|
President Museveni expected to make Keynote Address
Conference to set a foundation for a Regional Policy and Strategy on PwDs
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 4 February 2010: A regional Conference on persons with disabilities themed Towards a policy and law to address challenges facing persons with disabilities in the EAC region is to be held on 19-20 February 2010 at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, Uganda.
The Conference will bring together a selection of Persons with Disabilities, representatives of people with disabilities, policy makers from the EAC region, Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and officials from the EAC Secretariat.
According to the tentative programme released by the EAC Secretariat, H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of the Republic of Uganda will make the Keynote Address at the official opening to be attended by Hon. David Mwakyusa, Minister for Health and Social Welfare of the United Republic of Tanzania; Hon. Gabriel Opio, Minister of Gender and Social Development of the Republic of Uganda; Mr. Reginald Mengi of the Private Sector from the United Republic of Tanzania; Rt. Hon. Abdirahin Haithar Abdi the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA); and Amb. Juma Mwapachu the Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC).
Ugandan Journalists intending to cover this event are kindly requested to register with Uganda Media Centre on 15 and 16 February 2010. Registration will be limited and to be done during those two days only.
Background Information
The Treaty establishing the East African Community recognizes the importance of addressing and responding to the challenges that confront persons with disabilities. In the Article 120(c), the Treaty clearly spells out that the EAC Partner States shall closely cooperate in the field of social welfare with respect to among others, the development and adoption of a common approach towards disadvantage and marginalized groups, including children, the youth, the elderly and persons with disabilities through rehabilitation and provision of among others, foster houses, health care, education and training. In addition, Article 102(2) also makes reference to collaboration by the Partner Sates in putting in place education and training programmes for people with special needs and other disadvantaged group.
It is noteworthy however, that whilst the Treaty has not been forceful and extensive enough in defining the broad character of what is fundamentally a human rights issue and viewing persons with disabilities as being a right-based issue as opposed to social welfare, the EAC in the last decade of its existence has not come up neither with a policy nor a protocol or law to govern the needs of people with disabilities.
Some effort has been made at the level of the EAC Partner States to enact laws to govern the needs of people with disabilities. Kenya, for example, has in place a Law titled: Persons with Disabilities Act, 2003. However, this Law is yet to come into force though recent reports indicate that some provisions of the Law were to come into effect from 1st January, 2010. The United Republic of Tanzania is also about to table a Bill before its National Assembly to govern persons with disabilities.
Global and Regional Status
Whilst the EAC has lagged behind in promoting a regional policy and law to govern people with disability, both United Nations and the African Union have made significant headway in this direction. It has been recognized internationally and within the African Union framework that persons with disabilities have equal civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights. “People with disability” has also received an extensive definition covering disability by physical, intellectual and sensory impairment, medical conditions and mental illness. These conditions may be either permanent or transitory in nature.
In this context the United Nations General Assembly in 1975 adopted a Declaration which defined the term “disability” and conferred social, economic, civil and political rights on people with disability. In addition, the UN has adopted several Declaration and Conventions which encapsulate disability rights and protection of persons with disabilities against discrimination. The UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities was adopted in May 2008.
At the level of the African Union, the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights provides under Article 18(4) that disabled persons have the right to special measures of protection, and under Article 16(1) the Charter spells out that every individual shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical and mental health.
On 3rd December, 1999 the then OAU declared the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (1999 – 2009). A Continental Plan of Action was drawn up in Addis Ababa in 2002 to serve as a guideline for African Union Member States in the formulation of their programmes on disability issues. The Action Plan outlined 12 objectives which the African states’ government in cooperation with civil society were to implement during the decade. The key objectives are:
1. Formulate and implement national policies, programmes and legislation to promote the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities;
2. Promote the participation of Persons with Disabilities in the process of economic and social development;
3. Promote the self-representation of People with Disabilities in all public decision-making structures;
4. To enhance support services for disabled persons;
5. Promote special measures for children, youth, women and elderly persons with disabilities;
6. Ensure and improve access to rehabilitation, education, training, employments, sports, the cultural and physical environment;
7. To promote and protect disability rights as human rights;
8. To support the development of and strengthen ‘Disabled Persons’ organizations;
9. Mobilize resources.
In 2003, the Secretariat for the Decade of Persons with Disabilities, was established by the South African Government, the African Rehabilitation Institute and a number of continental disability organizations with a mandate of facilitating the AU Continental disability organization with a mandate of facilitating the AU Continental Plan of Action for people with disabilities for the Disability Decade. The mission of the Secretariat was to empower governments, Disability Steering Committees, Disabled Peoples’ Organizations and development institutions to work in partnership to include disability and persons with disabilities into policies and programmes cutting across all sectors of societies in Africa.
It is significant to note that African Ministers responsible for Social Development met in Windhoek on 31st December, 2008 and adopted the Windhoek Declaration, which extended the AU Continental Decade of Persons with Disabilities that calls upon all AU Members States to empower and provide persons with disabilities with equal opportunities, safeguarding their rights and enlisting their participation and mainstreaming them in all development programmes.
The challenges Before the EAC
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank, Persons with Disabilities constitute at least 10%of the global population. In the context of the EAC region, this percentage would translate into at least 12 million persons with disabilities. However, this average percentage could in fact be higher in Africa because of conflict-induced disability. More acutely for Africa, people with disability tend to belong to the poorest strata in society.
It is estimated that on average, less than 2% of People with Disability in Africa enjoy primary school education and that there are no real opportunities for rehabilitation. As a consequence, people with disabilities are invariably marginalized and excluded from both the formal and informal job market. At the same time, women with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to gender based violence.
In this light, the challenge confronting policy and law formulation to promote, protect and safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities needs to be viewed in a broader context beyond a single piece of legislation. The AU was able to appreciate this fact when it adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in African which came into force in November, 2000. The Protocol provides broad protection for women’s human rights including sexual and reproductive rights. Some EAC Partner States notably Tanzania has such a legislation.
Why the EAC Conference
As noted earlier the EAC Treaty is somewhat weak in addressing the challenge facing people with disabilities. On the other hand, national legislations in this area are uneven in their appreciation of the broad nature of the challenge and of the needed recognition of broad-based rights of peoples with disabilities. There is also a real deficit in effective enforcement of laws in place. It is for this reason that the EAC Conference on Persons with Disabilities has been organized with a definitive purpose to determine how best the current provisions of the EAC Treaty can be used as a basis for developing a comprehensive regional policy governing persons with disabilities as well as proposing the adoption of a legally binding protocol or enactment of a regional law.
Outputs of the Conference.
- Set the foundation for the establishment of a representative regional forum to monitor the implementation of the UN Convention by Partner States;
- Propose and make recommendations for the creation of a coordinating office for disability affairs in the EAC structures;
- Set a foundation for a Policy and Strategy for PWDs.
For more information and interview requests, please contact: Owora Richard Othieno, Ag. Head of the Department: +255-784-835021;
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
