Realizing the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond A/RES/69/142 Recalling further the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals,5 the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled “The future we want”, 6 and the outcome document of the 2011 high-level plenary meeting of the Assembly on HIV and AIDS, entitled “Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS”,7 which contain references to the rights, participation, well-being and perspectives of persons with disabilities in development efforts, Recognizing that persons with disabilities make up an estimated 15 per cent of the world’s population, or 1 billion people, of whom an estimated 80 per cent live in developing countries, and acknowledging the value of their contribution to the general well-being, progress and diversity of society, Gravely concerned that persons with disabilities, in particular women, children, youth, indigenous peoples and older persons, continue to be subject to multiple and aggravated forms of discrimination and are still largely invisible in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals and the internationally agreed development goals, and noting that, while progress has already been made by Governments, the international community and the United Nations system in mainstreaming disability, in particular the rights of persons with disabilities, as an integral part of the development agenda, major challenges remain, Underlining the need for urgent action by all stakeholders towards the adoption and implementation of more ambitious disability-inclusive national development strategies and efforts with disability-targeted actions, backed by increased international cooperation and support, Stressing the need for capacity development efforts aimed at empowering persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to ensure equal access to full and productive employment and decent work on an equal basis and without discrimination to persons with disabilities, including by promoting access to inclusive education systems, skills development, volunteering opportunities and vocational and entrepreneurial training in order to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, Concerned that persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected in disaster, emergency and conflict situations, as well as by poverty, Concerned also that the continuing lack of statistics and reliable data and information on the situation of persons with disabilities at the national, regional and global levels contributes to their exclusion in official statistics, presenting an obstacle to achieving development planning and implementation that is inclusive of persons with disabilities, Stressing the importance of collecting and analysing reliable data on persons with disabilities following existing guidelines on disability statistics,8 encouraging ongoing efforts to improve data collection in order to disaggregate data with regard to persons _______________ 5 Resolution 65/1. Resolution 66/288, annex. 7 Resolution 65/277, annex. 8 Such as the Guidelines and Principles for the Development of Disability Statistics (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.01.XVII.15), and the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.07.XVII.8), and their updates. 6 2/5