Rioux, Marcia. 2001-01. "Let the World Know
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
“Let the World Know” Report of a Seminar on Human Rights and Disability Held at Almåsa Conference Centre, Stockholm, Sweden November 5-9, 2000 Edited by Marcia Rioux Published by the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability e-mail: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................... 4 I INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 6 II BACKGROUND TO THE SEMINAR......................................................................... 7 III TIMING OF THE SEMINAR: AN OPPORTUNE MOMENT.............................. 9 IV PURPOSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR: FROM RHETORIC TO REALITY.............................................................................................................................. 10 V ORGANIZATION OF THE SEMINAR..................................................................... 10 VI GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAINSTREAMING THE HUMAN RIGHT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ............................................................................ 12 VII DEVELOPING AN OVERALL STRUCTURE FOR REPORTING VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ................................................................................................................................................. 14 VIII UNDERSTANDING WHAT AMOUNTS TO AN INFRINGEMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ............................................................................................................... 15 IX BUILDING A SYSTEM FOR DEALING WITH INFRINGEMENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ............................................................................................................... 16 X MAKING IT WORK: DEVELOPING INSTRUMENTS FOR DOCUMENTING INFRINGEMENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS: THE FIVE WORKING GROUPS REPORT............................................................................................................................... 20 A. DOCUMENTING INDIVIDUAL CASES ......................................................................................................... 21 1. The Context of Reporting Individual Cases of Infringement of Human Rights........................... 21 2. Structures for Effective Reporting: The Role of a Human Rights Specialist.................................... 21 3. Procedural Issues ................................................................................................................................. 22 4. Types of information that need to be collected and recorded............................................................. 23 B. DOCUMENTING LEGAL CASES/JURISPRUDENCE ...................................................................................... 25 1. The Context of Documenting Legal Cases Related to Disability and Human Rights ...................... 25 2. Structures/Authority for Effective Reporting: A Global Database on the Internet .......................... 25 3. Procedural Issues ............................................................................................................................ 26 2 4. Information to be Collected and Recorded......................................................................................... 27 C. DOCUMENTING THE MEDIA ...................................................................................................................... 28 1. The context of documenting human rights infringements by and in the media ................................ 28 2. Structure for effective reporting: A Disability Rights Media Watch (DRMW) ................................ 29 3. Procedural Issues: Optional Mechanisms .......................................................................................... 29 4. Information to be Collected and Recorded......................................................................................... 30 D. DOCUMENTING LEGISLATION ................................................................................................................... 32 1. The context of documenting human rights infringements in legislation ........................................... 32 2. Structures for Effective Reporting: Options ....................................................................................... 33 3. Procedural Issues ................................................................................................................................. 33 4. Information to be collected and recorded ............................................................................................ 34 E. DOCUMENTING PROGRAMMES, SERVICES AND PRACTICES .................................................................... 37 1. The context of documenting human rights infringements in the adoption and implementation of programmes, services and practices ........................................................................................................ 37 2. Structures for Effective Reporting: The Role of a Comprehensive, Multi-dimensional Reporting Manual........................................................................................................................................................ 38 3. Procedural Issues .................................................................................................................................. 38 4. Information to be collected and recorded: prototype of a manual .................................................... 39 XII CONCLUDING REMARKS: FROM LITTLE ACORNS GREAT OAKS GROW................................................................................................................................... 45 ANNEXES Annex A A. List of Participants (including observers, secretaries etc)………………………….. 48 Annex B B. Seven pre-conference papers were prepared for the Seminar. They are attached. Pre-paper 1: The Seminar: background, purpose and organization (Marcia Rioux) ……….…………………………………………………………….. 53 Pre-paper 2: Recording human rights abuses against persons with disabilities: practical issues revealed by the Disability Awareness in Action Human Rights Project (Richard Light) ……………………………………………………………...59 Pre-paper 3: Bioethics and disability (Rachel Hurst) …………………….……….. 65 Pre-paper 4: International human rights protections for institutionalised persons with disabilities: an agenda for international action (Eric Rosenthal) …….……… 68 Pre-paper 5: Disability rights and human rights: plunging into the ‘mainstream’?(Andrew Byrnes) …………………………...………………………. 84 Pre-paper 6: Promotion and enforcement of the rights of persons with disabilities: a South African perspective – some ideas on the process of getting the violations (Jerry Nkeli)...………………………………………………………….…………….97 Pre-paper 7: Preliminary ideas and procedures for ensuring systematic international collection of information (Anuradha Mohit and S. K. Rungta) ……..106 3 Preface and Acknowledgements This report presents the outcome of an international seminar on human rights and disability, held 5-9 November 2000, at Almåsa Conference Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. The purpose of the seminar was to draft guidelines for more effective identification and reporting of violations and abuse of the human rights of persons with disabilities. The seminar was funded by the International Disability Foundation and co-funded by Olof Palme International Centre and Swedish Committee for Rehabilitation. The office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability organised the seminar and the Special Rapporteur chaired the meeting. Six major international disability organisations were represented. In addition, 20 experts in disability and/or hurman rights were individually selected. Dr. Marcia Rioux, Canada, accepted to serve as the rapporteur of the meeting and has compiled this report. The main outcome of the seminar is a number of guidelines to establish a structure and to develop competence for collecting data and for reporting human rights violations and abuse against persons with disabilities to the UN human rights system. These guidelines concern national governments, the UN system in the human rights area and both national and international disability organisations. I am convinced that the implementation of these proposals means the creation of an effective system for exsposure of existing infringements of the human rights and persons with disabilities. A short version of the report has been distributed to media and is available at the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability. I want to thank the funders, the seminar rapporteur, the participants and all other involved for their active contribution to the strengthening of human rights protection in the disability field, which will be possible through the seminar. I sincerely hope that all concerned will consider these recommendations for implementation. Stockholm, January 2001 Bengt Lindqvist UN Special Rapporteur on Disability 4 “LET THE WORLD KNOW”, REPORT OF A SEMINAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISABILITY HELD AT ALMÅSA, SWEDEN NOVEMBER 5-9, 2000 This seminar is a vital step towards the full recognition and realization of the human rights of all persons with disabilities… We know that persons with disabilities frequently live in deplorable conditions, and face physical and social barriers, which prevent their integration and full participation in the community. As a result, millions of adults and children throughout the world are segregated, deprived of virtually all their rights, and sometimes lead wretched and marginalized