INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN DISABILITY and RIGHTS

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INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN DISABILITY and RIGHTS

• Putting the Disability Rights Lens onto the
  Policy Agenda
• Marcia Rioux
• mrioux_at_yorku.ca

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HISTORY NOT FORGOTTEN

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SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL
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HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES

• Equality
• Self determination/autonomy
• Inclusion
• Interdependence/Solidarity
• Dignity
• Justice
• Non-discrimination

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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.

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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.

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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
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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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2003 SECOND MEETING

• 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

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NGOs 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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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

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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

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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  
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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?

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MONITORING OPTIONS

• Rolls Royce Traditional Model
• International Ombudsmen
• National Institutions (eg. H.Rts. Commissions or
  govt focal points)
• Existing Regional Institutions

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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.