Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General

Open Consultations on Internet and Accessibility : "Access to the Internet for Persons with Disabilities and specific needs"
ITU Council Working Group on International Internet-Related Public Issues (CWG-INTERNET)

15 February 2016, Geneva, Switzerland

Welcome to this the second physical open consultation meeting of the Council Working Group on international Internet related public policy issues on the topic of "Access to the Internet for Persons with Disabilities and specific needs".

A particular welcome to the representatives of the disability organizations that contribute so much to ITU's work on accessibility.

Since I was first joined ITU as an elected official in 2007 one of my main objectives has been to mainstream accessibility in ITU, so it is a great pleasure for me to be with you to open this consultation meeting. 

ITU was the first international standards body to address accessibility issues with the adoption of the first international standard on accessibility in 1994 - the international text telephone standard Recommendation ITU-T V.18. But work on accessibility did not really take off until 2008 when we launched a number of major initiatives: we chose "Connecting Persons with Disabilities: ICT Opportunities for All" as the theme of that year's World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTIS Day); we establishment the joint coordination activity on accessibility and human factors standardization (JCA-AHF) open to all experts working in the field and chaired by Andrea Saks - who was one of the three laureates recognized at WTIS; we initiated the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disabilities at the Internet Governance Forum; and an historic Resolution was adopted at that year's World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, the first ITU Resolution recognizing the importance of work on accessibility. Since then, ITU has incorporated accessibility requirements into a range of standards, in particular ITU's IPTV suite of standards which has many accessibility features, and in which Mr Masahito Kawamori has been very active.

Accessibility has now become mainstreamed across the organization in policy, regulatory and technical areas, and we collaborate on the topic with many different organizations. 

The last ITU Plenipotentiary Conference set a target that enabling environments that ensure accessible telecommunications/ICTs for persons with disabilities should be established in all countries by 2020.

You will hear more about ITU's work on accessibility later this morning but in particular I would like to mention our collaboration with G3ict and its Executive Director, Axel Leblois, to develop an on-line toolkit for policy makers, regulators and other stakeholders on policies and strategies addressing ICT accessibility in line with the UN Convention.

ITU is now recognized as one of the foremost UN agencies addressing accessibility and facilitating the participation on persons with disabilities in its work, and is seen as a model for the rest of the UN.

Although there is another ITU Council working group considering the special needs of protecting children with disabilities online, this is the first time that the issue of accessibility and the Internet has been considered within this particular Council working group, and I was very pleased when it decided last year to launch this open consultation.

The consultation presents a unique opportunity for the Working Group to benefit from interaction with different stakeholders that are directly involved in the area of accessibility and ICTs, to learn of their experiences, their needs and future activities.  

So I will close by thanking you all again for being with us today – and in particular thank our distinguished panelists, and the 50 entities that submitted their views to the consultation. Your active engagement proves the importance and value of these open consultations.

I will now hand over to Jose Maria Diaz Batanero, the lead focal point on accessibility in the Secretariat, and wish you a very productive and enjoyable day.