UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday named former vice president of Ecuador Lenn Voltaire Moreno Garces as his special envoy on disability and accessibility.

The appointment was announced by UN spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement.

Moreno, who served as vice-president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2013, currently serves as chairperson of the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities of the Organization of American States.

According to Nesirky, there are more than one billion people with disabilities, accounting for 15 percent of the world population.

"In spite of the remarkable advances toward accessible and disability-inclusive societies an enormous gap remains between the commitments made and the daily experiences of persons with disabilities," said the UN spokesman.