International Rankings

The 2018 report^[12] by G3ict on degree of performance of countries shows little progress in all terms of commitment and implementation as shown in the next 4 tables.

Table 2 ranks the top 10 countries in terms of implementation outcome based on the commitments and compares their scores according to the recent 2020 Dare Index report^[13]. Only countries improved their overall score; Qatar (89) and Italy (75.5). While Oman was ranked as the best performing country in 2018 with a score of 81, it dropped almost 15 points to 65.5 giving the top seat to another Arab country; Qatar with a 14-point score rise of from 75 in 2018 to 89 in 2020. Surprisingly, all top-ranking countries show a drop in the overall score. On the contrary, implementation and outcome scores have improved for most of the countries in the last two years. For example, Russia and South Africa improved the implementation score by more than 13, and 18 points respectively. While only few countries scored less in 2020 than in 2018; Oman and the United States. This clearly indicates a positive overall implementing level of the necessary policies and accessibility regulations.

Table 2. Top ten performing countries 2018-2020

Source: DARE index top performing Countries 2018

https://g3ict.org/upload/DARE-Index-Top-Performing-Countries-Nov-5-2018.pdf

https://g3ict.org/upload/accessible_DARE-Index-2020-Top-Performing-Countries-ENGLISH-1.pdf

Table 3 shows the top scoring countries with respect to their region which clearly shows that central and South Asian countries with the exception of Russia are way below world average. Noticeably, two Arab countries, Oman and Qatar, exchanged the top ranked position, Oman in 2018 and Qatar 2020. Their efforts are noticeable despite the low implementation outcome and commitment of the entire region as shown in table 4.

Table 3. Region ranking based on commitments, capacity and outcomes.

Source: DARE index top performing Countries 2018

https://g3ict.org/upload/DARE-Index-Top-Performing-Countries-Nov-5-2018.pdf

Results also show Europe and North America outperformed the rest of the regions in implementation and outcome with 55.1 and 63.8 respectively, however all regions scored low in their capacity to implement or commitment as shown in table 4 below. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) including non-Arab countries, have fair implementation and capacity to implement with low overall commitment.

Table 4. Region Rankings

Source: DARE Index 2020 Global Progress by CRPD States Parties. P3

Table 5. E-accessibility Commitment (Globally)

Source: DARE Index 2020 Global Progress by CRPD States Parties. P5

Despite the ratification of almost 93% of nations on the UN CRPD and 37% of the Marrakesh Treaty, the global overall average to the commitments supporting e-accessibility shows that 65% of the countries have commitment to advance the cause of persons with disabilities e-accessibility. As table 5 shows, less than 70% of the countries have a clear definition of e-accessibility within its accessibility general definition. The report also identifies several issues causing the slowdown of e-accessibility at the global level:

1. In most countries persons with disabilities or their supporting Government agencies seldom participate in developing policies or regulations including e-accessibility.

2. Country participation in standard development organizations.

3. Lack of national awareness programs and specialized educational courses.

The UN Disability and Development Report 2018 report listed a number of recommendations to strengthen the inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities: details of the recommendations are available at ^[14]

1) Raising awareness and knowledge of ICT accessibility.

2) More involvement of persons with disabilities and specialized agencies in drafting policies, recommendations and regulations.

3) Encourage both ICT industry and the public sectors to adopt the 7 principles of Universal Design^[15] for equal use and perceivable information. These two main principles have direct effects on e-accessibility and must be embraced.

4) Adopt the implementation of national accessibility policies and regulations.

5) The need to create dedicated governmental organizations to oversee ICT accessibility.

6) Providing equal and affordable Internet access for persons with disabilities.

7) Encourage governmental and private sector funding to support open-source software development and Universal Design at low-cost for persons with disabilities.