Lenin Moreno will be a contributor to the UN

Lenin Moreno

Ban Ki – moon, the UN Secretary General, yesterday delegated Lenin Moreno, former Vice President of Ecuador, as the Special Envoy of the United Nations for disability and accessibility issues.

The Envoy will assist and promote the rights of persons with disabilities, with special attention to the “Accessibility for all” initiative, according to a statement from one of the spokesmen for the United Nations, Farhan Haq.

Moreno, who served the position of Vice President of Ecuador between 2007 and 2013, was responsible for carrying out the missions “Manuela Espejo” and “Joaquín Gallegos Lara”, that provide comprehensive care to the disabled in the country, especially to those who live in marginalization, exclusion and poverty. Both programs have received multiple international awards.

Moreno currently chairs the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against disabled persons of the Organization of American States (OAS), and for his work the Ecuadorian Government had been in charge of promoting his candidacy for this new role as Special Envoy.

UN today recalled through a statement that globally there are more than one billion people with some kind of disability, representing 15 per cent of the world population.