A/79/179 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Heba Hagrass, presents her first report to the General Assembly after taking up her functions in November 2023. In her first report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/55/56) presented in March 2024, she took stock of the first 10 years of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and outlined her thematic priorities and vision for the mandate: “connecting to push forward”. She notably underlined her commitment to promote the disability rights agenda at different levels, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2. The focus on the participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the review and follow-up processes on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda arises in the context of only 17 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals being on track. 1 Growing inequalities, escalating conflicts, expanding climate crisis and enduring effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic are affecting progress towards achieving the Goals, with a disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities. The 2030 Agenda gives the means practically to realize the transformation envisioned in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Nearly 20 years since the adoption of the Convention, and with only six years remaining until 2030, the voices and experiences of persons with disabilities must be heard and included more than ever to make concrete changes in their lives and ensure the full enjoyment of their human rights. 3. As States engage in processes to make international cooperation more effective in order to deliver a better present and safeguard the future, persons with disabilities should not be left behind. This is even more important as discussions on the post 2030 Agenda will start in the coming years. Otherwise, inequalities and exclusion might become unsurmountable for the next generations. Since taking up her functions, the Special Rapporteur followed with keen interest the preparations for the Summit of the Future in 2024 and its outcome document, the Pact for the Future. She advocated for a disability rights perspective to be included in the Pact and engaged with a variety of stakeholders in this respect, particularly as part of her travel to New York to attend the sixty-second session of the Commission for Social Development, in February 2024, and the seventeenth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention, in June. 4. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur therefore seeks to examine how persons with disabilities and their representative organizations have been included in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. The main rationale is that meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in all actions that concern them is a human rights requirement under the Convention, as well as a prerequisite for effectively addressing inequalities and discrimination. She first outlines the interlinkages between the Convention and the 2030 Agenda and the way persons with disabilities have been integrated into the Sustainable Development Goals. She then considers existing practices for engagement in reviews at the national, regional and international levels, as well as in other related processes, before shining a spotlight on barriers hindering their effective participation. At the end, the Special Rapporteur draws conclusions and recommendations to States and other stakeholders to strengthen meaningful participation. 5. To inform her report, the Special Rapporteur issued a call for inputs and received 36 responses 2 from States, organizations of persons with disabilities and other __________________ 1 2 24-13229 See https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2024/. Inputs received can be consulted at www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2024/call-inputs-reachingfurthest-left-behind-participation-persons-disabilities. 3/21