News
Director-General in India to promote the rights of people with disabilities and building inclusive societies
From 23 to 27 November, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, is undertaking an official visit to India to attend the Conference entitled 鈥淔rom Exclusion to Empowerment: role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Persons with Disabilities鈥, organized by UNESCO in cooperation with the Indian Government as well as international, national and regional partners.
The Conference will bring together over 500 participants from around the world including high level government representatives, policy and decision makers, international organization representatives and civil society. It aims at promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities and encouraging all stakeholders to take concrete measures for the empowerment of persons with disabilities through the use of ICTs.
While in India, the Director-General is expected to hold bilateral meetings with the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, the Minister for Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani, the Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Mahesh Sharma and the UN Resident Coordinator in New Delhi, Lise Grand. She is also expected to meet the Minister of Urban Development, Shri Venkaiah Naidu, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that aims at preserving and revitalizing the unique character of heritage cities while improving their infrastructure and quality of living.
At the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), the Director-General will give a lecture as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. She will speak about 鈥淒iverse societies, inclusive democracies: New skills for a sustainable world鈥 to an audience composed of school children from a range of schools in the city, university students, academic and research institutions, dignitaries from the government and non-government organizations and international diplomatic missions.
Based in New Delhi, this Category 1 Institute is UNESCO鈥檚 specialized education Institute in India, and the first in the Asia-Pacific region. Through research and capacity-building, the Institute aims to develop and promote new approaches to education, empowering learners to transform their lives and build a more peaceful and sustainable world.
