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Report on the Visit to Guatemala by The United Nations Special Rapporteur
on Disability Introduction | Meetings | Summary discussions | Field Visits>> | Conclusion>> October 2004 The visit encompassed meetings with government officials, both the Executive and Legislative branches, including the Vice President of the Republic Mr. Eduardo Stein Barillas, the President of the Congress, Dr. Rolando Morales Cháves, as well as the Minister of Health, Eng. Marco Tulio Sosa Ramerez and the Deputy Minister of Labour, Mr. Cesar Guillermo Castillo Reyes. The Special Rapporteur held a lunch meeting hosted by the First Lady of Guatemala Madam Wendy de Berger, where she met the heads of the State Organizations presided over by Madam de Berger. She also met with city officials and municipality managers, engineers and designers to discuss accessibility issues in view of the renovations being planned to the historical downtown area in Zone 1. A meeting with the Human Rights Ombudsman, Dr. Sergio Fernando Morales Alvarado, where the invitation to the Special Rapporteur was first issued, provided insights into human rights issues and the rights of persons with disabilities. The visit also included a meeting with representatives of United Nations agencies in Guatemala, including the Human Rights Commission which took care of arranging the programme of meetings and visits as well as all transportation requirements. (Programme attached). Additionally, the visit included meetings with disabled persons organizations, including the disability council CONADI (Consejo Nacional para la Atención de las personas con Discapacidad)an umbrella organization, that acts as an advisory and coordinating body on all matters of disabilities. Field visits to indigenous communities, ex-combatant communes, children’s hospital and psychiatric hospitals were included in keeping with the Special Rapporteur’s priority areas of focus: children, women, psycho-social disabilities and the link between poverty and disability. Introduction The purpose of the country visits is to:
Building on the relationship established with the Center for International Rehabilitation in connection with the International Disability Rights Monitor research project and the launch of the publication by the same name, a visit to Mexico was planned at which the Special Rapporteur would meet with researchers from 32 Latin American countries who participated in the project. Taking advantage of her presence in that part of the world, and in response to the request by disabled persons organizations from both Guatemala and Nicaragua, as well as an official invitation from the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman and the Government of Guatemala through its Mission to the United Nations in New York, the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability, Sheikha Hissa Al Thani, scheduled a three week visit to cover Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico starting on October 7, 2004. Unfortunately, official documentation did not arrive in time to process visa applications for Nicaragua and that leg of the visit had to be cancelled. However, researchers and DPOs from Nicaragua were present at the Mexico meeting and valuable information was gathered on the situation of persons with disabilities in that country. The Meetings This understanding was perhaps enhanced by the presence of Mr. Frank La Rue, Human Rights Commissioner in the Office of the Vice President, who is himself visually impaired, and who has had a long history of human rights activism on behalf of persons with disabilities. Mr. La Rue made himself available to the Special Rapporteur throughout her visit and accompanied her to some of her meetings. Additionally, the lawyer, human rights, disability and feminist activist Ms. Silvia Quan, from the Office of the Ombudsman accompanied the Special Rapporteur in all her meetings and field visits and provided the necessary guidance and background information whenever needed. The Vice President explained that Guatemala is trying to set its development priorities after a civil war that lasted more than 30 years, and that most of these issues are directly linked to human rights. He agreed with the need to put disability issues on the country’s human rights agenda and to not have them as secondary issues to be dealt with when other matters had been settled. He also agreed with the need to raise awareness publicly through the media and that the members media themselves also needed to have their awareness raised. The President of the Congress, Dr. Rolando Morales Cháves, stressed the need for institutionalizing human rights issues in order to make them part of the culture. However, he admitted that there is little understanding at the state level for the need to legislate issues of disability rights and to activate existing legislation. He admitted that for many in Congress disability was not a priority. A law on disability as it relates to labour, accessibility, disabled persons organizations had been enacted in 1996, however it had never been enforced. Additionally, the law was in need of serious amendment, for although it had allowed for the creation of CONADI, it had not made provisions for funding or even a budget to support the organization. The meeting with the Deputy Minister of Labour, Mr. Cesar Guillermo Castillo Reyes, took place at the Ministry of Labour which is an accessible building unlike most buildings in Guatemala City. Mr. Reyes explained that the Ministry aims at full participation of persons with disabilities in the workforce and that they try as much as possible to place persons with disabilities in positions suitable to their skills and qualifications. However, no quotas are enforced and employers are not forced to hire persons with disabilities. What complicates matters more is the lack of accessibility in all its forms in most public and private sector buildings. The Ministry offers training for persons with disabilities in cooperation with the ILO and the Spanish International Development Agency, particularly for micro-enterprise programmes in rural areas. These programmes have been implemented in 19 out of 22 provinces and have been very successful. However, there has not been the same degree of success in the urban areas or with government and private sector employment. No reasons for this were given. The Government adopts the 10% figure, while CONADI puts it at 12%. Neither is based on accurate statistical information or data. CONADI has been working with the Ministry of Labour to amend the labour laws which make no mention of persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Labour, as with all other ministries, government departments and officials met with in Guatemala, have adopted the WHO figure of 10% as the number of persons with disabilities in Guatemala, whereas CONADI puts the figure at 12%. It is noteworthy, however, that neither figure is based on accurate statistical information or scientific data. At the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, Dr. Sergion Fernando Morales Alvarado, the Special Rapporteur was able to get a more realistic picture of the situation of persons with disabilities in Guatemala and the difficulties they face due to the lack government resources to deal with their problems. The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman is an autonomous organization that investigates human rights violations, makes recommendations, send certificates to the attorney general regarding threats, violations, unconstitutional dealings. One of main issues that the Office of the Ombudsman has been dealing with in terms of persons with disabilities is their mistreatment and abandonment. The Office collects data from 32 auxiliary offices across the country and 50 municipalities through which they try to influence public policy on all human rights matters. The problem they face is that they are a moral authority and have no real power to make changes, only to make recommendations. However, they are sometimes able to take direct action through a Special Victims Service. It is through this service that they were able to “identify and rescue 50,000 abandoned persons with disabilities in the last two years.” Abandonment, especially of children with disabilities is a common problem in Guatemala. Many are abandoned for economic reason. In the absence of government financial support for families and persons with disabilities they become a burden on the families, and because work and educational opportunities are not available for persons with disabilities they are unable to contribute to the family, and end up being abandoned in the streets. Dr. Alvarado pointed out that in indigenous communities the situation is better because it is part of the culture for the community to take care of its people. He also pointed out that many disabilities have occurred as a result of the protracted armed conflict that swept the country for over 30 years and that these people suffer a great deal of discrimination due to their involvement in the armed conflict on one side or the other. He confirmed that statistics and data are not reliable. A study conducted by the NSI (National Statistics Institute) the year before (2003) revealed that one in three families responded that they had a person with a disability in the family. However, there is no definition of disability and the motive for the revelation was questionable. There is also a need to raise the awareness of persons with disabilities themselves regarding their own rights. Dr. Alvarado, HR Ombudsman Again, with all the other meetings conducted in Guatemala, the need for awareness raising at all levels, both publicly and institutionally, was stressed. Dr. Alvarado added another dimension of awareness raising which he is most concerned with and that is raising the awareness of persons with disabilities themselves of their rights and helping them understand both the violations that are committed against them and the mechanisms of dealing with them. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Guatemala City were unavailable to meet with the Special Rapporteur although the meeting had been scheduled before her arrival in Guatemala. The Special Rapporteur met with the City Manager and a group of architects, designers and engineers working on the renovation of the historical downtown area of Guatemala City (Zone 1). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss accessibility in light of the impending renovation and the construction of a new TransMetro transportation system. A discussion of accessibility as expressed in the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities of for Persons with Disabilities ensued and the Special Rapporteur explained the importance of an accessible environment to the full participation, independence and self-reliance for persons with disabilities. The Special Rapporteur pointed out the great opportunity in front of the City of Guatemala to create a city for all, and spoke about the concept of “what’s good for us is good for everyone” giving examples of how non-disabled persons would benefit from the accessibility accommodations as well. Asked for advice on accessibility for persons with disabilities, the Special Rapporteur referred the City Mayor to the representatives of the disability groups who had accompanied her to the meeting and suggested that they were the true experts on these issues and that it is their opinion and their guidance that the City should be seeking. A pledge was made to coordinate with disability groups in Guatemala and hold monthly meetings with them as the renovation project progressed. A clear indication that disability was not among the priorities on the government’s development agenda came through the meeting with the Minister for Health, Engineer Marco Tulio Sosa Ramirez. It was also clear that this was not due to the lack of caring, but rather a lack of awareness, partly due to the overwhelming needs in the country at every level after 30 years of armed conflict and communal violence. It was also due to a lack of clarity that disability is often caused and always exacerbated by social development conditions to be dealt with and is not a separate one issue. The Minister of Health indicated that the ministry’s priorities are:
and only after those comes disability. There was a lack of understanding that good health and nutritional practices are also important for persons and children with disabilities. The Special Rapporteur pointed out that the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities implied the achievement of equalizations of opportunities within the community regardless of the resources of the community; and that in the same way that the government or the ministry has a responsibility towards mothers’ and children’s health in a given community it had a responsibility towards persons with disabilities as well. Again the issue of the lack of accurate and reliable statistics on disability came up. According to Ministry of Health information there are 1,640 people who are disabled as a result of the armed conflict that spanned more than 30 years. This figure seemed unrealistic, however, the Minister insisted it was accurate. There are some programmes in disability prevention carried out by the Ministry such as providing women of child bearing age and pregnant women with Folic acid, and some awareness raising campaigns on nutrition for children and pregnant women. On the issue of mental health and services for persons with psycho-social disabilities, the Minister and ministry officials said that there is only one hospital in Guatemala to deal with such issues and that it is at best ill-equipped and has few trained personnel. However, the government was seeking help from Cuba and has requested Cuban doctors to train their personnel. Equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities implies achieving equalization within the community regardless of the resources of the community A better picture of the fallout from the armed conflict emerged at the meeting with the Director of the Peace Secretariat, Mr. Eduardo Aguirre. Representatives from ten organizations dealing with physical and psycho-social disabilities resulting from the war were present at the meeting. The majority belong to or are affiliated with church groups. It was revealed through an introductory presentation that the general population suffers from fear and anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, generalized distrust, loss of identity, generalized violence, anger and aggression, guilt, sleep disorders, household and familial violence, fragmentation, instability. The effects of the war on society were summed in family break up, an abundance of widows and orphans, extreme poverty, illiteracy, displacement and migration. The years of conflict have also weakened the State to almost powerlessness, which made it unable to meet even the most basic needs of the population, and resulted in an almost complete absence of public policies. This caused a great deal of reliance on charity and church-run organizations to provide services. Estimates put the number of dead and missing during the war at 200,000 and 400,000 respectively, however there are no statistics on those who have become disabled as a result, and the figure of 1,640 was rejected outright. The objective of the groups at the meeting was to facilitate the reintegration of persons with disabilities into society. However, this only applied to persons who had suffered disabilities due to the armed conflict. The Secretariat itself works on awareness raising programmes dealing with reconciliation and forgiveness and was now working with the Ministry of Health to extend the services to those persons born with disabilities or who became disabled as a result of accidents or the violent crimes that are prevalent on the streets. They are also trying to move away from the purely medical rehabilitation services to general rehabilitation aimed at full integration. At the Ministry of Eudcation, the Minister was not available to meet with the Special Rapporteur due to an unscheduled engagement. However she dropped by towards the end of the Special Rapporteur’s meeting with Ms. Hermenia Rayes de Muralles, Director of Quality Education Development and the Special Education Integration Programme. The Standard Rules, the right to education for children with disabilities and the philosophy and importance of integration, as well as the need to provide an accessible learning environment and accessible methods of learning were very much present at the Ministry. This was clear from the programme documentation that the Special Rapporteur went through with the Director, the posters and slogans on the walls and the presentation that was given. As in other ministries, there are no statistics or even approximate numbers of children with disabilities or even children with special learning needs. This year (2004) was the first time that Ministry requests from the National Statistics Institute a breakdown of the numbers of children and the types of disabilities country wide. However, those were not available for the current school year that had just started (October 2004). Officials at the Ministry are very aware of the needs and shortcomings as well as immediate and long-term action to be taken in order to accommodate students with disabilities. The problem they are faced with remains, as in every other area of concern visited by the Special Rapporteur, the lack of resources. In addition to teacher training to deal with children with disabilities in their classrooms, officials indicated a great need to raise teachers’ awareness about the importance of educational integration for students with disabilities and change teacher attitudes towards having a child with disabilities in their classroom. In order to be able serve children with special learning needs and developmental disabilities, there is a need to train teachers in early recognition and in intervention methods. At present there are only 6 model school in which integration is being practiced successfully and those are only for deaf children and children with mild to medium learning disabilities, and only for grades 7 to 9. There is also an attempt to concentrate on teacher attitudes in early grades starting with kindergarten with the aim of covering 340 teachers in the next two years. Some teacher sensitization programmes have already started, and officials said that much of the success depends on teachers’ attitudes. These programmes are being jointly implemented with the Kennedy Foundation. CONADI (National Disability Council) & Member DPOs All said that discrimination, racism, prejudice, intolerance remain part of their lives and issues they have to deal with on an almost daily basis. Main points brought out by the representatives:
The Special Rapporteur promised to transmit these recommendations on behalf of the organizations. There are no statistics or even approximate numbers of children with disabilities or even children with special learning needs. Introduction | Meetings | Summary discussions | Field Visits>> | Conclusion>>
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