UN Special Rapporteur on Disability

Disabled Peoples International 7th World Assembly
Seoul, Korea September 5-7, 2007

Our Rights, Our Convention, But for All:
The Next Step Towards Global Action

I want to start by congratulating DPI on the great success of your 7th World Assembly, held in the year 2007; a landmark year for the disability movement world wide.

In fact, a milestone year for international human rights.

The year of the adoption and signing of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

A Convention that represents the culmination of half a century of struggle on the part of the disability movement.

The year in which the disability movement has succeeded in seizing world recognition of their own rights as persons, of the importance of those rights not only to themselves but for all marginalized groups…

The year in which a new, progressive, inclusive human rights instrument has been added to the annals of the United Nations

This is also the year that marks a new direction in the work of the movement everywhere.

And the “after the Convention-” year.
A year in which we all begin on this as yet uncharted course towards full recognition of the right of persons with disability to the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Before I begin to talk about “the next step forward in global action”, allow me to just take one step back and speak about what this Convention means—not only to persons with disabilities worldwide,
but to all people, to individuals and groups who have yet to have their rights recognized;

People who will probably have to travel the long road that you have traveled in order to gain recognition of their human rights.

What persons with disabilities have achieved through hard work, perseverance, determination and, at times, just plain stubbornness and a refusal to take “no” for an answer, is a lesson to be documented and to be learned.

Persons with disabilities know that what they have gained through this Convention was not offered to them on a silver platter, nor was it granted freely by the international community.

The disability movement made it abundantly clear to the international community that there is no other choice but to sit down and draft a Convention defending,
preserving,
protecting,
enshrining their rights in every aspect as valued,
productive,
contributing members of their societies and communities.

The world today has become aware that rights of persons with disabilities enshrined in this Convention, are not a privilege.

It has been a long and arduous struggle to have these rights recognized. And it was this struggle and the hard fight by disabled individuals in all countries of the world, from all walks of life, from all cultures that has convinced the world that it could no longer stand against the wishes of this magnificent force called the disability movement.

Ambassador Gallegos referred to the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as the first human rights instrument of the 21st century. It has been my privilege as well as one of the most valuable learning experiences of my life to have spent the greater part of this century in the company of the world’s most tenacious and dedicated human rights activists.
And to have witnessed one of the world’s most progressive human rights instruments that has been the result of these efforts.

I would not be saying anything new when I say that the process that has led us to the Convention has been not only a unique one in the history of the United Nations and but a transformational one.

At the risk of repeating what many have pointed out I will say that one of the things that has distinguished this Convention is the intense involvement of the disabled persons organizations in every aspect.

In fact, “involvement” may not be the right word. In some instances during the negotiation process, it seemed to me that disabled persons organizations set the agenda and controlled the process.

More than 400 international,
regional,
national,
local and community organizations were present at every drafting meeting,
through every step of the discussions,
with their input,
with their comments,
with their demands for change,
for recognition,
for their rights.

Despite the travel difficulties, despite the cost, despite the bureaucratic red tape… twice a year, they were there,
ready and present,
vocal and active.

So where do we go from here now that we have the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Apart from the obvious priorities which have to be dealt with such as:

ensuring that all Member States become State Parties to the Convention
ensuring that signature and ratification are not the end of the road and the limit of a government's responsibility
ensuring that once ratification has been achieved, the Articles of the Convention are woven into each country's legislations
ensuring that these legislations are applicable, are effective, have national coverage, and that they apply to the disabled person in the bustling metropolis and the disabled person in the small village a remote mountain region
ensuring that persons with disabilities have a recourse to the law when their rights are violated; and
at the international level one of the main priorities should be strong, effective monitoring mechanisms and a system of review and procedures for redress

At the Office of the Special Rapporteur we are currently in the midst of analyzing the second phase of the results of the Global Survey on Government Actions on the Implementation of the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

One thing we have observed from a preliminary look at the results is that the perception of the governments and that of the organizations of persons with disability vary and diverge considerably.

Although we have no way of knowing precisely why this divergence exists—
is it due to lack of understanding of the needs, lack of political will,
absence of resources,
or inability to prioritize the rights of persons with disabilities on national agendas…
or all of the above combined.

The fact remains that there is a lack of sufficient advocacy and awareness raising of the rights, needs, issues, concerns of persons with disabilities.

Allow me to share with you some of the results obtained from the second phase of analysis of the Global Survey on the implementation of the Standard Rules.

(And I would like this gathering to know that you will be the first in the world to get a peak at those results which will not be published before the end of the year.)

We asked governments and dpos about 324 measures that would need to be implemented if equalization of opportunities were to be achieved in any given society.

Naturally, we have found that there is wide variation in implementation between regions. However, we have also found that the world in general has achieved no more than 50% implementation of all the measures needed to realize equalization for persons with disabilities.

I am certain that no one here would be surprised when I say that the discrepancy we have observed between the responses of the governments and those of the dpos averaged around 70%.

Is there a misunderstanding among governments about what needs to be done in order to achieve equalization?

Is there a lack of awareness of the obstacles and barriers?

Is it about the lack of resources, financial and human?

Or is it a lack of awareness on the part of governments? And if so, is there not a responsibility on the part of disabled persons organizations in this aspect?

I suspect it is all of this combined and more. I also believe that it is the responsibility of all disabled persons organizations in all countries to address those issues:

to raise awareness
to provide guidelines
to instruct their governments
to identify the obstacles and barriers
to address issues of coverage and inclusion

We have found, through this survey, that not only are equalization opportunities inadequate, but where available, they are either not inclusive of all persons with disabilities or not inclusive of all types of disabilities.

For example, we have found, through the Survey, that services are almost non-existent for indigenous persons with disabilities,
for migrants and refugees with disabilities,
for poor persons with disabilities living outside of urban centers;
for women with disabilities who are marginalized and discriminated against as a function of their status in society as women;
and last but by no means least, for persons with psychosocial disabilities

Persons with disabilities are the main stakeholders—and their responsibility extends far wider than the adoption, signature and ratification of a Convention.

There are among the millions of persons with disabilities legal experts, experts on disability, activists with long records, social and human rights advocates… it is now the time for those people, along with the grassroots, to begin raising awareness, offering guidelines, and educating governments and societies as a whole on each and every article of the Convention and how its implementation affects their lives.

We know that having a Convention is not the key to automatic implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities. Nor does it guarantee that those rights will not be violated.

We know that many persons with disabilities may either not have access to the mechanisms that will protect them, or may not even be aware of them; many persons with disabilities and their families may not know that there are mechanisms that will ensure reporting and redressing violations of their rights.

And this brings us to the “where do we go from here” question.

For my part, as Special Rapporteur for the Standard Rules, I believe that it is part of my role, now that there are more than a hundred countries that have become State Parties to the Convention, is carry the Convention along with Standard Rules to every meeting, encounter, event, occasion and to speak on behalf of both as I have done throughout the past four years.

Emphasizing the following points with regard to the Convention:

that the Convention links the rights of persons with disability to the already accepted and adopted political, civil, cultural, social and economic human rights.
That the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities identifies very clearly both the rights-holders and the parties whose duty it is to uphold, protect and promote those rights. Therefore, clearly delineating the responsibilities of governments.
The Convention, like the Standard Rules, aims at empowering people with disabilities and ensuring their full participation. Both the issues of empowerment and participation are a pre-requisite to the implementation of the both the Standard Rules and the Convention.
The underlying principle in both is the empowerment of persons with disabilities to claim their rights and advocate for their needs and their issues. Both the Convention and the Standard Rules requires that persons with disabilities participate fully in the implementation of measures aimed at achieving their rights and the equalization of opportunities.

From now until the end of my mandate, as I monitor the implementation of the Standard Rules—which I believe still apply and will always be a guide for implementation, I will be promoting the Convention at all government encounters—encouraging ratification, the development of National Action Plans for implementation, adoption of legislations, development of programmes.

However, I also believe that the greater responsibility, as it has always been since work started on the Convention, lies with the organization of persons with disabilities.

Advocating, lobbying, persuading, challenging, explaining—at every level and on every front, in order to implement the articles of the Convention.

And I, as always, remain ready to lend any support possible within my capacity.

Once again, congratulations to DPI on a successful assembly, and to us all for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

And finally, I would like to congratulate DPI for the addition of the Arab region to their membership, I am sure that the persons with disabilities in the region will greatly benefit from this association.

Thank you

Hiss Al Thani
Special Rapporteur on Disability