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INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN DISABILITY and RIGHTS

Explore the history, challenges, and imperatives for disability rights worldwide, urging for equality, inclusion, and justice. Learn about initiatives and the path to an inclusive society.

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INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN DISABILITY and RIGHTS

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  1. INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN DISABILITYandRIGHTS Putting the Disability Rights Lens onto the Policy Agenda Marcia Rioux mrioux@yorku.ca

  2. HISTORY NOT FORGOTTEN

  3. SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL

  4. HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES • Equality • Self determination/autonomy • Inclusion • Interdependence/Solidarity • Dignity • Justice • Non-discrimination

  5. OMISSION AND COMMISSION • both • direct human rights abuses and • failures to remove obstacles to the exercise of rights • have to be recognized as human rights violations.

  6. Mary Robinson, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner • “Disabled persons frequently live in deplorable conditions, owing to the presence of physical and social barriers, which prevent their integration and full participation in the community. Millions of children and adults worldwide are segregated and deprived of their rights and are, in effect, living on the margins. This is unacceptable”.

  7. RIGHTS AS GOALS • Services, supports, programmes, funding allocations must have inclusion built into their designs. • They are not ends in themselves but are MEANS to social & economic integration and legal and social rights

  8. GENERAL UN HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS

  9. ICESCR GENERAL COMMENT #5 • [Discrimination] against persons with disabilities ranges from invidious (e.g. denial of education opportunities) to more “subtle” forms such as segregation and isolation achieved through the imposition of physical and social barriers…….

  10. UN STANDARD RULES 1994 • The principle of equal rights implies that the needs of .. every individual are of equal importance, that hose needs must be made the basis for the planning of societies and that all resources must be employed in such a way as to ensure that every individual has equal opportunity for participation…….

  11. The Standard Rules • States have a responsibility to create the legal bases for measures to achieve the objectives of full participation and equality of persons with disabilities….. States must ensure participation of organizations of persons with disabilities are involved in the development of national legislation … (and) on-going evaluation”

  12. IMPERATIVES FOR INCLUSION • for making the outsider an insider • for judging society's institutions in the name of human rights, citizenship and participation, • for judging whether policies, programs and expenditures are exclusionary in outcome, even if not in intent.

  13. DEBATE CIRCUMVENTED • The debate on social justice and fundamental human rights is reduced to a debate on the level and quality of service for undesirable, marginalized people.

  14. A Sustainable Human Rights Framework Recognizes that: • Disability is a result of social, legal and economic status • A broad set of factors contribute to exclusion and the loss of human rights • Respect for diversity contributes to well-being • People must be supported to exercise their rights • People need a sense of fairness in their communities and societies

  15. 2002 - FIRST MEETING OF AD HOC COMMITTEE • A Yes or No Proposition! • Does the World need another Human Rights Convention? • Lets meet again next year! Steve Estey

  16. Still a Yes or No Proposition! Lets Create a Working Group to come up with a draft – a de facto decision to proceed! Steve Estey 2003 – SECOND MEETING

  17. NGO’s on Working GROUP12 of 27 members • Landmine Survivors Network - Mr. Adnan al Aboudi (Jordan) • Inter-American Institute on Disability - Mr. Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens (Costa Rica) • Disabled Peoples’ International - Mr. Shuaib Chalklen (South Africa) • European Disability Forum - Mr. Yannis Vardakastanis (Greece) • World Federation of the Deafblind - Mr. Lex Grandia (Denmark) • Disabled Peoples’ International - Ms. Venus Ilagan (Philippines) • World Federation of the Deaf - Ms. Liisa Kauppinen (Finland) • Inclusion International - Mr. Robert Martin (New Zealand) [assisted by Klaus Lachwitz from Germany] • World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry - Ms. Tina Minkowitz (USA) • Disability Australia Limited - Ms. Anuradha Mohit (India) • World Blind Union - Ms. Kicki Nordström (Sweden) • Rehabilitation International - Mr. Gerard Quinn (Ireland)

  18. GOVERNMENT REPS. ON WORKING GROUP • Asia (7) • Africa (7) • Latin-America & Caribbean (5) • West Europe & Other (5) • Eastern Europe (3) • National Human Rights Institutions (1)

  19. INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY ALLIANCE • Formed 1999, Cape Town, South Africa • Members • Disabled Persons International (1981) • World Blind Union • World Federation of the Deaf (1951) • World Federation of the Deafblind • World Network of Users & Survivors of Psychiatry • Inclusion International • Rehabilitation International (1922)

  20. FINDING A VOICE 14. Invites human rights treaty monitoring bodies to take into account the concerns of people with disabilities in their lists of issues and concluding observations, to consider drafting general comments and recommendations on the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and to integrate a disability perspective into their monitoring activities UN High Commission on Human Rights Resolution on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities (E/CN.4/2004/L76)

  21. 2004 – BUILDING MOMENTUM • January - Working Group Meets for 2 Weeks – prepares first official draft text • May / June - Ad Hoc Committee # 3 – First reading of draft text by all UN member states • August / September – Ad Hoc Committee # 4 - negotiations continue

  22. The Challenge: Deriving a Consensus from the Trends • To find a consensus that cuts across the diverse interests of people with disabilities. • To entrench judiciable human rights, without binding with a programmatic focus. • To ensure a monitoring mechanism • To maintain a voice in change • To translate global human rights into local benefits

  23. “No one gives us rights. We win them in struggle. They exist in our hearts before they exist on paper. Yet intellectual struggle is one of the most important areas of the battle of rights. It is through concepts that we link our dreams to the acts of daily life”.Albie Sachs, Protecting Human Rights in South Africa (1990

  24. PREMISES • Monitoring or no monitoring process? • Combination reporting? Periodic reporting/ targeted reporting on high priority issues? • Relationship of this committee to other monitoring bodies? to Special Rapporteur? to general UN bodies? • Complaints mechanism? Yes or no • Composition of the committee? • General comments from Committee?

  25. MONITORING OPTIONS • Rolls Royce Traditional Model • International Ombudsmen • National Institutions (eg. H.Rts. Commissions or gov’t focal points) • Existing Regional Institutions

  26. COMPONENTS OF STRONG MONITORING • Knowledge/hard facts • Monitoring not just rights but also processes • Capacity Building • Monitoring has to have built in follow up • No Escape clauses in monitoring.

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