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The UN hosts events around the year focused on disabilities issues, including its annual observance of World Down Syndrome Day, where participants discussed the theme “Leave no one behind in education”.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

What’s going on at COSP17?

Hundreds of people with disabilities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society representatives alongside ambassadors from around the world are due to meet at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday to discuss the challenges and opportunities in terms of work, cutting-edge tech and humanitarian crises as well as conflict and climate disasters.

Sheij Aldine, a member of the Sudanese Association for Disabled People, rides a special motorbike provided by the organization in North Darfur, Sudan. (file)
UN Photo/Albert González Farran

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: 5 fast facts

Imagine daily life without your sight, hearing or a limb or living with the challenges of neurodiversity or paralysis. That’s a reality for some. One in six of us – or 16 per cent – of the global population had a disability in 2023, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and many depend on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to help guard their fundamental freedoms and dignity.