...... 60 REVIEW OF LAWS, IMPLEMENTATION OF TREATIES AND OTHER.......... of the goals of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, especially those concerning the full participation and equality of persons with disabilities. The Meeting held at Bangkok in June 1995 examined the progress made since the introduction of the Decade and adopted 73 targets and 78 recommendations concerning the implementation of the Agenda for Action, including the gender dimensions of implementation. Of the 12 policy areas under the Agenda for Action, ESCAP has focused its efforts on areas that were not covered by the mandates of other United Nations instruments and bodies. However, the achievements of the Asian and Pacific States in realizing the decade’s targets could not ensure equality of opportunity and equal participation. Therefore, in May 2002, ESCAP adopted the resolution “Promoting an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for people with disabilities in the Asian and Pacific region in the twenty-first century”. The resolution also proclaimed the extension of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002, for another decade, 2003-2012. 2003-2012 Biwako Millennium Framework 5.43 To achieve the goal, the framework identified seven priority areas for action, in each of which critical issues and targets with specific time frames and actions were listed. The seven priority areas include: (1) Self-help organizations of persons with disabilities (2) Women with disabilities (3) Early intervention and education (4) Training and employment, including self-employment (5) Access to built environment and public transport (6) Access to information and communication including ICT (7) Poverty alleviation through capacity building, social security and sustainable livelihood programme 5.44 Since Biwako Millennium Framework seeks to promote a rights-based approach to development, the Commission encouraged the Government of India to address structural inadequacies as exclusion of people with disabilities is not so much on account of their physical or mental impairments as due to limitations of the system; to accommodate difference of ability. 5.45 In the material equality perspective, society is obliged to modify those differences that deny or impair the right of each individual to be an equal member of society. Therefore, NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

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