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The urgency of now: an introduction
“A paradigm shift,” “a new language of disability,” “the world’s newest human rights
tool.” These are a few of the messages about the genesis and impact of the UNCRPD that
emerged from the conference. “I’ve been here before,” began conference keynote
speaker Maria Verónica Reina, Executive Director of the Global Partnership on Disability
and Development, a World Bank initiative. Ms Reina was speaking not of coming to
UNECA, since this was her frst visit, but of her feelings of exclusion. She had
first felt this
way growing up in a poor family in Argentina, who lived with a strong sense of class
that gradually faded as her parents earned more money during her adolescence.
Then at 17 she was in a car accident and began using a wheelchair. Suddenly, she knew
again what it was like to face discrimination. What changed was not just her physical
circumstances, but also other people’s attitudes to them and to her – the
definition and
consequence of discrimination.
“Poor people and people with disabilities face similar issues,” said Ms. Reina, and the
UNCRPD should draw a line between the past approach, when these issues were handled
by charities, and the rights-based agenda of the UN Convention. If she could, Ms. Reina
would have the world’s leaders write the phrase “paradigm shift” on a blackboard 100
times.
“It will be a challenge for people with disabilities to recognize that we have rights and
responsibilities,” Ms. Reina said. Provisions within the Convention say that states should not
deprive people of liberty based on disability, which will be a task for both governments
and for the institutions and people that they govern. For this reason, the delegates who
wrote the UNCRPD felt that this provision must be adopted immediately.
“Disability is a force for inclusive development, not a burden on development activities”
– so contends Dr. Hassan Yousif, focal person on disability, UNECA. Dr. Yousif reminded
the conference that the rights contained in the UNCRPD are embodied in the Universal
declaration of Human Rights. “The UNCRPD officially offers no new rights,” said panel
speaker Barbara Murray of the International Labour Organization. Instead, it offers
innovations in how people with disabilities may access the full range of existing rights that
are already protected by international law, for instance in the areas of gender, children’s
rights and the inclusion of ethnic minorities. Notably, the language of the Convention is
totally different from much of the previous legislation on disability. The word “special” is
never used in the document and the focus is on the right to full participation in all aspects
of society.
The document also makes provision for changes in the way that disability is handled
both legally and practically. For example people with disabilities, even those in sheltered workshops, now have the same rights as
any workers to form unions, to benefit from equal
opportunities, to be included in affirmative action
programs and to qualify for work experience
programs.
People with disabilities also have the same rights
as other people to have relationships and families,
to get married and not to be sexually harassed.
Disabled children have the right to attend school
and their families have the right to take part in any
anti-poverty programs, including those designed
to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
by 2015.
There is now not one sphere of life in which
disability should hinder full participation. To make
this happen, a “no-gap” policy is essential, said Victoria Beria from the United Nations Department
of Economic and Social Affairs. Such a policy
means that no element or part of the Convention
can be implemented without involving more
than one issue or sector such as access, legal
representation or education – all its work must be
done on a continuum.
The need to make active links with and learn from other areas of development and
human rights practice – gender equality, children’s rights and the inclusion of ethnic
minorities, for example – was also highlighted at the conference. Thokozile Ruzvidzo,
Officer In Charge, African Centre for Gender and Social Development, UNECA, pointed
out that implementation and its evaluation can be challenging processes that require
enormous political will from governments. If we look to disability rights as a force for
inclusive development, then the whole process of bringing the Convention to life can
become embedded in every local, national and international development initiative.
Almost 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries, according to Sadequa Rahim from the African Union. Disabled people, therefore, must be involved
in poverty reduction strategy papers and national frameworks, especially women with
disabilities, who can face a double burden of discrimination. She highlighted the link
between the AU Plan of Action on the Decade of Disabled Persons and the UNCRPD. It
follows that disabled people with knowledge of human rights should be involved in
their own governments’ planning and implementation processes for the UNCRPD. This
point was made by speakers living as far away from each other as Josephine Sinyo
from the Kenyan Law Reform Commission and Manuel Agya, a congressman from the
Philippines.
Making development truly inclusive will enrich the world for everyone, argued Bryan
Dutton, Director General of Leonard Cheshire Disability, yet it would be tragic if new
initiatives don’t include people without disabilities. Inclusive development must be
exactly that.
Mainstreaming arises from this premise, and for non-disabled people, it has an important
role to play in ending the ignorance about disability that can lead to exclusion. For
people with disabilities, argued Eva Mahlangu from the South African President’s
Office,
it yields feelings of dignity and self-worth. To make mainstreaming a priority for all
government departments, she further argued, it must be included in all budgets and
monitoring exercises.
Many African countries already take progressive steps towards bringing disability into
national institutions and programs. In Uganda, for example, there are already
five
disabled members of parliament, one of whom is a woman. New laws also state that new
buildings must be accessible. Kenya already enacted a Disability Act in the 1990s and has
drafted an inclusive education policy. Malawi, which has signed but not yet
ratified the
UNCRPD, has already held a public consultation on disability.
To go beyond these first few steps, conference delegates agreed that they must stop
talking just to themselves – the disabled community and its allies. Many speakers and
participants also called on everyone present to lobby their governments to ratify
and implement the UNCRPD. Making this effective, they noted, will take cooperation
between civil society and governments, between people with and without disabilities
and between multilateral and national bodies.
As Bryan Dutton commented, “nothing will be gained by people sitting in rooms talking
about ideals. On the other hand, nothing important starts without it.” The conference
delegates can now take the ideals and innovations expressed at the conference to
as wide an international audience as possible. As Mr. Dutton concluded, “Martin Luther
King spoke of the ‘urgency of now’. Let’s take this forward today.”