HCD hosts first preparatory meeting on Global Disability Summit

AMMAN — The Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) on Wednesday convened in Amman the first preparatory meeting on the Global Disability Summit (GDS) in 2025, which is due to be co-hosted by Germany, Jordan and the International Disability Alliance (IDA).

The opening session began with welcoming remarks from HH Prince Mired, president of the HCD, in which he underscored the significance of the third edition of the GDS being held in cooperation with “friends in Germany and the IDA”, according to a HCD statement. 

He added that Jordan’s participation in organising the GDS is testimony to the Kingdom’s regional and international standing in the field of the rights of persons with disabilities, and the “seriousness” the country has rendered this portfolio, most particularly in the last 10 years. 

The prince also stressed the need for the 2025 edition of the GDS to be seen as “a unique event both in format and content”, whereby the summit will leave solid, impactful and lasting impressions on decision- and policy-makers across the world, galvanising them to create substantial change within their own countries in the field of disability rights, read the statement.

State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) indicated in his opening remarks that Germany perceives the 2025 Global Disability Summit as “a milestone” through which each country and organisation can make a real change. 

He also stated: “Respecting the human dignity and the inclusion of persons with disabilities is a matter of human rights. We are not talking about charity or compassion, which all too often dominate the narrative on disability. 

There are roughly one billion people in the world who are living with a disability, the majority of them in developing and emerging economies. Their concerns as well as their abilities and capacities to contribute to the success of societies are still far too rarely the focus of attention. Together, we want to boost progress on the inclusion of persons with disabilities internationally.”

In his remarks during the opening session of a workshop, IDA President Yannis Vardakastanis stressed that the IDA is looking forward to having yet another successful summit in Berlin, working together with Germany and Jordan. 

Vardakastanis stressed that the joint efforts of the co-hosts will create a stronger and bigger GDS, and looks forward to leading his organisation in being the representative voice of the disability movement, which should remain at the forefront of the planning and delivery of the GDS.

Other German representatives attending the first preparatory meeting included the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Persons with Disabilities, Jürgen Dusel, as well as representatives from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. 

IDA representatives were also present, including IDA’s Executive Director Vladimir Cuk, and its Advocacy Director Jose Viera. On the part of the HCD, the organisation’s Secretary-General, Muhannad Alazzeh, as well as members of the GDS Jordanian organising committee attended the event. Also present was a representative from the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Raghad Al Saqqa.

The third edition of the GDS will be held in Berlin, Germany, in the spring of 2025.

The first GDS was held in London in 2018, co-hosted by the governments of the UK and Kenya, and by the IDA, while the second one was held in Oslo in 2022, and was co-hosted by the governments of Norway and Ghana, and by the IDA.