The UN Convention is serviced by a joint Secretariat which is comprised of staff members from the United Nations as well as the Department of Social Affairs (DESA). The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights is also involved in the Convention.

Signatories Of The UN Convention

At present, The UN Convention On Rights Of Persons With Disabilities boasts of 143 signatories. The Optional Protocol has 87 signatories.

The Convention has received 75 ratifications and the Optional Protocol has received 48 ratifications. As per the UN Enable website, Bolivia is the the country to have most recently ratified the Convention.

Convention Facts

This particular UN Convention is the first of its kind and is a major step for the disabled community which has previously been sidelined and often even been discriminated against.

As per the UN Enable website, “It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and is the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations.”

The Convention was openly welcomed by the disabled community because it marked a shift in the world’ attitude towards disabilities. Most people with disabilities simply want nothing more than to be treated with equal rights. The UN Convention On Rights Of Persons With Disabilities did exactly that. It helped the world realize that people with disabilities are not merely objects of charity deserving pity but are in fact people with certain handicaps, but people who need and deserve the same rights as everyone else.

Convention Recommendations For World Leaders

The Convention states that persons with disabilities should be guaranteed the right to inclusive education at all levels, regardless of age, without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity.
State Parties should ensure that:

1. children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education;
2. adults with disabilities have access to general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning;
3. persons with disabilities receive the necessary support, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education; and
4. effective individualized support measures are put in place to maximize academic and social development.

State Parties should take appropriate measures, such as:

1. endorsing the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;
2. supporting the learning of sign language and promoting the linguistic identity of the deaf community;
3. advocating that education of persons, particularly children, who are blind and/or deaf, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and means of communication for the individual; and
4. employing teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train education professionals and staff about disability awareness, use of augmentative and alternative modes and formats of communication, and educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.

The Convention establishes human rights for persons with disabilities by affirming that persons with all range of disabilities are entitled to the fundamental freedoms every world citizen enjoys.

The Convention stressed the importance of mainstreaming disability issues and urged governments to pay more attention to the rights of disabled people. It encourages world leaders to thoughtfully and intelligently strategize to make the world a more friendly place for persons with disabilities.

By recognizing the rights of disabled people and the need to promote their human rights across the world, the United Nations introduced a revolutionary change the disabled community has long demanded.

The Convention will go down in history as the fastest negotiated human rights treaty. It is a much needed change for the disabled community so the world and even government view persons with disabilities as equal citizens and grant them equal rights.

References:

UN Enable

People with disabilities should be able to give there views on political, social and civil rights just the same as any other person without fear of harassment or prejudice. The term disabled covers a wide range of impairments and people can be termed disabled by physical, intellectual and sensory impairment. Also classed are medical conditions and mental illness.

People use a wide variety of terms when referring to the disabled such as “differently abled persons”, this term indicates that the person’s disability is not seen as anything different from the norm while the term “disabled person” could sound like the individual has had the ability to function as a person disabled.

It is estimated that throughout the world there are over 500 million people who suffer some form of disability; among these people some more than others are particularly susceptible to facing discrimination.

The people who fall into this category are women, children, the elderly, refugees and migrant workers. For example a woman who is disabled can be discriminated against not only for her disability but also for the fact she is a women.

Society’s Ignorance and prejudice

The disabled suffer discrimination purely on society’s ignorance and prejudice; it is through this ignorance that many disabled people are not able to enjoy many of the opportunities that others are able to enjoy.

Lack of access to essential services is caused by society’s ignorance to the disabled person’s needs but the human rights law specifies that every person should have:

* The right of equality before the law.

* The right not to be discriminated against.

* Have equal opportunity rights.

* The right to be able to live independently.

* The right of full integration into society.

* The right to feel secure.

The world programme of action concerning disabled persons

1981 was the “International year of disabled persons” and it was during this time that the formulation of the world programme of action concerning disabled persons began.

Its aim is to bring together people worldwide and form a strategy to enhance and rehabilitate equal opportunities for disabled people, it also focuses on the need to approach the way people look at disabled people. Guidelines set out for the WPA programme are:

* The participation of disabled people in decision making.

* The prevention of disability, impairment and handicap.

* Rehabilitation.

The equalization of opportunities in:

* Legislation.

* Physical environment.

* Income and social security.

* Education and training.

* Employment.

* Recreation and culture.

* Religion.

* Sports.

Filed under: Disability & Human Rights