On Thursday, 18 April, at the Pacific Community (SPC) headquarters, a special event will be held. Together various stakeholders from New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia, Tonga and Fiji, will debate on the topic: “Let’s change our perspective on disability.” This event aims to encourage regional cooperation in the Pacific, particularly around how we think, perceive, and include people in our communities who live with disabilities.
In the Pacific, 17% of the population live with some form of disability, representing at least 1.7 million people according to the latest estimates from the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SREP) in 2020.
Changing our perspective on disability is essential to making our societies more inclusive and equal, and to ensure the full participation of people living with disabilities. Especially as our region faces challenges such as the climate crisis, which calls for urgent action to reduce the vulnerability of our communities, but in particular for those most at risk including children, women, and people with disabilities. According to Handicap International, people living with disabilities face four times the risk of mortality than able bodied people during natural disasters.
This event was the result of the collaboration of SPC, New Caledonian disability associations (such as Association of Parents of Disabled Children of New Caledonia (APEHNC) and Handicap Collective), and the Calédonienne Publication Agency (ACP) through Handicap Mag.
The debate is part of an ongoing commitment undertaken by the PROTEGE project through its Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) strategy, and more broadly to support SPC’s continued efforts to uphold and maintain Pacific people’s human rights.
Topics discussed during the event will include: “What support is available for people with disabilities in New Caledonia?”; “Why was a ministerial delegate for disability created in French Polynesia?”; and “How and why have inclusive strategies for managing disaster risks related to climate change been developed in Tonga?”
The evening debate also aims to encourage regional cooperation in the Pacific by exchanging visions and actions from the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Tonga and Wallis and Futuna.
The event is funded by the Overseas Countries and Territories of the Pacific as part of the Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) strategy of the PROTEGE project, funded by the European Union and implemented by SPC.
Additionally, an exhibition of 21 artistic works created during Art Therapy workshops by users of APEH NC will be showcased in the main hall of the SPC from Monday, April 15th to Thursday, April 18th, 2024.
For more information on the event, please visit: Soiree-Debat - April 18 or contact our team below.
Contacts:
Angele Armando, Protégé Communications Officer and focal point New Caledonia| [email protected]
Angelica Salele, CCFP Communications Officer | [email protected]
