Cairo, Egypt -  In a region where the challenges of disability are increasingly compounded by conflict, displacement, and barriers to basic services, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the League of Arab States have launched a renewed push to integrate disability rights into the core of development and crisis recovery efforts. 

Meeting in Cairo for the Second Technical Peer Learning Workshop on Disability Inclusion, regional government leaders, civil society organizations, and over a dozen UN agencies convened to accelerate the implementation of the Second Arab Decade for Persons with Disabilities (2023-2032). 

The Second Arab Decade for Persons with Disabilities provides a regional framework to guide efforts on disability inclusion across 17 thematic areas, including legislation, accessibility, education, employment, health, social services, participation in public life, and inclusion during crises, emergencies, and climate change.  

The two day workshop brought together government counterparts from Egypt, including relevant ministries and national institutions such as the National Council for Persons with Disabilities and the National Disability Fund “Qaderoon B'ekhtelaf”, alongside regional organizations of persons with disabilities and civil society organizations, United Nations entities, and international development partners. 

Globally, more than 1.3 billion people live with disabilities and continue to face barriers to education, employment, healthcare, social protection, and participation in public and political life. In the Arab region, these challenges are compounded by conflict, displacement, and gaps in access to services.  

The workshop built on the first Technical Peer Learning Workshop held in Amman in June 2022, where participants discussed key gaps in coordination, data, and inclusion across programmes. This year, discussions turned to how these areas can be addressed in practice. They also drew on the Amman- Berlin Declaration adopted at the 2025 Global Disability Summit, which called for at least 15 per cent of international development programmes implemented at the country level to include disability inclusion as a core objective.  

His Excellency Minister Plenipotentiary Tarek Al-Nabulsi, Director of Social Development and Policies at the League of Arab States, praised the efforts of specialized United Nations agencies in supporting the rights of persons with disabilities in the Arab region. This is achieved through cooperation, to implement relevant Arab and international charters and treaties, foremost among them “the Second Arab Decade for Persons with Disabilities (2023–2032)”, which was endorsed by the Arab Summit, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He expressed his satisfaction with the outcomes of this important meeting, emphasizing the need to maintain communication to ensure their implementation, within the framework of the existing partnership also with organizations of persons with disabilities and civil society organizations, as well as in cooperation with the private sector. 

Giordano Segneri, Governance, Peacebuilding and Crisis Response Regional Team Leader for the Arab States at UNDP said: “The Second Arab Decade provides us with a powerful blueprint which requires coordinated, on-the-ground action. Echoing the League of Arab States' call for robust partnership, we must move as one unified front to ensure these commitments translate into accessible services and equal rights for all persons with disabilities”. 

Participating United Nations entities agreed to expand the existing mapping matrix of disability inclusion initiatives into a shared regional resource and continue regular follow-ups through the Regional Technical Group on Disability Inclusion, bringing together UNDP, UNICEF, ESCWA, and other regional UN entities to support implementation under the Second Arab Decade for Persons with Disabilities (2023–2032). Participants also reaffirmed the importance of integrating disability inclusion across sectors, including crisis response, inclusive employment, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation, while emphasizing the need to co-create initiatives with organizations of persons with disabilities and civil society organizations to ensure meaningful participation in decision-making processes. 

Media Contact: 

UNDP |  Yunjin Oh | Programme Analyst| yunjin.oh@undp.org 

UNDP | Ahmed Bazzoum | Communications Analyst | ahmed.bazzoum@undp.org