52nd Session of the Commission for Social Development, Situation of social groups: persons with disabilities, youth, ageing and family" - Statement delivered by Ms. Nafsika Vraila, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Greece

Statement delivered by

Ms. Nafsika Vraila
Deputy Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of Greece

52nd Session of the Commission for Social Development
Agenda Item 3b)
General discussion
Situation of social groups: persons with disabilities, youth, ageing and family

United Nations

New York

13 February 2014

(Check against delivery)

Thank you Chair,

I am speaking on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, Montenegro*, and Serbia*, the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.

Madame Chair,

With regard to the way the position of the EU and its Member States is stated in this Commission, we do not want to delay the proceedings in this general discussion, but we find it important to underline our views: while I have the honour to deliver this statement today, we are still in the process of clarifying how the EU can deliver its statements in the context of the ECOSOC reform Resolution 68/1.

Today, this Commission will discuss and review the situation of a number of social groups - persons with disabilities, families, older persons and youth. It is indispensable that we discuss measures to ensure that all individuals are able to effectively benefit from every opportunity available to them, in order to realize their full potential. Such measures need to be based on respect for human rights, non-discrimination and the promotion of active participation of every member of society.

Persons with disabilities

The human rights of persons with disabilities constitute a central pillar of the EU's human rights policies. The European Union acceded to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 22 January 2011. All EU Member States have signed the Convention and 25 out of 28 Member States have already ratified it, while we continue our efforts towards its implementation.

One of our instruments to this end is the European Union's Disability Strategy for 2010-2020. This Strategy aims at empowering women and men with disabilities to enjoy their full rights and participate fully in society. Its objectives are pursued by actions in eight priority areas: accessibility, participation, equality, employment, education and training, social protection, health, and external action .This Strategy also includes a commitment to mainstream disability in our international cooperation, including development programs, in accordance with Article 32 of the Convention. The EU is consistently promoting the human rights and social inclusion of people with disabilities in multilateral fora and dialogues with partner countries, including within development cooperation and emergency and humanitarian aid, neighbourhood and enlargement processes.

In April 2013, the European Union hosted a European Regional Consultation meeting in preparation for the UN High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on disability and development. In this meeting's contribution, the importance of accessibility for and inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of development, including in the Post-2015 development agenda, was underlined. Accessibility is both a means and a goal for inclusive development. We are committed to cooperate with the United Nations entities and its Member States to implement the proposals of the outcome document of the High- Level Meeting within the elaboration of the Post-2015 development agenda.

The 2013 annual report of the EU Disability High-level Group on the implementation of the UNCRPD offers an overview of measures and instruments at EU and Member States' level to effectively integrate the disability dimension in the development cooperation. It requires both mainstreaming and targeted actions. The report shows that the entry into force of the Convention has prompted a reflection on how to promote a human-rights-based approach to disability through international cooperation, notably within the Post-2015 development agenda.

Strategies for disability inclusive development should both empower people with disabilities and break structural barriers that exclude them from society. In this respect, it is essential to support efforts of governments in partner countries to align their sector policies with the Convention and to support the disabled persons' organizations (DPOs), so that they can act with their expertise as strong development partners. Setting appropriate disability-sensitive targets and indicators, as well as systematically collecting disability-disaggregated data are keys to monitor the impact of development efforts on persons with disabilities.

We welcome the 2013 UNICEF State of the World’s Children report dedicated to the situation of children with disabilities. On an equal basis with other children, children with disabilities are to be ensured the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is thus important that the links between the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child be recognized and reinforced.

Youth

With about 75 million young people worldwide currently unemployed and more than 200 million young workers that earn less than the equivalent of US$2 per day, tackling youth unemployment, inactivity and precarious employment should be considered of utmost priority.

In the EU, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee is now our key priority in this regard. It calls upon EU Members States to ensure that all young people under 25 receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed. EU Member States are now moving forward to implement their national Youth Guarantee schemes, with the support of EU funding and available technical expertise. Youth employment also constitutes a top priority for the European social partners. They negotiated a framework of actions, which calls for Social Partner participation in the design and implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes, in partnership with public authorities and other relevant stakeholders. This framework also stresses their role in the design, governance and monitoring of apprenticeships and expresses support to Member States’ actions to improve the quality of traineeship.

Furthermore, we have proposed a Quality Framework for Traineeships and launched a European Alliance for Apprenticeships to increase the supply, quality and image of apprenticeships across the EU. We are further promoting intra-European job mobility for young people.

The crucial role of young people in ensuring inclusive and sustainable development is also reflected in the EU's development cooperation, where youth is a priority target group in a number of countries for the upcoming financial period 2014-2020. Youth inclusion and youth employment also constitute important areas within the upcoming EU thematic programme on Global Public Goods and Challenges.

We reiterate our support to the follow-up of ILO's call for action on youth employment adopted at the International Labour Conference in 2012 and acknowledge the role of ILO in this field. We would also support any goals on inclusive growth in the upcoming Post-2015 agenda to be underpinned by disaggregated data on age.

Older People

Ageing continues to be high on the European Union's agenda. We are very active in promoting the human rights of older people e.g. on the basis of the EU Anti-Discrimination Law, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of age.

We are following up on many initiatives launched in 2012 as a part of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, in collaboration with many stakeholders.

The EU has provided funding to its Member States, which allows governmental and non-governmental actors to work together to tackle challenges of ageing societies. Part of this effort is developing age-friendly environments, which would benefit also people with disabilities. We are pursuing this together with the WHO.
The achievements of the European Year and our cross-sectorial approach to ageing issues were highlighted in the side event organized by the EU during the Fourth Open Ended Working Group on Ageing. We show-cased how through social policy, in particular social investment approach to health and long term care, human rights of older people can be upheld.

Together with UNECE, the EU is working on the implementation of the UN Madrid International Plan for Action on Ageing (MIPAA) in its Member States. Policy briefs, road maps for establishing ageing policies in countries which ask for it, discussion groups in the UNECE-Working Group on Ageing, and an Active Ageing Index are some of the tools. The Declaration of the Ministerial Conference in 2012 to mark the tenth anniversary of MIPAA emphasized the topics of a society of all ages, promoting quality of life and active ageing.

The EU together with the OHCHR organized a conference to mark the Elder Abuse Awareness Day, where we facilitated dialogue between human rights experts and activities and policy-makers in charge of social policies.

Families

We attach great importance to family-related issues. As far back as in 1989, the European Commission published its first communication on family policies, and this has been followed by a number of important actions addressing such issues as parental leave, reconciling family and work life and improving the living conditions of vulnerable families.

In 2013, the European Commission adopted a recommendation under the title “Investing in children- breaking the cycle of disadvantage”, which urges Member States to make particular efforts to tackle child poverty and social exclusion and to promote children's well-being. We see this as a crucial investment in our collective economic and social future. We are also developing several initiatives on children and families. In order to promote child and family policy evaluation and the exchange of good practices, we have created the European Platform for Investing in Children.

With full awareness of the diversity of families and of national family policies, we consider that providing better support for families, in all their forms, enhancing the well-being of children, and allowing the reconciliation of work, family and private life for women and men constitute crucial elements to a better quality of life and to economic and social development.

We note the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2014 as a potential opportunity, among others, including the anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, for an exchange on the development of family-focused policies.

Mr. Chair,

The European Union and its Member States are determined to cooperate in the advancement of social development and in the empowerment of all people. We look forward to playing an active role in the debate, being fully aware that the Commission for Social Development is the key forum for promoting and coordinating all international efforts.

Thank you