People with disabilities around the world face many forms of discrimination and abuse – some subtle, and some blatant. Attitudes toward people living with disabilities are a main factor impacting landmine survivors' ability to heal, recover and reclaim their lives. An International Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities will ensure all people are able to enjoy the full range of their human rights.
Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities
People living with disabilities, one in ten of the world's population, are among the poorest of the poor and frequently live on the margins of society. Like other specific groups, such as women and children, people living with disabilities require a specific international treaty, such as a UN Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities, that effectively protects and promotes their human rights. Such a treaty is essential to ensuring all people have the tools to live their lives with dignity and enjoy the full range of their human rights. An international Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities should form the central component of this international legal framework.
All people should be able to enjoy their basic human rights – the right to a decent education; the right to vote; the right to due process; the right to participate in the life of the community, whether through eating at a restaurant or attending a movie theater, without the threat of violence or harassment.
The disability movement, both within the United States and internationally, is working to embrace rights already enjoyed and to a large extent secured by non-disabled people.
An Empowering Process
An international human rights convention for people with disabilities will articulate the human rights of people with disabilities and provide mechanisms for monitoring states’ compliance with convention obligations. The process itself can generate a host of additional benefits:
- raising public awareness
- highlighting human rights abuses
- developing the knowledge-base of governmental and non-governmental participants
- offering capacity-building opportunities for disability groups as a result of increased global focus on their issues
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