UN celebrates disabilty rights convention – in force on May 3

The UN is celebrating the coming into force of the Convention on theRights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – a landmark agreement thataims to give the world’s 650m disabled people full equality.  Adopted in 2006, and opened for signature in March last year it tookeffect on 3 May a month after the 20th nation ratified it – in thiscase Ecuador.  This is fast, officials say, reflecting the commitmentof some nations to the treaty’s goals, as well as pressure from thedisability lobby.  It is estimated that about 10% of the world’s population liveswith some sort of disability – making disabled people the world’slargest minority.  This figure is likely to increase as a result of medicaladvances and the world’s ageing population, according to the WorldHealth Organisation.  Disabled people experience a number of social, cultural and economic barriers which the convention aims to address.  For example, the World Bank estimates that 20% of the poorest people on the planet have a disability.  Disabled women are said to be “multiply disadvantaged” becausethey experience exclusion on account of their gender and theirimpairment.  In some countries, disabled child mortality is as high as 80% even whenthe general level of mortality for the under fives has dropped below20%.  And almost one in five of less educated people has a disabilitycompared with just over one in 10 of those who are better educated.

The CRPD guarantees disabled people:

• The right to make their own decisions
• The right to say No to being placed in an institution
• The right to say No to medical or psychological treatment
• The right to live in the community
• The removal of barriers to participation in daily life
• Equal opportunities for all

22 nations have ratified the treaty. The US is not among them.

Source:  BBC