Transcript INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN DISABILITY and RIGHTS Putting the Disability Rights

INTERNATIONAL
TRENDS IN DISABILITY
and RIGHTS
Putting the Disability Rights
Lens onto the Policy Agenda
Marcia Rioux
[email protected]
HISTORY NOT
FORGOTTEN
SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL
HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES
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Equality
Self determination/autonomy
Inclusion
Interdependence/Solidarity
Dignity
Justice
Non-discrimination
OMISSION AND COMMISSION
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both
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direct human rights abuses and
failures to remove obstacles to the
exercise of rights
have to be recognized as human
rights violations.
Mary Robinson,
U.N. Human Rights
Commissioner
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“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”.
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
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GENERAL UN HUMAN
RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS
ICESCR
Economic
Rights
Social
Rights
ICCPR
Cultural
Rights
Civil
Rights
Political
Rights
ICESCR GENERAL COMMENT #5
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[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…….
UN STANDARD RULES 1994
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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…….
The Standard Rules
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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”
IMPERATIVES FOR INCLUSION
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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.
DEBATE CIRCUMVENTED
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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.
A Sustainable Human Rights
Framework Recognizes that:
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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
2002 - FIRST MEETING OF AD HOC
COMMITTEE
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A Yes or No
Proposition!
Does the World need
another Human Rights
Convention?
Lets meet again next
year!
Steve Estey
2003 – SECOND MEETING
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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
NGO’s on Working GROUP
12 of 27 members
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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)
GOVERNMENT REPS. ON
WORKING GROUP
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Asia (7)
Africa (7)
Latin-America & Caribbean (5)
West Europe & Other (5)
Eastern Europe (3)
National Human Rights Institutions
(1)
INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY
ALLIANCE
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Formed 1999, Cape Town, South Africa
Members
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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)
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)
2004 – BUILDING MOMENTUM
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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
The Challenge: Deriving a
Consensus from the Trends
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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
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
PREMISES
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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?
MONITORING OPTIONS
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Rolls Royce Traditional Model
International Ombudsmen
National Institutions (eg. H.Rts.
Commissions or gov’t focal points)
Existing Regional Institutions
COMPONENTS OF STRONG
MONITORING
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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.