A/79/179 track approach to disability inclusion should be followed in implementing the 2030 Agenda: mainstreaming across all the Sustainable Development Goals in combination with specific disability-focused action. 16. The 2018 Disability and Development Report 5 shone a spotlight on the numerous barriers to the full inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in the life of their communities and found that they were not sufficiently included in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The findings painted a clear picture of exclusion and inequality across the different spheres covered by the Goals, and as such disability was required to be mainstreamed in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. 17. Six years later, the 2024 Disability and Development Report 6 indicates that persons with disabilities are being left behind and that implementation needs to accelerate dramatically in many areas to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for them. This limited progress has been accentuated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit persons with disabilities particularly hard, for example, in terms of employment, education and access to services, support and technologies. 18. According to the 2024 report, only five of the Sustainable Development Goals indicators are on track to achieve targets for persons with disabilities by 2030, while for 30 per cent of the targets progress is insufficient and for 14 per cent the target has been missed or progress has stalled or gone into reverse. Wide gaps persist between persons with disabilities and others, especially in terms of food insecurity, health, access to energy, and information and communications technologies, poverty and employment. These gaps are wider for women with disabilities, Indigenous persons with disabilities, persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and persons with disabilities living in rural areas. Only a few areas registered progress, for example, in terms of laws and policies protecting the right of persons with disabilities to education, which now exist in 87 per cent of countries. 19. To illustrate the existing gaps, persons with disabilities continue to be more likely to live in poverty, and progress in coverage by disability benefits has been slow. Food insecurity affects 55 per cent of persons with disabilities in developing countries, and children with disabilities are more prone to have signs of malnutrition. Compared with others, persons with disabilities are much more likely not to have access to health care when they need it, with one reason being inaccessible health facilities. In many countries, persons with disabilities are less likely to have access to safe drinking water and necessary sanitation and hygiene facilities. 20. Only 27 per cent of persons with disabilities are employed, and young people with disabilities are twice as likely as those without disabilities to be in neither employment, education or training. Digital inclusion and accessibility remain a significant challenge. In many countries, persons with disabilities continue to be deprived of legal capacity and face persisting barriers in gaining access to justice. All of these examples relate to key rights enshrined in the Convention and are fundamental for persons with disabilities to live in dignity, have control over their daily lives and be part of their communities. Clearly, the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals for persons with disabilities is severely off track, and persisting inequalities and discrimination continue to undermine their human rights. __________________ 5 6 6/21 See https://social.desa.un.org/publications/un -flagship-report-on-disability-and-development2018. See https://social.desa.un.org/publications/un -flagship-report-on-disability-and-development2024 (only the executive summary was available at the time of writing). 24-13229