UN Human Rights Treaties

pecially training seminars, to promote the implementation of the Guidelines;
3. Requests the Secretariat, in particular the regional commissions, to promote an exchange of information and experiences between national coordinating committees on disability or similar bodies, at the regional level;
4. Urges the Secretariat, in particular the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs and the Department of Technical Cooperation for Development, and the specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations and the United Nations Development Programme to play a major role in assisting Member States, in particular the least developed among them, to establish and strengthen national coordinating committees or similar bodies;
5. Invites the Secretary-General to use resources available in the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons to assist Member States in setting up and strengthening national coordinating committees or similar bodies;
6. Calls upon Member States to establish national coordinating committees or similar bodies on a permanent basis and to provide them with the necessary staff and resources during and after the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons, bearing in mind that their structure and methodology of work should be in conformity with the circumstances of the countries in which they are situated;
7. Recommends that the Secretary-General include the activities undertaken in relation to the Guidelines in future reports on disability-related programmes, and requests him to report to the Commission for Social Development at its thirty-third session on the implementation of the present resolution.
12th plenary meeting 30 May 1991
1991/9. United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons
The Economic and Social Council,
Recalling its resolution 1989/52 of 24 May 1989, in which it called upon Member States, the bodies and organizations of the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to further the practical implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons,18 adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution 37/52 of 3 December 1982, during the second half of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons, based on the list of priorities and programmes set forth in the annex to Assembly resolution 43/98 of 8 December 1988,
Recalling also General Assembly resolution 45/91 of 14 December 1990, in which the Secretary-General was requested to shift the focus of the United Nations programme on disability from awareness-raising to action, with the aim of achieving a society for all by the year 2010 and of responding more appropriately to the many requests for assistance and advisory services,
Noting with appreciation the recommendations of the meeting of experts held at Jarvenpaa, Finland, from 7

to 11 May 1990, under the joint auspices of the Government of Finland and the United Nations,”
Concerned about the very difficult situation of disabled persons living in developing countries and the vulnerability of disability-related programmes and projects, particularly during periods of economic restructuring,
Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on major issues and programme activities of the Secretariat and the regional commissions relating to social development and welfare and specific social groups,12
1. Welcomes the initiative taken by the Commission for Social Development in the elaboration of standard technical rules on the equalization of opportunities for disabled persons;”
2. Calls upon Member States, regional commissions, intergovernmental bodies and other relevant organizations, in cooperation with organizations of disabled persons, to adopt an integrated policy approach to disability issues as part of the overall efforts to attain a sustainable social development strategy;
3. Requests the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat to support pilot projects aimed at designing integrated disability policies in developing countries and to seek voluntary contributions for that purpose;
4. Invites Member States to review their policies and programmes with the aim of designing national annual priorities until the end of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons in 1992 and concrete long-term strategies to ensure the full implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons beyond the Decade;
5. Requests the Secretary-General to encourage the establishment of working groups funded by voluntary contributions to study and compare the implementation of national priorities;
6. Requests Member States to give concrete support to the efforts of the Secretary-General to develop activities benefiting disabled persons on a sustainable basis in countries with a special need for international support, particularly developing countries;
7. Recommends that a meeting of experts, to be funded by voluntary contributions, be held in conjunction with the conference entitled "Independence 1992", to be organized in Canada by the British Columbia Pavilion Corporation, in cooperation with Disabled Peoples' International and other interested non-governmental organizations, with the primary objective of drawing up a long-term strategy to implement the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons to the year 2000 and beyond;
8. Invites Member States to provide financial and technical support for the efforts of the Secretary-General to develop an international information network at the United Nations Office at Vienna;
9. Recommends that the General Assembly, at its forty-seventh session, devote four plenary meetings to
“Sec A/4.V470.
•' Sec Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1991 Supplemeni No. 0 (H/lWt/26), chap. 1, sect. D, resolution 32/2.

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marking, at the global level, the conclusion of the Decade;
10. Requests the Commission for Social Development to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-third session an item entitled "Monitoring of international plans and programmes of action", and to discuss under that item a long-term strategy to further the implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons beyond the Decade.
12th plenary meeting 30 May 1991
1991/10. Implementation of the International Plan of Action on Ageing and related activities
The Economic and Social Council
Recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft resolution:
"The General Assembly,
"Recalling Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/50 of 24 May 1989, in which the Council endorsed a draft programme of United Nations activities relating to the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Plan of Action on Ageing, in 1992,
"Pursuant to its resolution 45/106 of 14 December 1990, in which it endorsed the action programme on ageing for 1992 and beyond as outlined in the report of the Secretary-General on the question of ageing,22 invited Member States, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations to consider innovative and effective ways of cooperating on the selection of targets in the field of ageing during 1991 and 1992, and urged Member States, the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned to participate in the action programme on ageing for 1992 and beyond, especially in selecting targets in the field of ageing, in organizing community-wide activities and in launching an information and fund-raising campaign to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Plan of Action on Ageing at the local, national, regional and global levels,
"Recalling that in resolution 45/106, it endorsed also the convening of an ad hoc working group of the Commission for Social Development at its thirty-second session to monitor the activities for the tenth anniversary, especially the launching of a global information campaign, and the selection of targets that might form the basis of the third review and appraisal of the Plan of Action to be made by the Commission at its thirty-third session, in 1993, and recommended that the Commission should give consideration to the desirability of convening, subject to the availability of funds, regional and sectoral meetings on the selection of targets in the field of ageing during 1991 and 1992 and global consultations in 1993 and 1997,
"Recalling also that in resolution 45/106, it recognized the complexity and rapidity of the ageing of the world's population and the need to have a common
22 A/45/420.

basis and frame of reference for the protection and promotion of the rights of the elderly, including the contribution that the elderly can and should make to society,
"Aware of the plight of the elderly in developing countries, particularly the least developed among them, as well as those in difficult circumstances, such as refugees, migrant workers and victims of conflict,
"Recalling Economic and Social Council resolution 1751 (LIV) of 16 May 1973 on the aged and social security,
"1. Recommends that the United Nations define, on the basis of the recommendations of a small expert group meeting to be held in 1991 within existing resources, targets on ageing to provide a pragmatic focus for the broad and ideal goals of the International Plan of Action on Ageing, and issue them as 'Targets on ageing: programme recommendations at the national level for the year 2001';
"2. Urges Member States to identify their specific national targets on ageing for the year 2001, on the basis of the proposed targets on ageing;
"3. Invites the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat to develop, in consultation with United Nations organizations and bodies and international non-governmental organizations, a set of suggested global targets designed to support implementation of the national targets on ageing;
"4. Recommends that the General Assembly devote four plenary meetings, that is, two working days, at its forty-seventh session to an international conference on ageing to consolidate a set of targets on ageing for the year 2001 and to celebrate on an appropriate global scale the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Plan of Action on Ageing;
"5. Urges the United Nations to give special attention to implementing the action programme on ageing for 1992 and beyond;
"6. Calls upon the Secretary-General to give all possible support, in the form of both regular and extrabudgetary resources, to the Ageing Unit of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs, to enable it to fulfil its mandate as lead agency for the action programme on ageing;
"7. Requests the Secretary-General to designate the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna as coordinator for the preparations for the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Plan of Action on Ageing and for the implementation of the action programme on ageing for 1992 and beyond;
"8. Invites the Secretary-General to explore the feasibility of appointing an interregional adviser on ageing to assist developing countries in expanding their ability to respond effectively to the ageing of their populations;
"9 Invites the United Nations to examine the feasibility of launching a service composed of experts who are elderly, modelled on the United Nations Volunteers;

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