Children from Association for Autism (AFA)  performing during the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Vientiane.

Relevance of UN in advancing disability inclusion in Laos

As the United Nations celebrates its 80th anniversary on 24th October 2025, the focus of the universal international organisation continues to be on promoting peace, human rights and sustainable development assisting more than 100 million people every year through various humanitarian interventions.
While there is an ongoing debate whether the UN is a ‘fit for purpose’ organisation amidst geo-political tensions, impact of climate change and growing inequality, its relevance in promoting human rights of persons with disabilities constituting 16 percent of the global population  is justified especially  in the context of low and middle income countries.
The UN disability rights movement could be traced to 1981  beginning with the observation of the ‘International Year of the Disabled’ by the UN General Assembly.
Since then, there are many  milestones of which the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of  Persons with Disabilities in 2006 and the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy ( UNDIS) in 2019 are significant developments from the perspective of the human rights of persons with disabilities. While the CRPD is a normative human rights  framework with a social development dimension, UNDIS was a bold attempt by the UN  to ensure sustainable and transformative change in terms of disability inclusion is strongly embedded across all pillars of the organisation’s mandate.
It is interesting to analyse how the UN in Laos has used CRPD and UNDIS as the two overarching frameworks in promoting disability inclusion. Credit goes to UNDP for supporting the network of organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in submitting the very first parallel report to the CRPD committee in 2022 on the implementation of the convention in Laos.
This eventually resulted in government’s recognition of the voice and accountability of the OPDs.  UNFPA has demonstrated its commitment in engaging OPDs through active consultation in ensuring the 5th Lao Population  and Housing Census 2025 is disability inclusive. UNICEF in Laos has made an attempt to advance disability inclusive social protection policy engagement and learning.
While  the UN in Laos has initiated proactive measures in advancing rights of persons with disabilities, the Office of the Resident Coordinator and UN country team must take note of certain critical gaps in  transforming the rhetoric of inclusion into action. According to the Brief Model Disability Survey conducted by  WHO in 2019, 23 percent of the Lao adult population are experiencing severe disabilities. The current United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Laos will end in 2026 and the next  cooperation framework preparations should meaningfully engage persons with disabilities through their representative organisations to ensure key concerns of persons with disabilities are addressed in line with the UNDIS. The UNRC office should ensure that the team of consultants that will lead the development of the next UNSDCF has a disability inclusion expert to advise on mainstreaming disability within the framework.
While the UNRC office has been instrumental in identifying Disability Focal Points within the UNCT, quarterly meetings of the UNCT focal points on disability inclusion should be conducted to take stock of inclusion and what are the gaps that needs to be addressed on priority. It is vital that these meetings include representatives of OPDs to ensure transparency and accountability that are consistently preached and not often practiced.
There should be a country road map developed by the UNCT under the leadership of the UNRC for the implementation of the new UNDIS 2.0 which is in the making based on the evaluation of the UNDIS 2019-2023. 
Leadership of the UNCT has a major role to play in terms of disability inclusion .The system wide country rating for the UNCT leadership as of 2023 UNDIS report of the Secretary General indicates that only 48 percent of the UNCTs are meeting the requirement of disability inclusion.
As demonstrated by UNFPA Lao PDR, the representatives of the UN entities should meet representatives of organisations of persons with disabilities and develop a non-financial MoU for meaningful engagement with the OPDs.
OPDs should be consulted during development of the Country Programme Document so that disability inclusion is embedded in policies and programmes of the respective UN entities.
According to the UNDIS 2023 report on the UN Secretary General , only 44 percent of entities reflected disability inclusion in their results statements and indicators, disaggregating data by disability and sex, and developing interventions to improve disability inclusion.
UNDIS indicator# 10 is about mainstreaming disability effectively throughout the evaluation process and disability inclusion should be clearly specified in the ToR, inception and evaluation reports. This is conspicuously absent in the evaluation processes of the UN entities in the Lao PDR which seriously impacts planning of the future country programs on the basis of lessons learned from the previous country program cycles. So also having a disability expert to support the evaluation team enables the evaluation team to identify gaps and provide recommendations for disability inclusion.
One of the key findings of the UNDIS system wide evaluation report 2025 is about limited expertise across entities and UNCTs and inadequate investment in capacity strengthening and knowledge management systems leading to duplication of efforts, and an overemphasis on compliance-focused reporting rather than capturing meaningful outcomes. Further, the latest UNDIS report of the UN Secretary General also points to the fact that only 8 percent of country teams reported that a majority of staff, including senior staff, have participated in a disability inclusion training at least once during the cooperation framework cycle. UNCT in the Lao PDR should take these findings scrupulously and ensure the staff training on disability inclusion is mandatory. The UN Resident Coordinator and  representatives of the entities should take the lead in strengthening their respective capacities and lead by example.
There is a strong bi-directional link between the Rule of Law and Disability Inclusion.
Spectrum of disability inclusion is wider in countries that have stronger adherence to rule of law.
With more than 80 percent of persons with disabilities living in low and middle income countries, the UN as technical partner of the national governments has a predominant role in ensuring human rights of persons with disabilities is protected and promoted across humanitarian and development contexts in Laos.
--Author: Pradeep Bagival , Former Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP Lao PDR.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update October 23, 2025)