Materials : Working Documents : Women and Disabilities Workshop
RecommendationsUN ESCAP Workshop on Women and Disability: Promoting Full Participation
of Women with Disabilities in the Process of Elaboration on an International Convention to
Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
18-22 August 2003, Bangkok, Thailand
13 October 2003, Bangkok, Thailand
Statement of Recommendations
(Adopted by participants on 22 August 2003)
Original located at http://www.worldenable.net/wadbangkok2003/recommendations.htm
We, the participants in the UNESCAP workshop on women and disability
and the promotion of full participation of women with disabilities in the process of
elaborating an international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of
persons with disabilities, having met from 18-22 August 2003 in Bangkok,
Representing governmental and non-governmental organizations, national disability and
human rights institutions, and independent experts, unanimously recognize that,
1. Despite their significant numbers, women and girls with disabilities, especially in
the developing countries, remain hidden and silent, their concerns unknown and their
rights unrecognized;
2. Throughout the region, in urban and rural communities alike, they face triple
discrimination - because of their disabilities, being female and poor;
3. Studies on women with disabilities in rural areas of many countries in the Asian and
Pacific region have found that more than 80 percent of women with disabilities have no
independent means of livelihood, and are thus totally dependant on others for their very
existence;
4. UNICEF has reported that women and children receive less than 20 percent of
rehabilitation services;
5. Disabled women are less likely than men to make use of many other existing social
services, including residential services, due to social, cultural and religious factors;
6. The problems that confront women with disabilities are even more severe in the rural
areas due to lack of information, awareness, education, income, and contact resulting in
extreme isolation and invisibility;
We, further recognize that,
7. CEDAW is a human rights treaty, which seeks to promote de facto equality for women
with men, but lacks a clear disability perspective. As a consequence, the State Parties
inadequately report on instances of discrimination and violations to the rights of girls
and women with disabilities;
8. Article 32 of the Beijing Platform for Action recognizes that certain groups of
women face multiple barriers to their empowerment because of, inter alia, race, age and
disability, but in reality, disability mainstreaming in gender empowerment initiatives
remains unaccomplished;
9. The launch of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons in 1993 gave a
definite boost to the gender issues within the disability movement by adopting additional
targets for gender strengthening of the Decade Agenda;
10. To give further impetus and visibility to the concerns of girls and women with
disabilities, Biwako Millennium Framework, policy guidelines for the Second Asian and
Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, (2003-2012), has identified gender equity as one of
its seven priority areas.
While women the world over are striving for equality with men, women with disabilities
struggle to be recognized first as human beings and secondly as females. Therefore, we the
participants of the workshop on women and disability in the ESCAP region, strongly urge
all actors involved in the treaty elaboration process to ensure,
That the elements of the Convention be so structured and its provisions elaborated in a
manner that girls and women with disabilities enjoy the full range of human rights and
freedom with dignity and without any discrimination,
The new Convention should reaffirm and build on human rights norms laid down in the
existing United Nations human rights treaties, including CEDAW, and treaties adopted by
the specialised agencies and norms in the soft instruments such as Beijing Platform of
Action and Biwako Millenium Framework,
The Treaty should be founded on the principle of non-discrimination and equality; in
particular, it should address the compound effect of discrimination on grounds of gender
and disability,
It is further recommended that the preamble to the new Convention should inter alia
stress the impact of dual disadvantage and multiple discriminations caused by the
intersection of gender and disability,
The convention should primarily contain rights that are enforceable, and should
incorporate measures for equal and effective enjoyment of rights by women and men, girls
and boys with disabilities,
The definition of equality should recognize that equality of opportunity and of outcome
requires that any relevant restrictions or limitations caused directly or indirectly by a
disability, or the intersection of disability with gender, poverty, race, caste and class
should be remedied by appropriate modifications, adjustments or assistance and requires
affirmative action, reasonable accommodation or special measures,
The term "access" is not an act or state, but a liberty to enter, to
approach, to communicate with, to pass to or from, or make use of physical, environmental
and societal structures, systems and processes regardless of type and degree of
disability, gender or age.
State parties should have an obligation to implement various provisions of the treaty
ensuring equal protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls with
disabilities. In pursuance of this objective, gender sensitive measures must be
consistently deployed.
State Parties have an obligation to provide support for other stakeholders, including
care-givers and families of persons with disabilities.
Existing human rights bodies and mechanisms are urged to intensify their efforts to
address issues of disability; particularly the monitoring body under CEDAW must adopt a
more progressive rights based approach with regard to discrimination faced by girls and
women with disabilities,
An independent, effective and dynamic monitoring mechanism must be an integral element
of the new Convention. The composition of the structure should ensure disability, gender
and regional balance, with particular emphasis on the participation of women with
disabilities. The guidelines for the preparation of reports must be evolved to ensure
gender disaggregated reporting by the State Parties. This approach must be consistently
maintained and adequately resourced in the national monitoring mechanisms.
The meeting noted that the rights and freedoms guaranteed through existing instruments
be tailored to the specific circumstances of girls and women with disabilities and
highlighted the need for further elaboration of certain human rights.
The meeting strongly recommends equal participation of women with disabilities
throughout the treaty elaboration, implementation and monitoring process.
Supplementary Additional Rights
List of rights suggested by the group
1. Right to adequate standard of life should include nutrition, clean water,
sanitation, safe shelter;
2. Right to life and survival should include early identification, early intervention,
and information and support services
3. Right to social protection includes unemployment allowance, old age homes, pension,
maintenance for children, insurance cover for health and shelter particularly for disabled
single mothers, widows and economically and socially disadvantaged girls and women with
disabilities;
4. Freedom from all forms of violence and abuse including emotional, physical,
psychological and gender based such as rape, forced sterilization, forced marriage and
isolation.
5. Freedom of information and communication should recognize use of alternative and
augmentative means of communication including accessible ICTs.
6. Family rights should ensure right to marriage and maintain family, maintenance in
case of divorce, right to retain custody and nationality of children, etc.
7. Right to work shall guarantee access to various occupations in diverse but fair,
just and accessible environment to reduce dependence of women with disabilities on others
for survival.
8. Equal protection of law should include free legal aid, counseling and exemption from
court fees.
9. Protection against eugenic practices, negative media portrayal, stereotype attitudes
affronting the dignity of girls and women with disabilities.
10. Right to inherit, own and maintain property. |
