UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Lessons to be learned for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Goal of Workshop UNCRC – what was successful and why? UNCRC – what was unsuccessful and why? What are the recommendations for the implementation of the UNCRPD? What is one thing you would change if you could, relating to implementation?

UNCRC – Key Facts Origins: Declaration on the Rights of the Child drafted 1923 by Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children 1979 International year of the child 1989: UNCRC adopted by UN NGO involvement strong, but not DPO 1991: monitoring Committee on the Rights of the Child established

UNCRC - content Covers whole spectrum of rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural First human rights treaty to specifically mention disability, Articles 2 and 23 General principles: Article 3: Best Interests of the Child Article 12: Participation Article 2: Non-discrimination Article 6: Survival and Development

UNCRC: Disabled Children Article 23: good that it drew attention to disabled children, and obligates Committee and States Article 23: bad in that it reinforced disability and medical/health issue Refers to special needs but not basic needs Talks of provisions being subject to available resources Seems to assume special provision rather than inclusion

UNCRC:1997 CRC theme day Shifted agenda from Article 23 to the general principles (Articles 2,3, 6,12.) Creation of Working Group: Rights for Disabled Children. Consisting of DPOs and Child Rights agencies Disabled children’s self advocacy: two disabled young persons from South Africa made the opening address

CRC Disability Day: what then? Analysis of Government reports and feedback to Committee (CRC) Improved scrutiny by CRC Recommendation to draft a General Comment (realised in 2006) Research into violations and good practice by SC Alliance and DAA Increased self-advocacy of disabled children

Publications on Disabled Children’s Rights – good practice and abuses It is Our World Too! A Report on the Lives of Disabled Children Rights for Disabled Children 2001 Disabled Children’s Rights – A Practical Guide. Save the Children Alliance 2001

UNCRC: Issues related to Violations Major gaps in evidence: Disabled children and sexual abuse, child labour, conflict situations, juvenile justice, drug abuse, family reunification. Invisibility: violations not noticed/seen as important or relevant to disabled children Indivisibility of rights: some examples of ‘good practice’ violate other rights Some impairment groups more invisible than others

UNCRC Violations: examples Discrimination (Art 2): Direct: different laws for disabled children. In-direct discrimination; neglect, inaction Absence or non-implementation of policy Multiple discrimination – disabled+refugee – slip between both nets Equal rights does not mean equal treatment. Art 23 should be to enable other rights to be accessed.

Violations: continued Survival and Development (Art 6): belief that disabled children do not have same right to life – kinder to ‘let them die’. Poverty = more threatening to life/development of DC Best Interests (Art 3): different standards for DCs; ‘OK’ to send them away from families, ‘OK’ to subject them to painful treatment Participation (Art 12): DCs not seen as actors in their own lives. Children who need alternative communication methods Discrimination against children with learning disability

UNCRC: Violations summary Neglect, abuse, abandonment and killing tolerated Institutional, parental, professional and peer abuse tolerated Forced segregation, exclusion and marginalisation in education Higher rates of sexual abuse Increased vulnerability in conflict, emergency, refugee situations and in relation to HIV/AIDs

UNCRC: Good practice Disaggregation of data: gender, age and disability Non-discrimination policy and practice Shift from charity/medical to rights based Participation: need for self-advocacy Comprehensive, rights- based programmes

Good Practice (cont) Self-advocacy and listening to disabled children Support, information for families/communities Inclusive education Accessible environments and communication De-institutionalisation Collaboration between DPS and NGOs

Things to change: Article 23: wording and exclusive focus Collaboration between Child Rights NGOs and Disabled Peoples Organisations (all impairments) Disabled Child Self Advocacy Disaggregated data collection Pro-active addressing gaps in information

General Comment 2006 CRC/C/GC/9 Poverty and disability highlighted Serious barriers to full enjoyment of rights not the disability itself but social, cultural, attitudinal and physical barriers Specific recommendations to States to combat discrimination Promotes inclusion into society (16) Highlights importance of allocating resources (22) Highlights violations of right to life

General Comment (cont) Views of the child: highlights involvement in decision making and full participation Civil rights spelt out – birth registration, access to communication technologies, accessible transport Concerns around abuse and institutionalisation Sites Inclusive Education as the ultimate goal

Disabled Children lobbying in New York January 2006 Representatives from Bangladesh, China and UK

Lobbying in the UN, January 2006 I am very happy to raise issues related to the disable children. It is nice for me to say some thing in front of global community. Nazma (Bangladesh