UN awards UNAPD’s Accessibility Standards

The National Accessibility Standards developed by UNAPD have won a United Nations award; the Innovative Policy 2014. Below is a press statement from the UN:

Kampala/Geneva/Vienna, 27th February 2014:

Uganda’s “Mandatory Accessibility Standards” were today awarded the title “Innovative Policy 2014”at the United Nations Office at Vienna. The policy was highlighted at an international summit on accessibility with more than 400 experts on accessibility and disability from around world, for being an important start in enforcing an accessible environment for all persons, including persons with disabilities.

In many countries in the Global South, accessibility standards do not exist. In the few countries where they exist, they are very often not legally binding, not enforced and not monitored. Uganda is among the first sub-Saharan countries to have developed their own accessibility standards.

As a result, they are already mandatory for school construction projects, have been adopted by the Uganda Society of Architects, and are basis for accessibility auditing and court cases. For these remarkable achievements, Uganda’s “Mandatory Accessibility Standards” have been awarded today the title “Innovative Policy 2014” by the Zero Project, an international initiative that works For a World Without Barriers.

Under the motto “No one can enjoy a human right to which one does not have access,” the Zero Project has researched 69 practice and policy solutions that have demonstrated their success in overcoming access barriers that hinder persons with disabilities to go to a mainstream school, take a bus and use the Internet. To exchange and spread these best practices, more than 400 leading parliamentarians, NGO and foundation representatives, academics, and activists of the disability rights movement have gathered at the third Zero Project Conference held on February 27 and 28th at UN Vienna.

The Zero Project

The Zero Project was initiated by the Essl Foundation in 2010. It is run in partnership with the World Future Council since 2011 and with the European Foundation Centre since 2013. The vision of the Zero Project is to work for a world without barriers, according to the principles and articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It does so by researching Innovative Practices and Innovative Polices worldwide that help to improve the lives of persons with disabilities, as well as researching social indicators that measure the implementation of the UN CRPD and the current situation in all countries of the world.

Contact:

Ingrid Heindorf, Human Rights Officer, World Future Council / Zero Project, Head of Policy Research and Conference Organisation, I.Heindorf@zeroproject.org +41 79 523 81 27