RIGHTS-US: Landmark Disability Treaty Wins U.S. Approval

• by Katie Mattern (washington)
• Friday, July 24, 2009
• Inter Press Service

Obama made the announcement at the 19th anniversary celebration of the passage of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) in Washington. Once he signs the treaty it will then go before the U.S. Senate for ratification so it can become a law.

The treaty is the fourth major international treaty signed by the U.S. and the first in this century. Obama plans to sign when he is at U.N. headquarters in New York next week.

Human rights groups across the U.S. and internationally are praising this latest move by Obama to engage in international human rights efforts.

'This is a great day for the rights of people with disabilities and a step forward for the U.S. human rights movement,' said Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Human Rights Programme.

'In signing the CRPD, President Obama will place the U.S. back into a leading role in the promotion and stewardship of human rights at home and abroad,' Dakwar said. 'The United States is far too important a country to remain on the sidelines of such vital work.'

The international group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also praised the move by Obama and expressed support for the treaty, which ensures the complete inclusion of people with disabilities into society.

'This is a real victory for both that goal and for the disability rights advocates who have worked so hard for it,' said Joe Amon, HRW director of the Health and Human Rights Programme.

The CRPD was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2006 and opened for signature on March 30, 2007. Eighty-two countries signed the treaty directly after its opening. Today, 140 countries have signed and 61 have ratified the treaty.

Signatories of the human rights treaty must prohibit any forms of discrimination against persons with disabilities and 'promote accessibility for and work to achieve the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights for persons with disabilities,' according to the ACLU.

There are eight core provisions of the treaty, which includes prevention of discrimination, accessibility, a right to education, right to health participation rights and a right to vote.

The U.S. had previously been one of the few countries not to sign the CRPD, and was the only NATO member not to sign.

In response to questioning of their decision not to sign the treaty in 2004, George W. Bush administration officials wrote that the U.S. would not sign the CRPD because the ADA 'is among the most comprehensive civil rights laws protecting the rights with disabilities in this world.'

'We believe that the most constructive way to proceed is for each country to pursue this goal through action and leadership at home,' they said.

However, the former administration did participate in negotiating sessions for the treaty.

'For nearly a decade, the U.S. has been on the sidelines as new treaties have been developed and existing treaties gained international support,' Amon said. 'By signing the Disabilities Convention, the U.S. is beginning to reassert leadership on international human rights.'

Obama promised throughout his campaign for the presidency that he would sign the CRPD.

'If adopted by the United States, the CRPD would inspire a more vigorous and comprehensive approach within the U.S. to address the myriad injustices still suffered by persons with disabilities,' said James Felakos, a Disability Rights Fellow with the ACLU.

The most recent signatories of the CRPD were Burkina Faso and Haiti, who signed the treaty on Thursday.

With ten percent of people worldwide living with disabilities, the convention applies to the world's largest minority – about 650 million people.

This figure is constantly increasing through population growth and the aging process, says the World Health Organisation (WHO), which makes the U.S. signing of the convention even more important.

Eighty-three states have also signed the Optional Protocol, which allows individuals to petition the new 18-member Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities regarding violations of the convention once all domestic forms of recourse have been exhausted.

Jorge Ballestero, vice chair of the Ad Hoc Committee that spent four years drafting the convention before it was adopted by the General Assembly on Dec. 13, 2006, said the treaty has helped change the way people view disabilities.

'Before this convention, disability was often regarded as a disease or illness, but now we have realised that disability is an interaction between a certain condition and society,' he said. 'Society must help to eliminate disabilities through accessibility, non-discrimination and protecting and enforcing the same rights to everyone.'

The signing of the international human rights treaty by the U.S. has been a long-awaited move by members of the international community to allow the U.S. to take a greater role in promoting human rights globally.

'Nothing could make today's celebration of the ADA – one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation ever passed – more complete than President Obama's announcement that he will sign the Convention,' said Deborah J. Vagins, Legislative Counsel for the ACLU.

'Every one of us in America and around the world deserves equal opportunity, economic independence and full participation in society.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement