The CEO of the World Blind Union and Permanent Representative of the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Jose Viera,  addressed world leaders attending a High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, September 25.  The High Level Political Forum under the auspices of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly – the SDG Summit - brought together Heads of States and Governments and relevant stakeholders to review progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

While acknowledging progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals​, Mr. Viera called on the world leaders to urgently take the following actions to fully realize the SDGs:

• Put human rights at the center of policymaking and ensure full and equal participation of marginalized groups in all aspects and levels of the SDGs implementation;
• Align national-level fiscal policies with human rights obligations, and system-wide resource allocation and commitments on increased spending for those most often left behind;
• Allocate sufficient resources and strengthen capacity to collect, analyze and disaggregate data by sex, age, disability and other groups to shift to evidence-based policymaking and reporting;
• Provide accessibility and inclusion to enable persons with disabilities to actively participate in society on an equal basis with others; 
• Uphold the commitments made in the Paris Agreement because climate change is a common concern for humankind and must uphold and protect the rights of all marginalized communities;
• To reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism and the rule of law, strengthen international systems and institutions, and to ensure wide and safe participation of civil society at all levels. 

Mr. Viera was one of six civil society speakers invited to address the SDG Summit among Heads of State and Governments. The event was the first UN summit on the SDGs since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015.