of cities by introducing amendments to them, to respond to special needs.

Ms. Tatiana Cullen, Head of Early Childhood Development Tatiana Cullen – UNICEF Kuwait Office – explained the different types of disabilities and what UNICEF can do in terms of services.

Municipal Council member Eng. Hammoud Aqlah Al-Enezi stressed the need of developing the designs of the housing facilities, cities, utilities, public facilities, and building regulations to suit the needs of people with disabilities.

Al-Enezi revealed that many recreational and cultural facilities have been established with a commitment to the international standards for the requirements of building for people with disabilities.

For his part, Assistant Undersecretary and Head of Information Technology and Development Sector, Kuwait Municipality, Eng. Saad Al-Muhailbi stressed that people with special needs should not be marginalized as they are an important group in society.

Therefore, urban cities should integrate new designs suiting the specific needs of people with disabilities., including public buildings and public squares.