Welcome everyone and happy International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Many thanks to our co-organizers: WIPO and UNDESA, and the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations in New York, thank you Ambassador for your support, and thanks to all our speakers, thank you very much for joining us.
For those of you with vision impairment, I am speaking to you from my home in the snowy Swiss Alpes. In ITU we have been working from home now for over 20 months, but for events such as this I always put on my office suit and tie!
Once again unfortunately, we find ourselves facing a new Covid variant that is putting the world on alert again. It is a reminder of how fragile the situation is and just how dependent we are on information and communication technologies to carry on our work and keep connected to each other.
The latest ITU data shows that the uptake of the Internet has accelerated during the pandemic, with almost 800 million people estimated to have come online since 2019.
However, the pandemic has also highlighted that significant areas of inequality and exclusion remain in the digital world, and this includes the over 1 billion people who live today with some form of disability. And this number is expected to reach 2 billion by 2050. By then, the world’s population of people aged 60 years and older will have also doubled, making universal access to digital technologies a priority.
Today, offers us an opportunity to reflect on the kind of a world we want to rebuild in the aftermath of the pandemic.
ITU’s vision is one where everyone can take an active part in our increasingly digital world, no matter their ability, age, gender, location or any other factor. As the UN specialized agency for ICTs, ITU is playing a leading role within international organizations and the UN system to make this a reality.
Take the development of international technical standards for example, which is a core function of ITU. Nothing of what we are able to do today, including this event, would be possible without them.
The first ITU standard to address accessibility dates back to the early 1990s. The turning point was a Resolution on accessibility adopted at the 2008 World Telecommunication Standards Assembly, my first as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.
This resolution was instrumental in ensuring that all new ITU standards incorporate the needs of persons with disabilities right from the design stage, and this is something I have always championed.
I am pleased to say that ITU has achieved a lot in terms of accessibility across its radiocommunication, standardization and development sectors, providing decision makers with policy and strategic advice to promote the development of inclusive digital communities.
Collaboration and cooperation with partners is essential and ITU has been doing so with our sister UN agencies such as WHO on safe listening standards, and ILO on the design and development of accessible online job applications.
And we are pleased to contribute to WIPO’s Technology Trends 2021 publication dedicated to assistive technology.
The special track of the WSIS Forum on ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Specific Needs shows how critical it is for governments, industry, academia, civil society and others to collaborate to help break cycles of exclusion while accelerating progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In ITU we make every effort to ensure that persons with disabilities can participate and contribute to our work. Only with their help can we ensure the new technological advances meet their requirements.
I look forward to hearing from our panelists and to continuing to work with all of you to build a world where no one is left behind and where opportunities have no boundaries.
Thank you.