2006-12-14
Press release December 13, 2006.
World Federation of the Deafblind
Today the Convention on Human Rights for People with Disabilities has been passed by the General Assembly of the UN.
The BBC World Service flagship human interest programme ‘Outlook’, with more than 42 million listeners around the world, will produce a special broadcast on disability. World Federation of Deafblind (WFDB) President Lex Grandia will participate in this programme to be broadcast on Tuesday January 2, 2007.
WFDB has participated actively in the Drafting Group commissioned to draft the text of the Convention, as well as in the work in the UN AD HOC Committee for the past 4 years.
To tune in and hear the radio programme, check www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
If you cannot receive the program and want to hear it, WFDB will try to send it to you in electronic form on request. Please mail your request to: ann.thestrup@mail.dk
The Convention will now be for ratification and implementation by the 192 member states of the UN. It will enter into force when ratified by 20 countries.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the agreement on the Convention "as an historic achievement for the 650 million people with disabilities around the world."
Filling a gap in international human rights law, the 50-article Convention elaborates in detail the rights of persons with disabilities. It covers, among other things, civil and political rights, accessibility, participation and inclusion, the right to education, health, work and employment as well as social protection. Most importantly, the Convention recognises that a change of attitude in society is necessary if persons with disabilities are to achieve equal status. The text of the Convention is available at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/
Although persons with disabilities are technically endowed with the same rights as everyone else, in practice they are discriminated against in virtually every facet of life including employment, education, health care and the exercise of their legal rights. Yet they contribute to society in countless ways, and could contribute even more if they were fully included in their communities. Countries that ratify the treaty agree to enact laws and other measures to improve disability rights, and also to abolish legislation, customs and practices that discriminate against persons with disabilities.
For more about what the new Convention will mean for deafblind people worldwide please contact the President of World Federation of the Deafblind
Lex Grandia, Snehvidevej 13, 9400 Noerresundby, Denmark
Cell Phone + 45 23 26 91 52 , Phone + 45 98 19 20 99, lex.grandia@mail.dk