Human Rights and Disability Advocacy

Foreword

FOREWORD Don MacKay, Chair, Ad Hoc Committee (2005–6) The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006 marked the end of a long journey by civil society. For many years the international disability community had tried to persuade states that a new convention was required to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities. It was an uphill battle, but once states had finally accepted that proposition, we saw the development of a remarkable negotiating partnership between civil society and the member states of the United Nations. As a result of that negotiating partnership, the text of the Convention itself also bears the firm imprint of civil society. As the secretary-general of the United Nations said on the adoption of the Convention, “It was the community of the disabled themselves that worked tirelessly and insistently to promote this Convention, and the United Nations responded. In three short years, the Convention became a landmark several times over: it is the first human rights treaty to be adopted in the twenty-first century; the most rapidly negotiated human rights treaty in the history of international law; and the first to emerge from lobbying conducted extensively through the Internet.” It is therefore appropriate and timely to have this book that focuses on civil society’s involvement in the drafting of the Convention. The two editors of this volume are intimately familiar with the negotiating process and have brought together a group of contributors who were also closely involved and are well placed to write about their respective subject areas. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a comprehensive and detailed document, and civil society bears much of the responsibility for that. In contributing to its negotiation, disabilities organizations xii Don MacKay had in the forefront of their minds the practical problems faced by their constituencies . They wanted to ensure that real world problems were carefully dealt with in the Convention, and that it rose above the mere theoretical. The need for that was clear. The existing generic human rights instruments had fallen far short in their protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities. For the most part this was not due to a deliberate avoidance by states of their obligations. The problem had been in the application of those existing generic rights and obligations with regard to a specific group of people: persons with disabilities. The enjoyment of rights and freedoms by persons with disabilities may require adaptation by states to accommodate the disability in question, but often this has not happened. Often, too, the generic human rights treaties have left gray areas and gaps for their practical implementation with respect to particular groups. The Convention clarifies those gray areas and fills the gaps with regard to persons with disabilities. It is unfortunately true that persons with disabilities have also been subject to marginalization and discrimination, sometimes through the policies of governments, but often by our societies at large. To quote the secretarygeneral again on the Convention’s adoption, “While it focuses on the rights and development of people with disabilities, it also speaks about our societies as a whole—and about the need to enable every person to contribute to the best of their abilities and potential.” During the negotiations, civil society emphasized the need for a “paradigm shift” in the way that governments and societies deal with matters relating to disabilities. Central to the Convention is this “paradigm shift” in the treatment of persons with disabilities, from being objects of the law to being subjects of the law with the same rights as everybody else. Just as the paradigm shift guided us in our negotiations, it will need to guide states in their implementation of the new Convention. Implementation will also require a continuation of the remarkable partnership that developed between governments and civil society. The Convention is quite specific in requiring governments to actively involve disability organizations in the development of policies and action to implement the Convention. Good practice suggests that governments would do this anyway . But governments need to move beyond just the black letter of the law and ensure that this happens in a meaningful way. Policy development will benefit from that, as will our societies overall. Foreword xiii Attitudes need to change in society and in governments. Our world needs to better accommodate diversity, and our societies need to be...