Disabled people's organisations across the world are calling for aid and development agencies to demonstrate a commitment to "Nothing About Us Without Us" and to start working with us to support rights and empowerment work that is relevant to what we want. Aid and Development 'professionals must stop seeing disabled people as helpless receivers of charitable aid.
The following Manifesto sets out how aid agencies need to change their practices so that disabled people can shape their own destinies and can build sustainable futures for ourselves.
Click here to look at the "Equalise It" Manifesto and contact DAA if you want your organisation to become a signatory to this groundbreaking document
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The disabled are becoming increasingly marginalised, with the state and civil society neglecting their basic needs, says The forgotten tribe, people with disabilities in Zimbabwe, a new report.
Data for the report, recently published by Progressio, an international development agency, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped, was provided by a 2006 survey based on interviews with experts on disability, and disabled people themselves.
The report noted that disabled people generally did not receive appropriate levels of healthcare, education or rights protection, and concluded that much needed to be done to reduce discrimination against, and increase opportunities for, those with disabilities.
Discrimination and stigma by the public, and even family members, exposed disabled people to higher risks of sexual abuse and HIV infection.
"People with disabilities are more likely to be victims of sexual abuse and rape than their non-disabled counterparts: it came out clearly that the vulnerability of people with disabilities is high, mainly due to the prevailing economic situation, cultural beliefs, and the general abuse of people with disabilities by family members, relatives and other sexual predators," the report said.
Increased vulnerability was rooted in the belief that the disabled were not sexually active and therefore less vulnerable to HIV. But the opposite was true: "myths on curing HIV and AIDS, which proclaim that HIV-positive individuals can rid themselves of the virus by having sex with virgins, have contributed to a significant rise in the rape of children and adults with disabilities."
Stigmatisation of the disabled was highlighted by the lack of HIV/AIDS information available to them. "Most counselling and testing centres are unable to deal with people with disabilities," according to the report.
"For instance, people with visual impairments have never seen a condom, but they need to learn how to use them; they say they can use them as long as they are taught and provided with information in appropriate formats."
The authors pointed out that "No known research in Zimbabwe has managed to determine the number of people with disabilities in the country who are infected by HIV and AIDS. However, evidence suggests substantial rates of HIV infection, disease and deaths among people with disabilities."
Zimbabwe's HIV prevalence dropped from 24.6 percent in 2003 to 20.1 percent in 2005. Nonetheless, it remains one of the countries with the highest rates in the world.
"What we need are specially designed approaches focusing on people with disabilities, and in consultation with people with disabilities," Alexander Phiri, the director-general of the Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled, told IRIN.
"There is a lot of illiteracy among people with disabilities, and when almost all information is written down, how do you expect people with disabilities to understand information on HIV and AIDS?" Phiri said.
"Radio may be effective in rural areas, but what plans are there for the deaf to access such information? How, for example, do you design a programme for people with no hands to use condoms? That is why we are calling for inclusion in all these policy formulations."
The laws and policies that could potentially benefit people with disabilities are in place, "however, the policies are only guiding visions, without implementation guidelines and structures. Existing legislation and policies that pertain to people with disabilities remain mere unenforceable tools," the report noted.
Zimbabwe's 1992 Disabled Persons Act (DPA) does not make provision for positive discrimination or affirmative action for disabled persons in the job market. In a country burdened with an 80 percent unemployment rate and economic meltdown, employment prospects for disabled people are particularly grim.
Poor access to education was seen as an underlying cause: "The high rate of unemployment among people with disabilities in Zimbabwe is due mainly to their lack of educational qualifications and discrimination from the employers. As has been established, many people with disabilities are denied the right to attend school," the authors commented.
"Existing special-needs education staff have low levels of professional knowledge and skills, and there are no additional capacity building courses - most people with hearing impairments are unable to receive education beyond grade seven," the report said.
"A majority of teachers that are available to teach the deaf are primary school teachers, with very few at secondary and tertiary levels."
embargoed 30/03/07
. March 30, 2007 will become an historic day for disabled people around the world as governments gather in New York to sign a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. At last there is international recognition that disabled people are fully human, with the same rights and freedoms as everyone else. At last governments are understanding that they have to include us in their human rights agendas and culture. At last we can raise our heads with pride as the world confirms that we are people too.
The new Convention recognises that disability is caused by the negative attitudes and barriers within society - not our impairments - and ensures that disabled people are protected from discrimination, that our capacity and right to self-determination is properly supported with reasonable accommodations and that systems and services are provided to give us independent living and inclusion in mainstream life, including education and development - this latter crucially important if we are to achieve the eradication of poverty. Disabled people are at the bottom of the poverty heap and yet have no special mention in the Millennium Development Goals.
Above all, the Convention puts a duty on governments to support the development of and include the voice of disabled people in all policies and programmes. Building this voice is crucial to our empowerment. Without it the present power of those in the 'disability industry' - large NGOs whose business is providing services for us, generally without us - will continue. Our dignity and freedoms will remain undermined.
It was the testimonies of hundreds of disabled people and the evidence from DAA's database of violations, that showed to the governments who met at the first Ad Hoc committee to elaborate the convention, the extent of the inhuman treatment endured by disabled people. Our voice mattered then. It matters even more now - as we work to make sure that our governments ratify and implement the Convention they will sign.
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Delegations, Civil Society Hail First Human Rights Treaty of Twenty-First Century
The General Assembly adopted the first new human rights treaty of the twenty-first century today, marking the culmination of nearly two decades of work on protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities and a major shift in the way the world treats its 650 million disabled people.
Adopted alongside an optional protocol (document A/AC.265.2006/L.7 and Corr.1), the final version of the historic Convention on Protecting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had been agreed upon last week following protracted negotiations involving the Arab Group and the European Union over the term “legal capacity”. A footnote in the Arabic-, Chinese- and Russian-language translations defined the term as the “legal capacity for rights” rather than the “legal capacity to act”. The Ad Hoc Committee decided, without a vote, to delete that footnote, thereby clearing the final hurdle.
In opening remarks today, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa ( Bahrain), President of the General Assembly, said all Member States had now committed to promoting and protecting the human rights, freedoms and dignity of all persons with disabilities. The Convention was an “opportunity to reaffirm the universal commitment to the rights and dignity of all people without discrimination” that could likewise provide the much-needed impetus for wider cultural changes in the world’s perception of disabled people.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a message delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, said today was the dawn of a new era for people with disabilities, who, for far too long, had been relegated to the margins of society and denied the rights that others took for granted. The Convention was the most rapidly elaborated instrument ever, accomplished in just three years because of the dedication of its supporters, including a large segment of civil society who had lobbied heavily both in person and over the Internet, including with Governments. “Nothing will change overnight but change comes more rapidly with law behind it,” he added.
Don MacKay ( New Zealand), Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, said that, theoretically there was no need for a new Convention as existing human rights instruments already applied to persons with disabilities in the same way they applied to everyone else. Unfortunately, however, that was not the reality. The Convention was a “benchmark for future standards and action”. The key would be effective implementation, which required coordinated action by disability organizations, cooperation among States and the mainstreaming of disabilities issues into development assistance programmes.
Several delegates echoed the need for effective implementation, with Israel’s representative saying that, once celebrations had ended, the Convention would be judged solely on the basis of its implementation. Chile’s representative noted the need for legislative changes, adding that Governments would have to make arrangements for requirements related to the physical environment. “Legislation will also be required to ensure equal and non-discriminatory treatment, even when the discrimination comes from a protective approach,” he added.
Delegates expressed appreciation for the monitoring mechanism put in place to ensure the promotion and protection of disabled persons’ rights, with Mexico’s representatives, noting that it was “on the level of other such mechanisms”. Canada’s delegate said the rights of persons with disabilities would be best ensured through a linking of the existing treaty bodies via a system of experts.
However, several representatives, including some from the African and Latin American and Caribbean regions expressed concern that the Convention should not include new rights and stressed that references within the draft must apply within the general national laws and legislation.
At the same time, all delegations agreed that the Convention’s adoption ushered in an important paradigm shift towards recognizing disabled persons as rights holders and active members of society rather than objects of charity.
Under the Convention, States parties would guarantee that persons with disabilities enjoyed their inherent right to life on an equal basis with others (article 10). They would ensure the equal rights and advancement of women and girls with disabilities (article 6) and protect children with disabilities (article 7). Children with disabilities would have equal rights, would not be separated from their parents against their will, except in their best interests, and would in no case be separated from their parents on the basis of a disability of either the child or the parents (article 23).
States parties would ensure the equal right to own and inherit property, to control financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, credit and mortgages (article 12). They would ensure access to justice on an equal basis with others (article 13), make sure that persons with disabilities enjoyed the right to liberty and security, and were not deprived of their liberty, unlawfully or arbitrarily (article 14).
According to the Convention, countries must guarantee freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and prohibit medical or scientific experiments without the consent of the person concerned (article 15); and protect the physical and mental integrity of persons with disabilities. In case of abuse, States would promote the physical and psychological recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration of the victim and investigate the abuse (article 16).
By other provisions of the treaty, persons with disabilities would not be subjected to arbitrary or illegal interference with their privacy, family, home, correspondence or communication. The privacy of their personal, health and rehabilitation information was to be protected on an equal basis with others (article 22).
On the fundamental issue of accessibility (article 9), the Convention requires States parties to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers, and ensure that persons with disabilities could access their environment, transportation, public facilities and services, and information and communications.
Countries were required to promote the right to an adequate standard of living and social protection, including public housing, services and assistance for disability-related needs, and assistance with disability-related expenses in case of poverty (article 28).
Also by the Convention, discrimination relating to marriage, family and personal relations would be eliminated. Persons with disabilities would have equal opportunity to experience parenthood, marry and establish a family, decide on the number and spacing of children, have access to reproductive and family planning education and means, and to enjoy equal rights and responsibilities regarding guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children (article 23).
States would ensure equal access to education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning. Under article 25, persons with disabilities had the right to the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. They would receive the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health services as provided other persons and not be subjected to discrimination in the provision of health insurance.
The 18-article Optional Protocol on Communications allows petitioning by individuals and groups to the Ad Hoc Committee, once all national recourse procedures had been exhausted.
Speaking in explanation of position, on behalf of the Arab Group, Iraq’s representative said that his delegation had joined the consensus on the Convention on the basis that, under article 12, on “equal recognition before the law” -- by which States parties would recognize that persons with disabilities enjoyed legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life –- “legal capacity” referred to “the capacity of rights not the capacity to act”, in accordance with the national laws and legislations of those States.
Syria’s representative said her delegation had joined the consensus on the understanding that none of the Convention’s provisions would contradict her country’s religion or culture and that its implementation would take culture and background into account. Syria also understood article 12 to refer to the “capacity to enjoy” rights rather than “capacity to exercise”, as determined by the laws of the State.
Also speaking in explanation of position, the representative of the Marshall Islands said he understood that such language as “guarantees the right to life of disabled persons from the moment of conception, throughout their natural lives…until their natural deaths” and references to “sexual and reproductive health services” did not include abortion, or abortion rights, or create any new rights or obligations that contravened national laws.
The Observer for the Holy See said his delegation interpreted all the terms and phrases regarding family planning services, regulation of fertility and marriage in article 23, as it had done in its statements of interpretation at the Cairo and Beijing International Conferences. In addition, it understood access to reproductive health to be a holistic concept that did not consider abortion or access to abortion as a dimension of the terms within the Convention.
Following the Convention’s adoption, the Assembly heard statements by the representatives of Egypt, Peru, Iran, Honduras, Nicaragua, Libya, United States, Republic of Korea, Finland (on behalf of the European Union), Brazil (on behalf of the Southern Common Market, or MERCOSUR), Croatia (on behalf of the Group of Eastern European States), Costa Rica, South Africa, Chile, Uganda, Argentina, Philippines, Indonesia, Ecuador, Israel, Liechtenstein, Colombia, Canada, Japan, Algeria, El Salvador and San Marino.
In an informal segment, a representative of Rehabilitation International said she was pleased the paradigm for those with disabilities had shifted to include women and children, and that legal capacity had been established. Disability was a global phenomenon and it was expected that Governments would swiftly sign and ratify the Convention and its optional protocol in order to encourage the continuation of the partnerships that had resulted in today’s success.
A representative of World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry also spoke of the important partnerships that had gone into making the Convention possible and facilitating participation in the process, including by removing physical barriers and installing ramps for physical access.
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Releasing the findings of their Hurricane Katrina rapid assessment teams, the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.) announces the formation of a new task force of disability and emergency management leaders.
"To dramatically lessen the system-wide challenges which resulted in terrible individual tragedies, we are forming an independent task force composed of disability and emergency management leaders,” said Michael R. Deland, Chairman and President, National Organization on Disability. “The task force report will be widely disseminated to stakeholders and decision-makers at all levels of government to help form the foundation for a safer America."
In response to the devastation and tragic loss of life caused by Hurricane Katrina, N.O.D. deployed four rapid assessment teams to investigate the status of response and recovery for the special needs populations, which included people with disabilities, the elderly and medically managed individuals. Their goal was to identify and review systemic points of weakness, as well as and opportunities for immediate actionable corrections that will alleviate suffering during emergency response operations. The assessment teams were comprised of nationally recognized disability and emergency management specialists. N.O.D.’s efforts were funded by the U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration.
"I'm delighted that our grant monies were able to fund an essential examination of the special needs of the people with disabilities in disasters,” said John H. Hager, Assistant Secretary of Education, U.S. Office of Education and Rehabilitative Services. “I'm optimistic that this effort will result in improved preparedness measures for people with disabilities." The Special Needs Assessment 4 Katrina (SNAKE) project was an extremely fast operation with the singular goal of identifying systemic points of breakdown and actionable corrections which can alleviate suffering. The project was initiated in the spirit of humanitarian oversight for the benefit of all. This was an extremely time-sensitive operation as the opportunity to capture appropriate data and accounts will dissipate with the closing of several major evacuation shelter operations.
SNAKE gathered data on gaps in response efforts and on long-term recovery needs. It also collected information to support or disprove “stories” that emerged from the disability and senior communities.
In addition to the independent task force, N.O.D.’s immediate calls for action include:
“We need to formulate and implement thoughtful new policies which will help ensure the safety and speed the recovery of people with disabilities in future tragedies,” said Dick Thornburgh, a founding Director of N.O.D. and Governor of Pennsylvania during the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. "I enthusiastically endorse the National Organization on Disability convening a task force of key stakeholders to formulate recommendations for decision-makers at all levels of government.”
1. The Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD) is an organization of national federations of organizations of disabled people from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with its offices in Zimbabwe and Botswana. SAFOD was formed in 1986 and was registered as a non-profit making and non-partisan organization in Zimbabwe in October 1989 and Botswana in October 2004.
Since its formation, SAFOD has coordinated and implemented a number of development programmes designed to address the socio-economic rights of disabled people in Southern Africa.
SAFOD's mission is: "To help society to transform itself into a new society where all people, including disabled people, women and workers, men and children are treated with dignity, respect and on the basis of equality."
2. It is in view of the above that as SAFOD we are appalled and disgusted by the destruction of people's homes and businesses by the Zimbabwean Government in the so-called clean-up campaign "Operation Murambatsvina" (translated as "drive out the rubbish"). The campaign which has been in force for close on to three weeks now has seen thousands of people living in the urban areas of the country being evicted from their homes and market stalls.
During the forced evictions which are being carried out without notice and without court orders, police and other members of the security forces have been using excessive force to either burn or pull down homes and informal market stalls, destroying property, and beating up individuals.
In Harare alone, the capital city of Zimbabwe, an estimated 300 000 families have so far been displaced by the clean-up campaign, and there are police threats that this campaign will spread to other areas beyond the urban centres. Thousands of informal traders were arrested during the crackdown for "not possessing trading licences," and their goods were either destroyed or confiscated. Why on earth should a government do this to its own defenceless law-abiding citizens?
As SAFOD we are particularly concerned with the situation of disabled men and women, and their families, who have been affected by this diabolic operation. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, disabled people represent a significant percentage of any population; they constitute not less than 10% of the population. Being the poorest of the poor, and therefore unemployed, a majority of disabled urban dwellers were living in the type of housing units that were destroyed. For those who were running small businesses such as fruit and vegetable stalls, hair salons, flea markets, etc, also had their businesses destroyed. The forced destruction and/or closure of informal businesses and settlements has obviously worsened the situation of disabled people and their families in the country.
Some of the affected disabled people were women that had been assisted with funding by SAFOD and other local and international agencies to set up their own income generating projects that have now been destroyed. These people no longer have the means to earn a living and are sleeping out in the cold. Their future is bleak and there is no clear solution to their predicament. What is clear is that government itself cannot offer any meaningful solution to this problem as all they have done so far is to either auction or abuse people's property, and to remove some of the affected people to some remote farms they have designated as "Transit Camps."
These farms are not only just bush and crowded but also have no suitable toilets and clean water. At one such farm called Caledonia, for example, people are living in small refugee-type of tents which are not suitable for human habitation. People are living as refugees in their own country, and children of affected families are no longer attending school. One shudders to imagine the situation of HIV and AIDS patients who have been receiving home-based care and were living in the homes that have been demolished by the Government.
3. As "Operation Murambatsvina" or "Restore Order" is a nation-wide campaign, there are fears that this exercise will spread fast to outlying areas of the country, including smaller towns and growth points. This, in our view, is a programme that is not in the interest of anybody, whether rich or poor. Whereas the rest of the world is talking about "making poverty history" through the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Zimbabwe Government, through its policies, is promoting impoverishment of its own citizens. Someone somewhere should intervene to stop the on-going activities.
This is an urgent SOS to the SADC, African Union, and the United Nations. We urge you to urge the Zimbabwe Government to immediately stop this operation and assist the affected people, especially disabled people, to get on with their lives and business operations without interference. The international community is being further urged to render any form of support that can help the affected people to start all over again!
We thank you in advance for your support.
Alexander M. Phiri Director General SAFOD
Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled
PO Box 2247
Bulawayo
Zimbawe
E-mail: info@safod.org
www.safod.org
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