The first-ever G7 meeting on inclusion and disability at the ministerial level will take place under Italy’s presidency from 14 to 16 October. We welcome the political commitment of the G7 countries, the group of most powerful countries in the world, to lead by example on disability inclusion through the adoption of the Solfagnano Charter (which will be adopted on 16 October).
However, while the Charter will focus on specific priorities, we emphasise that a comprehensive approach is necessary to address all the issues facing persons with disabilities. It is also crucial that the G7 fully addresses the concerns of all persons with disabilities, especially those from communities at risk of marginalisation, such as racialised people, LGBTQI+ people, Roma, and women with disabilities.
Concerning the specific priorities, discussions must be accompanied by clear commitments and sufficient resources to effect change:
- Universal Accessibility: equal access is a precondition to ensure equal rights. Countries must commit to working in partnership with organisations of persons with disabilities to ensure the physical and digital worlds are accessible. This is achieved through strong legislation and its enforcement underpinned by technical standards.
- Prevention/management of emergencies: 84% of persons with disabilities lack personal preparedness plans, and only 26% would have no difficulty immediately evacuating, according to the 2023 global survey report on persons with disabilities and disasters. Countries must closely collaborate with all stakeholders, including persons with disabilities, to ensure effective resilience and emergency response.
- Independent Living and Work Inclusion: the latest estimates in the case of the EU countries show that around 1.5 million people still live segregated in residential institutions, among which an estimated 1 million are persons with disabilities. Our position paper calls for progress towards community-based living, and sufficient monitoring during the transition from institutionalised to independent living.
- Full participation in civil, social and political life: It is essential to involve persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in all areas of life and to provide sufficient funding to ensure a meaningful engagement, including in policy-making. Our reports show that too many countries still restrict legal capacity and, significantly, the right of persons with disabilities to vote.
- Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence poses significant opportunities but also risks. It can marginalise persons with disabilities due to lack of accessibility, ignoring their needs during design and prototyping and underrepresentation of persons with disabilities in the data used to train AI systems. We call on all countries to implement comprehensive regulations to ensure AI systems do not discriminate persons with disabilities and to fund advocacy of representative organisations of persons with disabilities regarding inclusive AI systems.
- Sport and services for all adopt measures ensuring equal access and participation in all areas. It is essential to ensure that persons with disabilities can have the same access as others to all services, including when traveling or moving abroad. That is why we advocate for mutual recognition of disability status between countries – and we hope the G7 countries commit to make this a reality.
We expect the G7 countries to translate the political priorities of the Charter into clear, specific commitments during the Global Disability Summit in April 2025.
Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum, said:
G7 countries and the EU must lead by example in implementing our motto “Nothing Without Us”. We expect that these political commitments are translated into concrete actions that improve our lives.
Additional Information
The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal grouping of seven of the world’s advanced economies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.
The Solfagnano Charter is a political declaration that will be adopted on the 16 October 2024 by the G7 countries. The charter will present commitments in 8 areas deemed priorities by the G7 countries.