Support to the Rights and Entitlements of Persons with Disabilities

The Programme

China has the largest community of women and men with disabilities in the world. While in recent years there have been significant improvements in their living conditions and social status, they still face enormous barriers in access to services and entitlements due to the lack of capacity among dedicated institutions and duty-bearers, as well as poor awareness among Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) and persons with disabilities about their rights. Nonetheless, in recent high-level political statements, the Chinese authorities placed greater emphasis on improving the lives of persons with disabilities. This Programme intends to seize the opportunity of this political momentum to promote a rights-based perspective to address the needs of persons with disabilities, marking a shift from the current approaches that tend to focus on health and welfare.