UNITED NATIONS, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 3rd Sep, 2026) The United Nations General Assembly Wednesday unanimously adopted a historic, Pakistan-led resolution which is aimed at driving global efforts to make life-changing assistive devices and services affordable and accessible, with a specific focus on developing nations.
The first-ever resolution, titled “Access to Assistive Technology”, reflects a broad international recognition of a simple principle at the heart of the initiative: technology fulfills its greatest purpose when it expands human possibility.
“Assistive technology encompasses … wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and hearing aids to communication devices, screen readers and other digital solutions — that enable persons with disabilities, older persons and persons with certain health conditions to live with greater independence and dignity,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 193-member Assembly while introducing the text.
“These are not simply products or devices,” he said. “They can be the bridge between dependence and independence; between exclusion and participation; between potential and opportunity — Yet, for millions of people, they remain out of reach.”
The Pakistani envoy highlighted that approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide need these assistive products, while millions remain without adequate access because of barriers including affordability, availability, access to technology, inadequate infrastructure and services, and shortages of trained personnel.
The resolution places access to assistive technology within the broader development and inclusion agenda, recognizing its links with education, employment, health, social protection and meaningful participation in society.
It calls for sustainable access to “quality and affordable” assistive technology; encourages national strategies and priority assistive-products lists; promotes research, innovation, stronger data and appropriate procurement systems; and emphasizes the meaningful participation of those who use and benefit from assistive technology.
Of particular significance for developing countries, the resolution calls for strengthened international cooperation, financing and technical assistance, especially for countries facing resource and capacity constraints.
It also recognizes that the need for assistive technology does not disappear during crises and calls for its systematic inclusion in humanitarian preparedness and response, including in situations of armed conflict and disasters.
Officials said the resolution was drafted and negotiated by Saima Saleem, a counsellor in the Pakistan Mission to the UN and the country’s first visually impaired career diplomat and herself a user of assistive technology, bringing a lived perspective to the initiative. Ambassador Asim Ahmad paid tributes to Ms. Saleem’s dedicated work.
For a person who is blind, it was pointed out, a screen reader can transform a computer or smartphone into a gateway to education, information and employment. Similarly, a wheelchair can open the way to a classroom or workplace, a hearing aid can connect a child with a teacher, and a prosthetic limb can restore mobility and independence.
Pakistan has maintained longstanding leadership on the issue, initiating the landmark World Health Assembly resolution 71.8 on improving access to assistive technology, which was adopted by consensus in 2018.
Conceived as a one-time resolution in line with the spirit of the UN80 initiative, the General Assembly resolution broadens this work beyond any single sector and recognizes access to assistive technology as a cross-cutting development imperative.
APP/ift
