Tokyo Declaration on Community-based Inclusive Development
We, the representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities and other non-governmental organizations on Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR)/Community-based Inclusive Development (CBID, also known as CBR), governments, development agencies, donors and the business sector from 46 countries/areas in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world, in total 553 delegates, participated in the third Asia-Pacific CBR Congress on September 1-3, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. Our special thanks are due to the organizers of the Congress: the CBR Asia-Pacific Network, the Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (JSRPD) and the Japan NGO Network on Disabilities (JANNET) in collaboration with the partner organizations* for their hard work to make the Congress successful.
We appreciate the efforts made by the international community to include disability explicitly in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be adopted by the United Nations as a set of global consensus for poverty reduction in line with the principle of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the CBR Guidelines, the Incheon Strategy to Make the Right Real (2013-2022) and other international instruments.
CBID is one poverty reduction strategy in terms of the inclusion of persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups in any developmental process, regardless of their economic and social development stage. With such view in relation to the proposed SDGs, the following is recommended by the participants based on the intensive discussions during the Congress:
1) CBID to be recognized as an effective strategy for achieving the SDGs and leaving no one behind;
2) CBID to focus on inclusion, peacebuilding, poverty reduction, facilitating community empowerment, introduction and access to customized services, disaster risk reduction, justice for all, and collaboration and mobilization of community resources;
3) International cooperation on CBID to be strengthened between organizations of persons with disabilities, national and local governments, other partners and stakeholders for building the capabilities of persons with diverse disabilities, and SDGs implementation and progress monitoring at all levels in Asia and the Pacific; and,
4) The Fourth Asia-Pacific CBR Congress to be convened in Mongolia in 2019.
Presented and unanimously adopted
at the Third Asia-Pacific CBR Congress, September 3, 2015
* World Health Organization, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan Disability Forum, Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation, CBM, Japanese Physical Therapy Association, The Nippon Foundation, Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists, Beyond MDGs Japan, The Kirin Foundation, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Welfare Foundation