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United Nations A/71/XX General Assembly Distr.: General

XX 2016Original: English

Seventy-first sessionItem # of the provisional agenda*Social development

word count: 8, 492

Towards the full realization of an inclusive and accessible United Nations for persons with disabilities

Report of the Secretary-General

Summary

The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 70/170 in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report at its seventy-first session on the status of inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities at the United Nations. It covers accessibility issues as they relate to human resources, physical facilities of the UN premises, conference services and facilities, information and documentation and offers options toward improved accessibility. The present report also includes best practices and views of Member States, UN system organizations and other relevant stakeholders concerning accessibility at the United Nations. The report provides recommendations for next steps toward making the UN premises more inclusive and accessible.

*A/68/150.

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I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 70/170 of 17 December 2015 in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report at its seventy-first session on the status of inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities at the United Nations.

2. Accessibility is an essential condition for the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in society and development. The United Nations recognizes this effort and continues to work toward the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development.

3. The international community is now in the phase of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At this critical juncture, the United Nations system is supporting Member States and other stakeholders in taking action for a development agenda focused on “leaving no one behind”..

4. In preparation of the present report, a Note Verbale was sent to Member States, requesting for input, which resulted in a total of 33 submissions.1 Interdepartmental Task Force on Accessibility (IDTFA) Members, the Inter-agency Support Group for the CRPD (IASG) and United Nations entities, as well as staff members at the United Nations, were also requested for their inputs and 36 submissions were forwarded as a result.

5. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the Human Rights Council also provided their input for the report. A call was disseminated for inputs from civil society via the UN Enable website, newsletter and social media, which drew 17 submissions from civil society organizations, most of which were organizations of persons with disabilities. Experiences and perspectives of staff of the United Nations were also solicited and were incorporated in the report.

6. These submissions provide a wealth of information concerning accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities at the United Nations, covering its facilities, services and human resource management, which will provide a basis for future discussion and work to improve accessibility at the United Nations.

A. Status of accessibility within the UN Secretariat and other UN entities

1. Existing networks and coordination

7. Over the past three decades, the General Assembly recognized “accessibility” as a priority issue within the United Nations system, and has adopted a series of resolutions in this regard.2 More recently, resolution 65/186 calls for progressive improvements in accessibility and full inclusion of persons with disabilities in built

1 Submissions were received from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United States.

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environments, information, documentation and conferences, and employment, within existing resources, at the United Nations.3

8. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly in 2006, provides a guiding framework for promoting an inclusive and accessible society for all. Accessibility is a precondition for persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully and equally in society, as presented in article 19 of the Convention. The right to access for persons with disabilities is ensured through strict implementation of accessibility standards. Barriers to access to existing objects, facilities, goods and services aimed at or open to the public should be removed gradually in a systematic and, more importantly, continuously monitored manner, with the aim of achieving full accessibility.4

9. Currently, there exists within the United Nations system a number of coordination arrangements concerned with accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities.

10. The Human Resources Network (HRN) of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), established in 2009, endorsed the policy statement on persons with disabilities in the United Nations workplace at its 18th session.5 Since then, many UN agencies reported having developed and integrated a policy on the employment of persons with disabilities into their respective human resources management strategies.6 In this context, the CEB’s High-Level Committee on Management supported the implementation of such policies by all UN organizations, requesting the Network to consider ways to measure results inclusive of best practices from the private sector.7

11. In October 2010, the Inter-Departmental Task Force on Accessibility (IDTFA) of the United Nations Secretariat was established jointly by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with a view to developing United Nations Secretariat-wide policy guidelines for improving accessibility and facilitating an enabling environment for the participation of persons with disabilities in the work of the United Nations. During the past six years, the IDTFA, co-chaired by DESA and DGACM and consisting of representatives from other Secretariat offices and Departments, has been working to improve accessibility at the UN Secretariat. The IDTFA meets regularly, exchanges information and collaborates closely to make improvements toward a more accessible and inclusive UN Secretariat. The IDTFA convened a number of consultations and 2, A/RES/65/186, paragraph 15(d), A/RES/69/262 and A/RES/70/248, Strategic heritage plan of the United Nations Office at Geneva; A/RES/68/247 B, Strategic capital review, Seismic mitigation retrofit and life-cycle replacements project at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific premises in Bangkok.3 A/RES/65/186, paragraph 15(d).4 CRPD Committee, General comment No. 2 (2014), Article 9: Accessibility5 Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), High-Level Committee on Management (HLCM), Eighteenth Session, New York, 29-30 September 2009, CEB/2009/HLCM/30. 6 CEB/2010/HLCM/HR/28/Rev.1, 7 July 2010, ANNEX I, Implementation of the Policy on Persons with Disabilities.7 CEB Conclusions of the High-level Committee on Management at its twentieth session, CEB/2010/5, 26 October 2010.

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walk-throughs at the UN Headquarters during recent renovations and prior to major conferences related to disability.

12. The IDTFA has also organized a Focus Group on Accessibility, including representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities among other stakeholders. The group was instrumental in adopting a new symbol of access that is currently in use at the United Nations Accessibility Centre at the UN Headquarters.

13. The Task Force on Accessibility of the International Annual Meeting on Language Arrangements, Documentation and Publications (IAMLADP) promotes accessibility for inclusion of persons with disabilities in conferences and related services at the United Nations. The Accessibility Task Force advises IAMLADP member organizations on strategy and policy, focusing its effort on promoting consensus among key actors for a coherent and coordinated accessibility framework for planning and delivery of services. It also follows up on other relevant issues and maintains an online library of resources and information8 from all participating international organizations. In 2015, the Task Force was mandated to carry out a survey of services and resources of IAMLADP member organizations.9 Based on the results of the survey, the Task Force will prepare accessibility best practice guidelines with a view to establish standardized solutions that could be implemented across organizations in the provision of accessible services.

14. At the UNOG, the Human Rights Council Task Force (TF) on Secretariat services, accessibility and use of information technology was established by the Council in July 2011.10 The TF is composed of a representative of the Bureau of the Human Rights Council, representatives of the OHCHR and the UNOG and representative organizations of persons with disabilities. The TF meets regularly to discuss priorities to enhance accessibility relating to physical facilities, conferences and services, and documentation and information. The TF informs the Council on its work, and is currently elaborating an accessibility plan to the Council in coordination with the UNOG and the OHCHR.

15. The General Assembly High Level Meeting on Disability and Development in 201311 reaffirmed accessibility as a top priority in its outcome document. In the spirit of UN Secretariat-wide support for this historic meeting, more than 100 in-house staff from the UN Headquarters in New York volunteered to provide enabling environments for participants with disabilities.

16. Based on many decades of experience as the focal point on disability within the UN system, DESA supported international conferences and meetings on issues concerning disability, including as the Secretariat to the UN General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on Disability, which resulted in the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the Assembly in 2006. DESA has been promoting accessibility and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the work of the United Nations to advance the goal of “a society and development for all” DESA draws on experience from its work to support the General Assembly and supports the

8 http://conf.unog.ch/accessibilitytf9 See Task Force on Accessibility: Report to IAMLADP 2016, IAMLADP/2016/R.4, 26 May 201610 See paragraphs 58 and 61 of HRC resolution 16/21.11

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IDTFA’s work to be in alignment with the broader goal of the international community to promote accessibility and the inclusion of persons with disabilities as an integral part of the work of the United Nations. In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, DESA is continuing its efforts to promote accessibility as an essential condition for the achievement of the SDGs, building an enabling environment for the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of the work of the UN.

17. Since 2008, DESA serves as the secretariat to the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and it has has coordinated with other relevant UN Departments and Offices to support all aspects of the annual sessions of the Conference at the UN Headquarters in New York which draws more than 1000 participants, including participants with disabilities who have a wide range of accessibility requirements. In this context, DESA disseminates the information on the work of the United Nations on disability through the UN websites, in particular UN Enable, and through outreach to expert communities, academic and civil society organizations, including representative organizations of persons with disabilities.

18. In December 2013, a Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility was appointed by the Secretary General. The Envoy promotes greater accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development in line with the CRPD and other international commitments.

2. Human Resources

19. The current United Nations policy on employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities at the United Nations Secretariat was promulgated in June 2014 in Secretary-General’s bulletin ST/SGB/2014/3.12 The core concept of the policy is the reasonable accommodation provided to staff members with disabilities to remove workplace barriers thereby enabling them to effectively perform their official functions. The bulletin also sets out measures aimed at creating a non-discriminatory and inclusive working environment for staff members with disabilities and establishes United Nations policy on access to facilities, employment opportunities and availability of reasonable accommodation for staff members. Further measures are taken to secure the necessary assurance framework to monitor compliance with the policy, including through appointing a focal point on disability and accessibility in the workplace and addressing the issue of data collection for the reporting purposes with full respect for the related confidentiality requirements. At present all the above measures must be taken within existing resources as no additional resources have so far been approved for this purpose by the General Assembly.

20. UN Cares, the UN system wide workplace programme on HIV, has developed a suite of learning programmes called “UN for All” that aim to raise awareness about diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace and how managers and staff can address them. One of the programmes focuses exclusively on the needs of staff members with disabilities. Summary information is available at http://www.uncares.org/unforall/. UN Cares delivers these programmes to staff and

12 Employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities in the United Nations Secretariat, ST/SGB/2014/3 of 19 June 2014.

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also runs a train-the-trainer system to enhance the reach of the programmes at field duty stations.

3. UN premises, conference services and facilities

21. During the renovations at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, improvement to accessibility was a core goal of its Capital Master Plan (CMP) from the outset of the project. The CMP developed designs which not only met or exceeded the host country codes, but also were designed to address the real life accessibility-requirements of all persons, whether delegates, staff or visitors to the United Nations. The CMP followed the Standards for Accessible Design of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as best international practice. New accessibility features implemented included adding power-assisted doors at all of the major entrances to the buildings, adding lifts, and ensuring that all food services, restrooms, access and egress routes, safety systems, signage, parking spaces and other public amenities were fully accessible. The General Assembly Plenary Hall includes accessible positions, all desks on the floor are fully accessible and the both levels of the speaker’s podium are accessible via lift.

22. The Secretary-General in his report on Strategic Capital Review (A/70/697), devoted to the overall proposed capital maintenance approach for United Nations owned building and infrastructure assets, in paragraph 60 states that “each of the projects proposed under the review includes an accessibility aspect and one of the main objectives of each renovation project is to bring existing buildings up to minimum code requirements. Additionally, the Secretariat intends to go beyond minimum requirements and aspires to follow international best practice in the area of universal design and reasonable accommodation in the projects”.

23. Improvements in conference facilities and ICT infrastructure based on the program of renovations and improvements offer meeting participants and staff with disabilities better accommodation of their needs at the UN. Accessible services to meetings are provided when mandated or on reimbursable basis. UN conference centres primarily in New York and Geneva and in varying degrees in Vienna and Nairobi, either directly or in collaboration with other support units provide meeting services in such accessible formats as sign interpretation on the web, on screen and on site, closed captioning, Braille on-demand and electronic documentation in the format which may be accessible to screen readers. Harmonized approach in policy and practice at UN conference centres towards accessible conference services is an important means to mainstream accessibility of meetings and related products. The Director of the Meetings and Publishing Division of DGACM in New York is assigned to serve as the focal point in this endeavour.

24. In New York some of the new accessibility features implemented as part of the Capital Master Plan at HQ include power-assisted doors at all of the major entrances to the buildings; in Conference Rooms 5, 6 and 7, accessible positions and dedicated tables are adjusted to have proper wheel chair clearance; in Conference Room 8 accessible positions have been added; Conference Rooms 11 and 12 are fully accessible; Conference Room 4 aisles are reconfigured so that the seats and tables on the entire main floor are fully accessible. All of the advisor seats are removable, which makes this space ideally suited for accessibility conferences.

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a. The Plenary Hall tables have been modified to be accessible for the entire main floor. There are accessible positions in every type of seating — advisor, delegate or observer — at each floor level. There are lifts in the Plenary Hall that makes both the rostrum and the podium accessible.

b. All of new food serveries are accessible.c. All of the toilet rooms are accessible, and in the General Assembly

Building there are new added individual unisex accessible bathrooms on the main floors.

d. Both North and South Screening Buildings are also fully accessible. e. In addition other accessibility features include swing doors and accessible

turnstiles at access control points, accessible seating locations and ramps to all speakers’ platforms, signage provided with Braille graphics, and the correct contrast and letter sizes, door widths and clear areas on the pull and push sides that meet accessibility standards, life safety systems which include speakers and strobe audio frequency induction loop technology, and a wide variety of headsets were provided to suit a variety of cultural and personal preferences of meeting participants.

f. Enhanced support for T-switch-equipped assisted listening devices was implemented to the extent technically feasible.

25. At the completion of the Strategic Heritage Plan (SHP) project, all conference rooms will be accessible for persons with disabilities. There will be accessible AV/IT infrastructure and equipment, podium access, circulation width, at least one accessible door and manoeuvring space, etc. in each conference room. Currently there are 190 interpretation booths out of which only 16 or (8%) are accessible. When the SHP plan is implemented, there will be a total of 203 booths of which 47 (23%) will be accessible. Eight (8) entrances will be made fully accessible (upgrade of existing or additional entrance) with accessible sidewalks, tactile paving, ramp, handrails, contrast strips, automatic doors, intercoms, signage, etc. Improvements that will be made on main hallways and corridors include indoor paths and guiding system in nine different zones, new intercoms (visual/audio), removal of obstacles, installation of lighting and signage. Twenty eight (28) main elevators will be fully code compliant with manoeuvring space, door width, control panel height, Braille, audio, etc. Improvements will be made to 18 main stairs to include tactile and contrasted marking, handrails, etc. There will be 27 new fully accessible restrooms / accessibility upgrades in 8 accessible restrooms including manoeuvring space, easy to open doors, etc. as per SIA 500specifics. Finally, improvement to the office space and individual workstation for persons with disabilities will include manoeuvring space, legible information on the door, height of desk, height of electrical sockets and switches, door passage, easy to open doors, etc.

26. Meetings attended by deaf and hard of hearing participants may be assisted with the help of interpreters working in national sign language or International Sign. International Sign is a bridge system used at the international meetings of the World Federation of the Deaf and at sport events such as Deaf Olympics. Although not as complex and developed as national sign language, International Sign is being developed further at the UN meetings where it is a mode of interpretation of choice of the Deaf community. International Sign interpreters are recruited for the meetings,

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which have calendar entitlements, such as Conference of the States Parties of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York and Committee on the Rights on Persons with Disabilities in Geneva as well as other panels and meetings in according with mandates or on a reimbursable basis.

27. CART, a real-time speech-to-text captioning service, is provided remotely or on site as an accessibility measure for participants with hearing loss and deafness. It may also be useful for people whose first language is different from the language being used to understand speakers easier. As an added benefit it allows to have an unofficial transcript of an event where such service was provided. In New York Broadcast and Conference Support Section (BCSS) of the Department of Management has a systems contract for obtaining such services which are provided to calendar meetings on demand and are reimbursed by the organizers of ad hoc events. In Geneva, captioning is provided as a part of accessible services for the CRPD, meetings of the Human Rights Council with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the annual interactive debate of the Human Rights Council on the rights of persons with disabilities.

28. Access to the conference documentation for the blind and visually impaired participants is primarily provided in the electronic form. The UN Journal and records of the Security Council and General Assembly are fully accessible in all the official languages in the PDF format. Documents in Word format are generally accessible unless they contain heavy formatting or unless no tags are used to identify titles. DGACM has set up a group of internal testers to make sure that the electronic formats used are accessible in all official languages. UNOV intends to implement DAISY standard for accessibility for its key electronic documentation and publications later in 2016. These publications will be delivered in ePub format which is used for mobile devices and can be delivered through eBook distribution channels. Documentation and publications will continue to be produced in PDF format which partially adheres to accessibility standards.

29. There is also a limited amount of on-demand documentation, such as UN Journal and select documents, which can be made available with the help of Braille printers. In New York this service is provided through the Accessibility Centre and is processed by the Press Room of the Meetings Support Section/MPD/DGACM. For sessions of the Human Rights Council UNOG also provides for embossing of oral statement into Braille from any of the six official languages. The Conference Management Service (CMS) at United Nations office at Vienna provides assistance upon request to legally blind delegates in order to follow the drafting of resolutions during main sessions of Vienna-based organizations, on an individual basis.

30. DGACM in New York utilizes voluntary contributions to improve accessibility for people with disabilities in the UN. In 2013 it received a generous donation from the of Republic of Korea containing state of the art assistive information and communication technology to support audio visual and physical impairments. The high technology inventory formed the main asset of the Accessibility Centre created within the Meetings and Publishing Division. Among others it offers walk-in services for participants with disability to borrow tools and equipment to participate more fully in the intergovernmental process. In June 2016 the Republic of Korea gave yet another in-kind contribution to upgrade the equipment

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in the amount of USD 80 000. It also included training and maintenance of equipment. During the session of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities DGACM conducted a side event together with the Government of the Republic of Korea on the subject of Accessibility and made a presentation on the theme Accessible Workplace – Accessible Documents”. It also conducted an event to unveil the upgrade of the assistive equipment at the Accessibility Centre. In order to facilitate the receiving of financial and in-kind contributions from the Republic of Korea and possible other donors to various accessibility initiatives, DGACM set up a multi-purpose Trust Fund with accessibility as one of its main goals.

4. Information and documentation 31. Several UN agencies highlight the improvements related to information and documentation, including designing publications and information products in accessible formats, adopting and promoting web accessibility standards and guidelines, and developing accessible infrastructure for information and communications technologies. However, challenges remain in providing accessible information and documentation due to outdated formats as well as budgetary constraints and the capacity to fully implement the standards in all duty stations and field offices.

32. A series of General Assembly resolutions, including its recent resolution 70/93,13 called upon the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) at the UN Secretariat to continue to work towards compliance with accessibility requirements on all new and updated pages of the UN website to ensure accessibility for persons with different kinds of disabilities. To assist other UN Department and Offices in producing accessible web content, DPI has developed the accessibility Guidelines for UN Websites.14 DPI assesses the accessibility of all new websites hosted on UN.ORG and advises the author departments on their compliance with the guidelines. Furthermore, much of the Organization’s information content, including via its Official Document System (ODS), is provided in untagged and inaccessible PDFs, not accessible to screen readers. Similarly, its multimedia content lacks accessibility features, such as embedded captioning and audio descriptions.

33. The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) Strategy15 has consolidated application development in existing UN centres in New York, Bangkok and Vienna. With the progress being made on the defragmentation of the application and website portfolio,16 OICT has established an ICT Programme for Persons with Disabilities (“OICT-PPD”) with defines all ICT projects which contribute to the mandate17, even as conference services are becoming more reliant on ICT to meet the needs of delegates. The OICT-PPD also addresses projects required to ensure that Enterprise Applications being used meet accessibility requirements. Furthermore, pilot testing of screen reader software has commenced with the Umoja

13 General Assembly resolution 70/93 A-B14 See www.un.org/webaccessibility.15 See A/69/517. The strategy has been approved by General Assembly resolution 69/262.16 See A/70/364, “Status of implementation of the information and communications technology strategy for the United Nations”.17 See A/67/160.

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application, and a website production platform18 that meets all website accessibility requirements.

B. Best practices and views from Member States, UN system and other stakeholders

34. Most submissions placed an emphasis on legislative measures in line with the CRPD, including anti-discrimination laws, technical standards on accessibility, universal design, affirmative action and other programmes to promote accessibility at national and sub-national levels. They also noted the importance of establishing monitoring mechanisms, adopting enforcement measures and allocating necessary funding for improving accessibility and providing for reasonable accommodation.

35. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a monitoring body of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, issued a General Comment on accessibility: “Barriers to access to existing objects, facilities, goods and services aimed at or open to the public should be removed gradually in a systematic and, more importantly, continuously monitored manner, with the aim of achieving full accessibility.”19

a. Member States

36. Member States provided information concerning their national legislation, guidelines and national plans for protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In this context, accessibility is recognized as part of the rights of persons with disabilities in the Constitutions of Armenia, Bahrain, Finland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway , Russian Federation and Slovenia. Norway, for example, informed that accessibility is stipulated in its anti-discrimination and accessibility act as well as in other laws.37. Some Member States implemented affirmative action programs and other measures to improve accessibility and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workplace. Many Member States, including Cambodia, Kenya, Latvia, Panama, Peru, Poland, Singapore, and Qatar, reported on their initiatives to promote the hiring of persons with disabilities and to establish specific measures for reasonable accommodation. In Singapore, for example, the Government-sponsored “Open Door Fund” helps employers improve accessibility and cover reasonable accommodation costs to employ persons with disabilities.

38. A number of Member States developed capacity-building programs for persons with disabilities to meet the requirements of the labour market. Among other Member States, for example, Azerbaijan engaged 500 persons with disabilities in vocational training in the year 2015 alone.

39. Several Member States reported on their efforts to redefine and destigmatize disability at a policy level. For example, Armenia and Bulgaria took legislative action to protect those with disabilities from discrimination and raises public awareness concerning disability issues.

18 https://unite.un.org/.19

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40. Ireland and Kenya, among other Member States, developed guidelines on procurement by public institutions, to ensure accessibility of goods and services at all stages. In the Dominican Republic, accessibility is an integral part of all procurement processes to ensure that all public construction works comply with accessibility requirements.

41. Azerbaijan, Cuba, the Russian Federation and other Member States also reported on investments in assistive and adaptive technologies specifically by providing subsidies for the purchase of communication technologies, mobility devices, and devices to facilitate the online content of literature in accessible formats.

42. A number of Member States have made efforts to ensure that their public and private institutions provide information and communication in accessible media formats. Azerbaijan, China, Colombia, Norway, Republic of Korea,Qatar and others reported on their initiatives to enhance accessibility and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in national media as well as in the official communications to general public by Governments. Republic of Korea, for example, reported on the establishment of the Korean Web Accessibility Certification System under its Framework Act on National Information and the Disability Discrimination Act for improving web accessibility. Measures were also taken in China to improve accessibility of the Government’s website and those of government-related agencies..

43. Many Member States provide Sign Language assistance to those with hearing impairments. In Ecuador, for example, the Government provides its officials with basic training in sign language, while Jamaica has introduced sign language interpretation in the Jamaican Parliament. Kenya now recognizes sign language as one of its official national languages while Latvia provides sign language interpreters to all citizens enrolled in higher education programmes and Hungary offers nation-wide remote sign language interpretation via an online service.

44. Several Member States established governmental agencies to address the issues of accessibility. In Ireland, for example, a National Disability Authority (NDA) was established in 2000 as in independent State body providing advice on disability policy.

45. Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Dominical Republic, Latvia, Russian Federation, Turkey and other Member States have implemented national programmes on accessible and barrier-free environments to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. In particular, Brazil implemented the international accessibility standards to construct the Olympic Village for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other Member States have made efforts to create accessible rail systems, public transportation, city streets, maps, facilities and other built environments.

46. Bahrain, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Greece, Ireland, Jamaica, Latvia, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, and other Member States have been taking initiatives to implement the universal design approach, including promoting universal design in public buildings throughout their countries. Member States also highlight their efforts to promote universal design in education, including

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higher education and professional development programmes for architects, students, builders, municipal employees and others..

47. Member States emphasized that persons with disabilities should play a central role in creating accessible environments. For example, in Finland, discussions concerning accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities include representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities. In Turkey, monitoring and auditing bodies have also been established in public institutions in collaboration with organizations of persons with disabilities to ensure that a specific level of accessibility can be reached in specific timeframes. In Poland, several cities implemented their accessibility standards developed by experts on Universal design together with persons with disabilities.

48. A number of Member States, including Bahrain, Greece and Kenya noted the importance of accessibility and usability audits of their built environments. Those Member States monitor the application of accessibility guidelines and recommend improvements and update the existing regulations to their respective ministries. Kenya’s national council for persons with disabilities, for example, established inspection units to ensure the adherence to law on accessibility by the Governmental institutions. The United States Access Board establishes the minimum accessibility guidelines that, once adopted as legal standards, must be followed by engineers, designers, architects, and builders.

b. United Nations system 49. UN system entities included in their submissions policies and practices on accessibility that provide equal access to employment and to the advancement and continuance of employment.

50. The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a disability strategy in 2015 that takes into account the findings of the staff survey on disability inclusion. ILO Staff Regulations include a "reasonable accommodation reserve" and recent disability awareness initiatives among ILO staff include an on-line disability course for all ILO staff

51. At the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the employment of persons with disabilities is governed by an administrative circular which “undertakes to identify and eliminate barriers to the employment, advancement and retention of persons with disabilities and to promote a workplace culture based on fair practices.” In addition, the organization adopted policies on the flexible working arrangements that may indirectly support its policy on the employment of people with disabilities. These include telecommuting options that directly support the policy.

52. In 2014, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) delivered training for staff at the United Nations Office at Geneva on the human rights-based approach to disability and critical concepts for the implementation of the Secretary General’s Bulletin, such as the difference between universal design, accessibility and reasonable accommodation. In addition, in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), OHCHR and the ILO

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internally led the process of elaborating an e-learning course on the human rights-based approach to disability.

53. As an important accessibility measure to ensure access to information to persons with intellectual disabilities, the Special Rapporteur’s thematic and country visit reports are produced in easy-to-read (ETR) format ahead of the interactive dialogues at the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.

54. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has a number of regulations and guidance addressing inclusion of persons with disabilities both on the programming side vis-a-vis people of concern and on the side of UNHCR staff. In December 2015, UNHCR prepared a report “Framework for the Future: Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Staffing in UNHCR”. In addition, the Staff Mental Health Survey was published March 2016 to complement the Staff Health Risk Assessment of 2014.

55. Submissions from UN system organizations indicate that many organizations have taken steps to make their facilities and services accessible for persons with disabilities. Drawing from the directives provided by the CEB, UN system organizations, including the UN Secretariat departments and offices, funds and programmes, regional offices and specialized agencies have made efforts to achieve greater inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities in their premises within existing resources or with specially designated funding for such measures.

56. UN entities note that they have taken action towards promoting physical accessibility, including building ramps, accessible toilets, elevators and other accessibility upgrades in keeping with host countries’ national or local building codes, while some have applied the United States’ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other relevant standards where local codes fall short or are non-existent. For example, the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) regularly assesses physical accessibility of facilities against the standard created under the ADA. The renovation strategy of the WHO Headquarters in Geneva includes bringing the existing buildings in line with current regulations as well as constructing the planned new building to be code-compliant. An internal advisory committee provides advice and guidance to the architectural team on issues that are particularly relevant to WHO, including disability access. WIPO notes that improving accessibility has become an integral part of WIPO’s approach to building renovation and maintenance.

57. Most UN offices make their efforts to remain flexible to be able to respond to requirements of persons with disabilities. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has implemented a series of adaptive measures for its Headquarters premises, such as accessible entrances to the buildings, new elevators with accessibility features, accessible toilets and meeting rooms. However, many UN offices note that accessibility upgrades have been long forthcoming due to a lack of regular budget funding and other available resources, especially in non-Headquarter duty stations and field offices. UNESCO envisages that within the current biennium work plan, it will establish a long term budget to identify specific action for accessibility improvement, on an annual basis.

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58. Accessibility audits have been conducted by several UN agencies of their facilities services and policies. For example, UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization highlights measures taken to improve the accessibility of its facilities and services, including the use of an expert on the host country legislation to identify and assess additional arrangements for persons with disabilities. A similar audit on accessibility was conducted at UN premises in Geneva (UNOG).

59. Many UN offices and agencies report recent upgrades to fire and safety procedures and protocols. Bi-annual fire and emergency evacuation drills at UN premises include provision for the safety and evacuation of persons with disabilities. For example at UN Headquarters, floors that include persons with limited mobility include assigned “stair-chairs” for persons with disabilities in case of emergency evacuation. Furthermore, safety and security officers are trained in disability awareness, emergency response and fire safety to include persons with disabilities.

60. ESCAP, through collaboration between its Disability programme of the Social Development Programme and its Conference Management Unit, is accelerating the improvement in accessibility of its premises, facilities and conference services. Launched by the Executive Secretary in 2015, ESCAP's Accessibility Centre aims to assist persons with disabilities to participate in events and meetings held at the UN Conference Centre. The Centre has 13 types of assistive devices designed to aid persons with physical, hearing, visual and intellectual disabilities. The Conference Management Unit is in the process of establishing a set of communication strategies to inform prospective participants at meetings about the Centre’s resources.

61. ESCAP's Disability Programme also seeks to raise general awareness of accessibility issues. To this end, the programme provided training on assistive devices in 2015 to professional staff members from other substantive divisions with the support of the Government of the Republic of Korea. The programme also published "Disability Inclusive Meetings: An Operational Guide" to provide resources for other thematic divisions and sections to organize meetings from a disability perspective. Currently, the Disability programme provides sign language interpreters, guide interpreters and real time captioning as well as personal assistants to persons with disabilities who participate in meetings and events, utilizing its own resources. Publications produced by the Disability programme are available in DAISY format, a multimedia accessibility tool, and videos contain international sign language interpreters, and its own websites are accessible.

62. At the Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the main entrance to the building has a separate and an accessible entrance with a ramp. ESCWA has installed one accessible bathroom on each floor, as well as a lift for persons with disabilities at the podium of the conference hall. ESCWA notes that there are areas that require further improvement to ensure full accessibility for persons with disabilities, such as additional accessible bathrooms, access to the cafeteria, Braille signage for emergency equipment and situations, disability-friendly staircases with tactile markings and an accessible website.

63. DPI’s Guided Tours Unit (GTU) in New York has trained its staff to provide tours in a more descriptive manner for persons with visual impairments, as well as provides 3-D touchable items on the tour route, including a scaled model of the UN

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Headquarters and UNICEF’s school in a box. While GTU does not provide sign language interpreters for the hearing-impaired, it allows personal interpreters to join the tour at no cost, as well as provides print information and visuals along the route on electronic tablets. GTU has also procured and provides wheelchairs for its tours, if needed.

64. UNICEF developed its policy on accessibility and support in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and has issued guidelines for ICT managers on “Accessibility and Support for ICT Products and Services” and “Standardisation of Assistive Technology Products”. Two guides on “How to Produce Accessible Content” and “How to Produce Accessible Web and Multi-Media Content” were developed for UNICEF staff who produce Word, Excel, PowerPoint and web content. Global ICT staff were provided training on best practices on interacting with users with disabilities and an overview of available assistive devices. UNICEF also released software which allows users to determine their need for assistive technologies and is finalising a long-term agreement, which will simplify procurement for UNICEF staff and programmes. In 2013, UNICEF launched a fully accessible version of its flagship publication, “The State of the World’s Children” that focuses on children with disabilities.

65. UNICEF also introduced a Greening and Accessibility fund in 2015 which will provide financial resources to UNICEF offices which are making adjustments to their premises in order to improve accessibility. Funds are generated through a surcharge on all official air travel.

66. Several UN system organizations included accessibility as an objective of their publishing policy, and increased efforts in making their publications accessible, both by using accessible PDFs and via EPUB format. Initiatives are also underway to increase the number of accessible documents, in particular flagship documents. WHO is currently finalizing an e-learning course on how to make its information accessible to persons with visual impairments. WHO published its World Report on Disability in clear print, accessible PDF, DAISY talking book, EPUB and EasyRead formats.

c. Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities of the Human Rights Council

67. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, an independent mandate holder of the Human Rights Council, noted that in her view, more needs to be done to ensure that the United Nations Secretariat and its procedures are inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilities. The Special Rapporteur highlights that an important accessibility measure to ensure access to information to person with intellectual disabilities would be to budget for easy-to-read (ETR) formats of official reports, not only in English, but in all six official UN languages.

d. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

68. In their submission, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognize several barriers to accessibility within the Organization. They note that the Organization should increase its understanding of disability, especially reasonable

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accommodation in relation to travel, personal assistance, provision of sign language and other key areas that would further enable the participation of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

e. Civil society

65. Many civil society organizations20 have adopted measures to provide equitable access to their premises for staff, as well as for visitors with disabilities, in compliance with local building regulations. Furthermore, some have also adopted affirmative action and best practices on the provision of accessibility following universal design principles and reasonable accommodation. Special emphasis was given to institute measures for people with intellectual and other invisible disabilities, including as adaptations in signage that are easy-to-understand. Many responding organizations noted that successful best practices should be shared via a common platform and acknowledged through publications or awards. Disabled People’s International reports that a member organization in India instituted an annual award on best practices in Universal design that has become a benchmark for accessibility in the country.

66. Disabled People’s International (DPI) leveraged its extensive reach at the grassroots level to work together with G3ict to implement surveys on implementation of CRPD article 9 on Accessibility at the national level. Based on these surveys, G3ict publishes a report on the status of implementation of article 9, particularly with respect to Government policies and programmes.

67. Inclusion International highlights the importance of planning for accessible meetings to address the needs of persons with disabilities and enhance their participation. The organization uses a coloured card system to provide “real-time” accessibility. A red card informs speakers that they should stop their presentation, so that the individual can either ask for clarification or have their support person provide additional information; a yellow card informs the speaker that they should slow down.

68. The International Disability Alliance and the International Disability and Development Consortium note that the CRPD and other internationally agreed upon development initiatives for persons with disabilities are effective models of accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities.

69. Rehabilitation International conducts accessibility audits of its premises by professional access consultants to ascertain where physical barriers currently exist and to eliminate such barriers so that persons with disabilities are able to independently enter and use all facilities and services, in a dignified manner, as well as exit the premises safely during an emergency.

20 Submissions were received from: ADD International, African Disability Forum; Autistic Minority International; Centre Africain de Recherche Interdisciplinaire, Consultation Evaluation Education Inc., Disabled People’s International, Fundacodise, Essl Foundation, G3ict, Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies & Environments, Inclusion International, International Disability Alliance, Nippon Foundation, Rehabilitation International, Social Economic and Governance Promotion Centre, World Blind Union, World Disability Union, and World Federation of the Deaf.

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70. The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and G3ict note that Video Relay Interpretation services via personal smart devices allow deaf persons to interact with people remotely, anywhere and at any time. The service is extremely convenient and economical for short, face-to-face communications, and can be provided internally or by third party organizations. Additionally, WFD notes that as there are hundreds of signed languages globally, its member organizations agreed to use International Sign (IS) for communication.

f. United Nations staff members

71. Several UN staff members and staff representatives indicated that the United Nations medical insurance should provide a specific coverage for persons with disabilities, addressing additional costs for having a disability.

72. Proposals were made to conduct an UN wide survey on enabling environments for staff members with disabilities, with a view to improving the current status of accessibility and inclusion as well as to contributing to improvement of the existing UN rules and regulations. In addition, some staff members proposed the establishment of a help desk or a resource center designed to address issues concerned with staff members with disabilities and their working conditions.

C. Conclusions and recommendations 73. Making the United Nations inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilities is an essential condition and enabler for global efforts toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable society and development for all.

74. After many decades of continuous efforts, the United Nations has made progress in accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities at the United Nations and in raising awareness among its staff of the continuing need for further accessibility at the United Nations.

75. Member States, UN entities, and contributing civil society organizations have all made significant efforts towards greater accessibility and inclusion in their respective areas of influence. . Such efforts must be sustained and enhanced in order to further improve accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities at all levels of society.

a. Coordination arrangements

76. Using existing coordination arrangements, the UN Secretariat will continue to work to increase its internal collaboration and coordination in order to raise awareness on disability issues and to strengthen and systematize current efforts to build a more inclusive and accessible UN.

77. The UN Secretariat will continue to reach out to expert communities on accessibility, as well as other relevant stakeholders to serve as an important resource for future work toward making the UN accessible and inclusive for persons with disabilities.

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b. Human resources

78. DESA, as the Secretariat of the CRPD, in collaboration with DGACM and OHRM, and on behalf of the Secretary-General, will continue to monitor and coordinate the implementation of the United Nations policy on employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities at the United Nations Secretariat21 to make further progress in creating a non-discriminatory and inclusive workplace for staff members with disabilities through provision of reasonable accommodation, as well as ensuring access to continuous learning, professional training opportunities and career advancement. The Organization will also continue raising awareness on disability among staff members with a view to further developing a workplace culture inclusive of persons with disabilities.

c. UN premises, conference services and facilities

79. The Secretariat initiated the cataloguing of practices and policies and their coordination across the four duty stations. Its aim is to harmonize the planning and operating procedures of accessibility elements in the provision of conference services, and build metrics and performance indicators to measure their usage and impact. At the same time, the Secretariat intends to create a standard cost manuals for accessible services available on a reimbursable basis at the duty stations. An internal review the operation of the Accessibility Centre in New York has been initiated to determine ways and means to enhance its services as the point of first call for accessibility requirements and promote this example to other duty stations and Governments willing to support such an endeavour. These actions are carried out within available resources often building on staff initiatives.

80. In addition to the above, the proposed course of action of the Secretariat includes:

a. Based on good practices of other international organizations, and taking into account initial lessons learned from experiment at UNOG, conduct a practical test of remote participation at UNHQ.

b. Harmonize conditions of work and hiring of sign interpreters across the duty stations and undertake outreach activities to increase the available pool of International Sign interpreters;

c. Establish contact with outside testers and developers who are on the cutting edge of the accessibility requirements to further enhance compatibility of electronic formats with accessibility requirements.

d. Establish long-term arrangements with captioning companies that can be used across duty stations, and develop common standards in languages and quality control.

e. Conduct an awareness raising campaign among Member States and other potential contributors about the role of the Accessibility Centres and possibilities to support accessibility projects at all duty stations.

21 ST/SGB/2014/3

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f. Partner with OICT to research and possibly implement solutions in such areas as accessible documentation, voice recognition, remote participation and others in order to enhance quality and reduce costs of accommodation and open additional benefits for other main lines of DGACM services.

g. Offer more compatibility with DAISY using ePub standard which is based on XML.

h. Include accessibility improvements into future facility enhancements in UNOV and UNON.

e. Information and documentation

81. With a view toward making information on the UN and its activities available to the broadest possible audience, DPI is actively pursuing the adoption of standards and implementation for web accessibility guidelines of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

82. OICT will continue efforts to review UN websites to insure their accessibility. To this end, OICT has already reviewed 319 UN websites and determined they are compliant with all applicable guidelines and procedures. OICT is currently working with 213 site owners to bring the sites into compliance with all guidelines for UN Secretariat websites.

83. The ongoing actions listed in paragraphs 76-82, as well as the proposed additional actions will be further elaborated and implemented in an incremental fashion, and in a scope which is supported by Member States, and which is in line with reasonable accommodation and universal design. The implementation of the goals will be started within available resources. The intention of the Secretary-General is to keep the Member States informed of the progress achieved, and, if a need arises for additional resources, to present proposals in that respect to the General Assembly.

84. The General Assembly may wish to take note of the above course of action.

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