The Doha Declaration issued by the high-level event of the 42nd session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs on Persons with Disabilities and Multidimensional Poverty: Continuing the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Beyond, praised the efforts of Qatar in organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to be the most integration of persons with disabilities, and the most provision of job opportunities for Arab youth, in the context of efforts to reduce poverty rates, citing the Code of Family Ethics, and the Code of Work of Social Work Specialists, for Qatar, as two guiding Arab models in this regard.
The Doha Declaration, which was launched yesterday during a press conference on the sidelines of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, welcomed the announcement of Qatar to host the fourth Global Disability Summit 2028 in Doha.
The declaration reaffirmed the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs' emphasis on the need to continue the process of implementing the 2030 sustainable development plan, and to put the aspirations of the Arab peoples in the new global development plan, in addition to continuing efforts to improve the conditions of persons with disabilities, in order to reach the principle of equality in citizenship in Arab countries with their various circumstances and challenges by providing equal opportunities in different ways and their full integration into society.
The declaration noted that work will be strengthened to monitor and evaluate the various services provided to persons with disabilities, within the framework of the efforts made to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan, through the exchange of expertise and successful experiences aimed at the full inclusion of persons with disabilities, and the implementation of relevant strategies and programs. The declaration stressed the need to develop social and economic policies for the benefit of persons with disabilities and the poor, in addition to addressing educational gaps, and expanding their access to coverage and social protection.
The declaration also recommended promoting the initiative of the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, "Living Independently for Persons with Disabilities," as a pioneering and advanced initiative that enables decent work, and benefiting from modern technological innovations and inventions, to contribute effectively to the independent living of persons with disabilities. The declaration called for empowering the "Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies" - as an important technical Arab mechanism that supports the efforts of member states in these two important fields -- and working to provide it with the necessary financial and human resources.
The Doha Declaration indicated that digitized follow-up and evaluation systems will be adopted for social development efforts at the national and regional levels, and the Arab sign language dictionary for the deaf will be updated and digitized, so that it represents an easy tool for communication between the deaf in all Arab countries, and enhances the exchange of pioneering experiences in this field, and to be the first dictionary that collects deaf languages in all Arab countries.
The declaration also recommended strengthening the efforts of Jordan to organize the work of the Global Disability Summit 2025, and to ensure that its outputs constitute important inputs that enhance the efforts of Qatar to host the fourth Global Disability Summit 2028 in Doha. With regard to volunteer work, the declaration called for supporting the implementation of the Arab strategy to promote volunteer work, which was approved by the Arab Summit at its (31st) session in the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Nov. 1-2, 2022.
The Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Development and the Family Ghanem Mubarak al-Kuwari, confirmed during the press conference that the results of the meeting will be followed up by countries to implement the mechanism, including topics of interest to all societal groups, pointing out that the Doha Declaration took into account the priorities of the Arab region and its peoples. Al-Kuwari announced the adoption of Qatar to digitize the Arabic dictionary of the deaf language, and work to translate the language of the Holy Qur'an into the language of the deaf within the framework of this valuable dictionary, to serve as an important initiative in the Arab region as well as support a number of social projects in the brotherly Arab countries.
For his part, the Technical Secretariat of Arab Social Ministerial Council Tareq al-Nabulsi, confirmed that the Arab ministers of social affairs agreed on many important issues represented by setting a priority for joint Arab social work that is in the interest of the Arab person, and the second Arab contract for persons with disabilities to improve the conditions of these people, in addition to their agreement on the Arab classification of disability to represent the first specialised regional classification that supports the rights of persons with disabilities, pointing out that they welcomed the initiative to allocate Oct. 10 to celebrate the elderly, in addition to their agreement on the guiding Arab law to support the rights of the elderly.
Al-Nabulsi indicated that the five-year plan of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs 2023-2027 was approved, which included strategic directions in various areas of development, social protection, issues related to family and childhood, and all social issues. He appreciated the efforts of Qatar in organizing the work of 42nd session of the Council of Ministers of Social Affairs.
