Remarks by the President of the General Assembly?
H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock
at the Commemoration
of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities
3 December 2025
[As delivered]
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Last month, I had the honour of presiding over the World Social Summit in Doha, where we as an international community underlined that development and building strong societies means truly putting people first.
That social justice, equality, inclusion, and opportunity are not ¡°nice to have¡±, but are the very foundations of economic growth, stability, and peace. They serve every society, every economy, every community. They make us all stronger.
That is the same message I bring today to you as well.
Persons living with disabilities are entitled to the same rights, choices, and opportunities as everyone else. But, what we have to make crystal clear all around the world, to everybody else as well, is that our societies thrive when those rights are respected ¡ª that it¡¯s in the benefit for all, when all people can participate fully, freely, and without barriers.
We know this. Yet we still struggle to practice it. That we know it doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s reality all over.
More than 30 years since the first International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we have undeniably made progress:
- 87% of countries reviewed now have laws guaranteeing the right to education for persons with disabilities.
- 79% prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of disability.
But progress on paper is not the same as progress in people¡¯s lives.
Persons with disabilities remain disproportionately affected by poverty and wage gaps.
In conflict and disasters, they are often cut off from information, relief, and even assistance.
Even in the so-called industrialized countries, like my own, families still have to fight for the right of education for their children at a regular school if their children have disabilities, because not all schools are barrier-free.
I experienced it myself, what it means for a child if they have to learn from an early age that society defines them as something different, as not ¡°normal¡±.
And even day-to-day, something as basic as going to the store for milk, or withdrawing one¡¯s own money from an ATM, remains out of reach when one quarter of ATMs in developed regions ¨C and half in developing regions ¨C are inaccessible to wheelchair users.
Is it truly progress ¡ª dignified progress ¡ª if a person has a job but cannot access their own earnings?
Obviously not. We have to do better.
The Declaration adopted in Doha recognizes exactly this. That it¡¯s about the daily lives of every person. It reaffirmed that genuine social development must rest on inclusion, dignity, equal opportunity, and leaving absolutely no one behind.
Today¡¯s discussion is our chance to sustain that momentum.
It is a chance to move from commitment to implementation, from aspiration to accountability.
As many leaders underscored at the Summit in Doha: advancing the rights of persons with disabilities is not a peripheral issue. It is a test ¡ª a defining test ¡ª of our willingness to build inclusive societies for all, not as an act of charity for individuals, but as an act of making all our societies stronger, for everyone.
And that willingness must now be matched by action:
action that removes barriers;
action that expands opportunities;
action designed with persons with disabilities, not for them.
As 19-year-old disability advocate James Casserly reminded us during High-Level Week here in New York, meaningful participation ¡°is more than a box-ticking exercise. It is when we get to make our own decisions, and not just have other people make decisions on our behalf. As we always say: nothing about us without us.¡±
Let us honour that call everyday ¡ª and let us answer it through what we do next.
I wish you a very good session.
Thank you.
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