A NEW DAWN FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY
Come March 30, 2007 at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, history of the century shall be made. That day shall witness signing into law an instrument of the 61st G/A Plenary 76th meeting of the General Assembly [G/A 10554] adopted on December 13, 2006: the first new human rights treaty marking promoting of the rights of persons with disabilities. It’s a paradigm shift on the way the world treats its 650 million disabled persons. In her wisdom the G/A also adopted alongside an optional protocol: the final version of the historic convention on protecting the rights of persons with disabilities agreed upon following protracted negotiations involving the Arab Group and European Union over the term “legal capacity.” The coming Submit shall be attended by Head of Governments of member states or State Representatives not below the rank of a Cabinet Minister/Secretary who has the capacity to participate in the signing ceremony.
Chief Eric Ufom, President, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria in the Diaspora and Member of International Disability Caucus [IDC] assured that arrangements are in top gear for Nigerian Head of State, Retired General Olusegun Obasanjo to attend personally. Chief Ufom further stated that occasion shall also afford an opportunity to recognize people who have helped in various ways in the struggle for promoting the rights of persons with disabilities. These will include members of our community’s abroad, media etc. He applauded, despite their various predicaments members of the International Disability Caucus [IDC] and International Disability Alliance [IDA] through their selfless commitment and consistent negotiations skills put together and defended the instrument UN adopted last December, 2006 and shall sign into law in March 2007. Both IDC and IDA are organizations of people with disabilities and allies around the globe who have toiled a long road to achieved incredibly success; now nominated for Noble Award. Russell Davenport said, “Progress in every age results only from the fact that there are some men and women who refuse to believe that what they knew to be right cannot be done.”
Over the years people with disabilities have been isolated and discriminated against in full and equal inclusion and participation in all social and political aspect of life. In third world countries like Nigeria, people with disabilities are treated with meanness and nonchalance. The Government and law makers incidentally made up of people from the society behave and act no different from them. These citizens are separated all the same with false, misleading images created about them by other people. The mass media and the entertainment industry present distorted news report and totally exaggerated and utterly false portrayal of disabled people as people to be feared, disassociated, a group of dangerous ‘maniac’ and ‘psychos.’ Little wonder the public are scared of disabled persons and tagged the mentally ill “mad people.”
The good news is that people with disabilities have been raising their voices against ill treatments that have caused the world to listen and act. The UN took the bull by the horns when in December 1982, she formulated and adopted the World Programme of Action [WPA] [General Assembly resolution 37/52]. That was the major outcome of the International Year of Disabled Persons. The World Programme of Action [WPA] is a global strategy to enhance disability prevention, rehabilitation and equalization of opportunities, which pertains to full participation of persons with disabilities in social life and national development. The WPA also emphasizes the need to approach disability from a human rights perspective. The central theme ‘equalization of opportunities’ promotes an important underlying principle that issues concerning persons with disabilities should not be treated in isolation but within the context of normal community services.
All that is about to change dramatically. The immediate past Secretary-General of United Nation Kofi Amman in his message to the Sixty-first G/A Plenary 76th meeting heralded the dawn of a new era for people with disability who for far too long had been relegated to the margins of society and denied the rights that others took for granted. The President of the G/A, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa assured that all member states are now committed to promoting and protecting the human rights, freedoms and dignity of all persons with disabilities. The convention was an “opportunity to reaffirm the universal commitment to the rights and dignity of all people without discrimination” that could like wise provide the much-needed impetus for wider cultural change in the world’s perception of disabled people. Don MacKay, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee said that theoretically there was no need for a new Convention as existing human rights instruments already applied to persons with disabilities in the same way they applied to everyone else. Unfortunately, that was not the reality. The key is effective implementation which requires coordinated action by disability organizations, cooperation among states and the mainstreaming of disabilities issues into development assistance programs. Delegates echoed the need for effective implementation; agreed that the convention’s adoption ushered in an important paradigm shift towards recognizing disable persons as rights holders and active members of society rather than objects of charity.
Around the globe, persons with disabilities contribute to the society in enormous ways and could do more if the societies change the discriminative attitudes towards them. The huge achievement in the negotiation process that UN adopted on December 13, 2006, is widely considered a monumental feat on the collective abilities of disabled people. They’re driven by the dreams of the future rather than the history of the past. The collaboration of persons with disabilities worldwide [both within the disability community and with governments, Civil Society and others] through networks and in persons have been key elements for achieving the motto: “Nothing about us without us.” People with disabilities are experts as regards their lives and disabilities; must be consulted on any policies concerning them and have impact on their lives as well as in the drafting of the UN Convention, its implementations and monitoring.
More than 19 million Nigerians with mental and physical disabilities have emerged constituency of consequence that cannot be ignored in democratization process. They are already emerged from the dark shadows of stigma and isolation and now a recognized constituency. Many of them have registered and many shall be registering to vote in the coming election. A Source from Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc reveals that they intend to engage in election monitoring in collaboration with United Nations, International Monitoring Organizations and other Nigerian Civil Society to ensure free and fair elections. They are spurred to go to the polls in mass. They also intend to organize public Debate at National, Senate and State Assembly as well as local Government between incumbents and their challengers. Melvin Evans once said, “ The men who build the future are those who know that greater things are yet to come and they themselves will help to bring them about………” They are the wire, God is the current.
Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill can be reached by email:gkapin53@yahoo.com