Towards Inclusive Cities: Experts Discuss Online the Situation of Persons with Disabilities and Older Persons

Geneva Human Rights Platform staff during the online conference Geneva Human Rights Platform staff during the online conference

25 May 2020

Building on a previous expert meeting on human rights in inclusive cities, this second online conference – co-organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform, UN-Habitat, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Geneva Cities Hub in partnership with the World Blind Union, World Enabled and the General Assembly of Partners – focused on persons with disabilities (PWD) and older persons at the city level.

During two days around 60 experts – representatives of organizations of PWD, experts from United Nations (UN) and governmental agencies, members of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and the UN Special Rapporteur on persons with disabilities – analysed existing challenges and barriers for PWD and older persons in an urban context and made specific recommendations thereof. Where possible, participants also identified specific actions and interventions to incorporate into local policies.

‘Persons with disabilities and older persons continue to face barriers in their day to day activities and as such, there is an urgent need to develop solutions that meet their needs and remove these barriers’ underlines Kamelia Kemileva, Director a.i. of the Geneva Cities Hub.

UN Habitat online meeting persons with disabilities

An Inclusive Online Meeting

‘Ensuring the accessibility of the online meeting to all was a key imperative for us. As such, closed captioning, simultaneous interpretation in three languages – French, English and Spanish – as well as sign language interpretation were provided’ explains Felix Kirchmeier, Executive Director of the Geneva Human Rights Platform.

‘The World Blind Union (WBU) appreciates the initiative by UN-Habitat to engage experts, such as organized constituencies of persons with disabilities, to generate learning and actionable recommendations critical for UN-Habitat to accelerate mainstreaming throughout its operations, programmes and UN inter-agency coordination to create more inclusive cities’ says Hannes Juhlin Lagrelius, WBU Program Officer and Co-Chair of the General Assembly of Partners-Partner Constituent Groups of Persons with Disabilities.

UN Habitat online meeting persons with disabilities sign language interpretation

Towards Inclusive Cities for All

This meeting, financed by the Swedish International Development Acency (SIDA) through UN Habitat, is the second of a series that aims at developing operational documents to translate human rights standards at the city level for local governments, city-level practitioners and decision-makers, as well as national governments interested in local governance issues.

The next meeting, concluding this series, will focus on gender aspects in cities. The outcome documents of these three conferences will be available publicly at the end of the series.

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

neurodata graphics News

New Research Brief Evaluates the Effectiveness of GDPR in Mitigating Risks Associated with the Distinctive Nature of Neurodata

21 January 2025

Our recent research brief, Neurodata: Navigating GDPR and AI Act Compliance in the Context of Neurotechnology, examines how effectively GDPR addresses the unique risks posed by neurodata.

Read more

A GHRP training course News

Training Opportunities 2025: Engage with UN Human Rights Mechanisms

28 January 2025

The Geneva Human Rights Platform is launching its 2025 training programme, designed to empower stakeholders engaging with UN human rights system.

Read more

AI for Good Event Event

AI for human rights: Smarter, faster, fairer monitoring

8 July 2025, 14:00-16:00

The event, as part of the AI for Good Summit 2025 will explore how AI tools can support faster data analysis, help uncover patterns in large datasets, and expand the reach of human rights work.

Read more

Local Government Event

Enhancing National Reporting and Implementation of Human Rights through Coordinated Engagement at the Local and Regional Levels: The Role of NMIRFs

23 July 2025, 10:00-17:00

This seminar explores how national mechanisms for implementation, reporting and follow-up can better integrate the capacities, data, and experiences of local and regional governments in advancing human rights implementation and reporting.

Read more

Training

Human Rights and the Environment: Introducing Legal Regimes and Key Issues

1-8 September 2025

Participants in this training course will be introduced to the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights, as well as international environmental law and its implementation and enforcement mechanisms.

Read more

Open dump Training

Protecting Human Rights and the Environment

15-19 September 2025

Participants in this training course will gain practical insights into UN human rights mechanisms and their role in environmental protection and learn about how to address the interplay between international human rights and environmental law, and explore environmental litigation paths.

Read more

Madagascar, Miarinarivo district. Women transplanting rice. Project

The Rights of Peasants

Started in May 2008

After having provided academic support to the negotiation of the UN Declaration for ten years, this research project focuses on the implementation of the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas.

Read more

Session of a UN Treaty Body Project

Treaty Bodies Individual Communications Procedures

Started in January 2019

Read more

Cover of the publication Publication

Briefing N° 25: Localizing Multilateralism

published on March 2025

Domenico Zipoli, Ludovica Chiussi Curzi, Kamelia Kemileva

Read more