Recommendation on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
We participants at the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the work of the 47th Session of the African Commission on Human Rights,
Recognising that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) world over, and Africa in particular are amongst the poorest of the poor, living lives characterized by countless disadvantages, oppression, deprivation and with almost all their rights being violated every day.
Considering that over 600 million people, or approximately 10% of the world’s population, have a disability of one form or another, while eighty per cent (80%) of PWDs live in developing countries (SADPD1, PWDs updates, 2008) where most African states lie. 90% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school (UNICEF, Disabled Children in mainstream schools, 2003).
Considering that the link between disability and poverty and social exclusion is direct and strong throughout the African continent; many people are disabled by malnutrition, hunger and diseases, environmental hazards, natural disasters, traffic and industrial accidents, civil conflict and war.
Considering that the legal frameworks in the African states to protect the rights of PWDs are still limited, while laws and policies formulated do to include implicitly of issues affecting PWDs, thereby leading to the designing of programs and activities that take little or no consideration to address the poverty situation of PWDs in Africa states.
Considering that many person with disability, especially children are kept at home and restricted from participating in family life, contributing to the exclusion and segregation of persons with disabilities and infringes on their freedoms which is a denial of their most basic rights.
Considering that persons with disabilities are excluded from education and employment in most cases because there are institutional, environmental and attitudinal barriers that limit PWDs from equal access to services and independent living; Considering that the legal and policy frameworks protecting the rights of the PWD are not well known and in many cases not implemented at both the national and international levels;
Hereby recommend that the African Commission:
- Adopts a policy position on sign language and Braille communications to make their work accessible to the deaf and visually impaired;
- Separates the working group on Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities since there are considerable normative and fundamental differences between the two issues;
- Urges African Union member states to ratify, domesticate and implement all international legal and policy human rights instruments, particularly those aimed at alleviating the lives of persons living with disability;
- Put in place a disability friendly African Commission that is accessible to PWDs in terms of sign language, Braille version communication, audio materials, accessible offices and office toilets, among other considerations;
- Consults and involves the DPOs and PWDs in its work, particularly in addressing disability rights;
Further recommend that the Forum on the Participation of NGOs:
- Facilitate the participation of and create access to PWD by also adopting a policy position on sign language and Braille communications;
- Facilitate a panel on PWDs rights in the next NGO Forum, to ensure that information on, rights of, and indeed structural and environmental concerns of PWD are given visibility and thereby create better understanding of the situation.
Done at Banjul, May 10th, 2010
