Ghana to join as co-host of Global Disability Summit (GDS) 2022
News story | Date: 02/11/2021 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In February 2022, Norway, Ghana and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) will co-host the second Global Disability Summit.
‘I am delighted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will co-host the Global Disability Summit together with President of International Disability Alliance Ana Lucia Arellano, and myself. Ghana, IDA and Norway are joining forces to organise a Summit that will contribute substantially to strengthening inclusion of persons with disabilities,’ said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
The second summit will build on the progress made in the wake of the first Global Disability Summit in London in 2018.
‘Governments have a solemn obligation to commit to building an inclusive society in which every citizen has the opportunity to develop his or her God-given talent to the fullest. The circumstances of one’s birth cannot and must not be a barrier to any citizen’s participation in - and their benefit from - the process of national development,’ said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. ‘Any such barriers must be removed with utmost urgency to ensure that we leave no one behind in our quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.’
Governments, international organisations, private sector and civil society organisations will be invited to the global summit. Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) will have an important role in the design, implementation, and follow-up of the meeting.
‘We must work to ensure that those who are most marginalised are not left behind. This includes persons with disabilities. The global summit is an important step in promoting their full participation. We must all do our part to make it a success,’ said Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim.
‘Nothing about us, without us is not just a saying, it is the reality we are trying to achieve. The obstacles faced by persons with disabilities are multi-layered and can only be overcome if persons with disabilities are included on an equal basis with others,’ said Ana Lucia Arellano, President of IDA. ‘Ghana is an important partner, together with Norway, for the Global Disability Summit to generate a greater number and range of commitments to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities.’
The second Global Disability Summit will be held on 16-17 February 2022, almost four years after the first summit in London. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to ensure inclusive participation, the Summit will be fully digital.
In July 2018, the UK Department for International Development, alongside the Government of Kenya and the International Disability Alliance, organised the first ever Global Disability Summit in London. The summit in London succeeded in placing the issue of rights-based, disability-inclusive development on the international agenda.
The Oslo Summit in 2022 will seek new commitments and concrete action to accelerate inclusive development, through access, engagement and equality. The Summit will mobilise efforts to further the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in line with the principle of leaving no one behind, and to build back better and more inclusively in the post-Covid-19 recovery.