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Distr. LIMITED
E/ESCWA/SDD/2003/WG.4/9
11 June 2003 ENGLISH
ORIGINAL: ARABIC
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA
Arab Regional Conference on Norms and Standards Related to Development and the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities Beirut, 27-29 May 2003
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Concurrently with the Arab Regional Conference on Norms and Standards Related to
Development and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, two subordinate meetings were
held with a view to drafting the recommendations to be issued by the Conference and the
Beirut Declaration on the draft international convention on disability.
2. The meetings of the drafting committees concluded by grouping the Conference
recommendations under the following headings:
- The draft international convention on disability;
- Empowerment and full participation;
- Rights;
- The family;
- Disability and poverty;
- Disability and armed conflict;
- Disability and the environment;
- Awareness, the media and networking.
3. It was then agreed to group the recommendations by the party concerned, namely,
Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations organizations and
regional and international gatherings.
A. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
4. Those present at the Conference condemned the Israeli occupation and all forms of
oppression and armed conflict in the occupied Arab territories, on the grounds that they
obstruct the goals of sustainable development and increase the number of disabled persons.
B. SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS
5. Participants made specific recommendations under the headings set forth below and
grouped by the party concerned.
1. The draft international convention on disability
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Governments are urged to review and follow up the implementation of previously-signed
regional and international instruments, treaties and agreements concerning human rights,
the rights of disabled persons and disability issues, with a view to using them to
evaluate any relevant new agreements;
- Governments are urged to study the draft international convention on disability and
ensure that it is effectively worded and formulated;
- Governments are urged to establish local and national mechanisms and oversight
institutions, analagous to those pertaining to the seven existing human rights
instruments, in order to monitor and follow up implementation of the articles of the
convention, should it be adopted and ratified;
- Arab Governments are urged to invite the families of disabled persons, specialists and
experts to participate in the national task forces responsible for preparing the national
report on the status of disabled persons before it is submitted to the special committee
for the convention.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
Civil society institutions, the families of disabled persons and non-governmental
national and international human rights organizations are urged to form pressure groups in
order to ensure the strict implementation of the convention
2. Empowerment and full participation
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Governments are urged to formulate and implement a policy for full participation and
non-discrimination, in accordance with the appropriate disability-related development
standards. Such a policy should be considered integral to sustainable development
policies;
- In dealing with disability issues, Governments should adopt a development procedure that
focuses on educational standards, on the basis that awareness programmes, training and
special equipment all form part of a comprehensive development system;
- National financial institutions should be urged to study innovative ways in which to
assist Government sectors, NGOs and civil society institutions involved in training and
rehabilitation to apply full participation programmes with respect to health and education
and on the social, economic, political and environmental levels;
- All official parties working in the field of disability are urged to formulate a
forward-planning methodology for any programmes for the full participation of persons with
disabilities that fall within their remit, with a view to helping to reduce the level of
difficulty facing full participation in the Arab region and reduce the cost of
implementing such programmes;
- Governments are urged to provide persons with disabilities and their families with full
moral and material support with respect to health, education and their social, economic
and political needs, as well as to provide the support necessary to facilitate the
participation process;
- Governments are urged to provide the appropriate training for teaching personnel within
the public education system, with a view to effecting full participation programmes;
- Governments are urged to adopt technical standards and normative procedures in order to
empower, develop the skills and build the capacities of persons with disabilities. To that
end, they should employ the support of specialized bodies and institutions, with a view to
providing sophisticated and technologically up-to-date training methods that will give
persons with disabilities equal opportunities.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
- Civil society institutions, disability-related and other NGOs and the private sector are
encouraged to formulate strategies for working and negotiating with Governments and public
sector institutions, in order to advance the position of persons with disabilities and
provide them with skills that are appropriate to their capabilities and will permit them
to generate income;
- The role of specialized civil society institutions should be activated by the convening,
as part of a full participation strategy, of courses for the training and rehabilitation
of persons with disabilities;
- Teachers, trainers and those working with or involved in the training and rehabilitation
of persons with disabilities should be empowered by being given periodic training in
technical standards and up-to-date specifications. Specialized institutions should
institute an oversight mechanism and performance indicators;
- Specialized civil society institutions and NGOs are encouraged to support persons with
disabilities with both academic and manual skills, with a view to developing their
capacities, facilitating their participation and increasing their productivity.
3. Rights
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Governments are urged to formulate laws, policies and legislation to promote the basic
rights of persons with disabilities and guarantee them a life of dignity, strengthen their
position and uphold their rights;
- Any existing legislation or regulations that include any type of discrimination against
persons with disabilities should be rescinded;
- Legal barriers to the full social, economic and political participation in public life
of persons with disabilities should be removed;
- Governments are urged to guarantee the right of security of tenure to persons with
disabilities and their families, as part of sound urban administration;
- Governments are urged to establish local, national and regional monitoring mechanisms
responsible for establishing the extent to which persons with disabilities are accorded
their rights and for monitoring acts of discrimination against such persons, with a view
to taking the appropriate legal measures to end such practices and condemn and penalize
their perpetrators.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
- Civil society institutions are urged to establish executive mechanisms to enable injured
persons with disabilities and their families to challenge decisions and legislation that
violates their rights at local and national level;
- Egalitarian and transparent national committees should be formed, the members of which
should include persons with disabilities, representatives of disability-related
organizations, the families of persons with disabilities and, in particular, mental
disabilities, and specialized experts, and such committees should be viewed as a tool for
bringing pressure to bear and for monitoring and overseeing the application of laws,
legislation and regulations relating to the protection of the rights of persons with
disabilities.
4. The family
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Governments are urged to provide families with income support and strengthen their
financial resources and to provide the necessary special equipment free of charge, in
order to make it possible for persons with disabilities to participate fully in the local
environment, and to make the necessary adjustments to their housing and their access
thereto;
- Governments are urged to support and empower families and strengthen their capacity for
meeting the needs of the disabled person. To that end, national and local support,
counselling and training programmes should be organized with the participation of the
local community and specialized institutions;
- Governments are urged to pay special attention to persons with mental disabilities and
their families in any educational or development plans or programmes;
- Governments are urged to strengthen womens' role in the family and to provide them with
moral and material support, in view of the fact that women are most often responsible for
caring for children with disabilities;
- Health and educational advice should be offered to the families of persons with
disabilities as part of local and national programmes;
- Services should be provided free of charge as part of reproductive health care
programmes, in order to protect against disability;
- Medical checks should be obligatory before marriage and childbirth, with a view to the
limitation and early detection of abnormalities.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
- Civil society institutions are urged to strengthen the effective participation of
persons with disabilities and their families in decision-making related to their situation
and, in particular, to full participation, training and rehabilitation;
- The role played by the families of persons with disabilities should be upheld and their
representation strengthened within official and unofficial organizations and institutions.
Special emphasis is placed on the need for the families of persons with mental
disabilities to be represented.
5. Disability and poverty
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Insurance programmes, social security and security networks should be strengthened in
order to provide basic protection for all and, in particular, for persons with
disabilities who are indigent;
- Governments are urged to support and implement programmes and plans to eradicate poverty
and limit its increase amongst the various groups of persons with disabilities and their
families;
- Governments are urged to make independent budget allocations for the empowerment of
persons with disabilities and building of their capacities for independence, with a view
to ensuring that they have equality of opportunity;
- Employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and, in particular, the poorest
thereof, should be strengthened and developed;
- Full participation should be ensured for indigent women with disabilities, given that
they are most vulnerable to poverty.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
- Encouragement should be given to the creative endeavours exerted by self-help groups,
professional associations and civil society institutions with a view to ensuring that
persons with disabilities have equal opportunities for productive work;
- Civil society institutions and NGOs should be encouraged to build partnerships with the
private sector and national and international bodies working in the field of disability,
in order to form pressure groups that work together in close solidarity and aim to train
persons with disabilities for productive work.
6. Disability and armed conflict
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Governments are urged to demand that the United Nations Security Council, all
international bodies and relief organizations and the League of Arab States take action to
put an immediate end to the armed violence that is a major cause of disability in the Arab
region;
- Governments are called upon to provide material support to the Arab Fund for Economic
and Social Development of the League of Arab States, with a view to ensuring support and
assistance for persons with temporary or permanent disabilities and, in particular, those
with disabilities resulting from war or armed conflict;
- Governments are urged to establish a database and gather information on the various
forms of disability that have been occasioned by the occupation and armed conflicts in
Palestine, Iraq, southern Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Golan, with a view to providing
those affected with every material and other support.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
Civil society institutions and NGOs are urged to establish local umbrella organizations
that bring together all institutions and groups that are active in the field of
disability, with a view to providing direct assistance to the victims of armed conflict
and, in particular, such victims as have disabilities.
7. Disability and the environment
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- The environment of the person with disabilities should be adapted in order ensure their
freedom, independence and productivity;
- Governments are urged to establish an independent national and local system, in which
civil society institutions and the private sector are involved, to give advance warning of
natural disasters, ensure a rapid response thereto and take particular care of persons
with disabilities during and in the aftermath of natural disasters;
- Governments are urged to establish local task forces to look into, in cooperation with
the local authorities, the housing and living conditions within their local environment of
persons with disabilities and ensure that living conditions are improved in urban and
rural areas and that the hazards that encompass the health and safety of individuals and,
in particular, those with disabilities, are minimized;
- Governments are urged to take the necessary measures to remove barriers to the full
participation of persons with disabilities in urban and rural areas and ensure that such
persons have equality of opportunity. Those measures should include the formulation of
standards and directive principles that focus on the Arab building code adopted by the
League of Arab States, which should be incorporated into buildings regulation systems;
- Governments and local authorities are urged to take the necessary measures to adapt the
environment in such a way as to facilitate the movement of persons with disabilities in
and around their homes and the buildings of public education, health, social, economic,
financial and administrative facilities and on public transport.
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
Civil society institutions and NGOs actively involved in environmental protection and
conservation are urged to intensify their endeavours with respect to disability-related
issues and the adaptation of the urban and rural environment to ensure independence and
freedom of movement for persons with disabilities.
8. Awareness, the media and networking
(a) Recommendations to Governments
- Governments are urged to formulate national programmes for raising awareness of the
rights and situation of persons with disabilities; (ii) Governments are urged to provide
access to information technologies and electronic networks in order to enable persons with
disabilities to exercise their rights to work, education and participation in relevant
activities at national and international level;
- Governments are urged to include pedagogics in general educational curricula in order to
raise the awareness of children and youth of disability and persons with disabilities and
the purposes of full participation;
- Governments are urged to raise awareness, amongst women, children and elderly persons in
particular, of medical conditions that can cause disability. Programmes should include
advice with respect to health, mental health, social and cultural affairs and recreation;
- Governments are urged to use specialized technology and the Internet for the purpose of
raising awareness, training, education and study, and to enable persons with disabilities
to employ such technology;
- Governments are urged to raise awareness of disability-related issues in all sectors of
the population and to introduce the appropriate terminology for working in the field of
persons with disabilities that was proposed in the 1982 World Programme of Action
concerning Disabled Persons. Some of the most important of those terms are
"prevention", "rehabilitation", "equalization of
opportunity", "impairment", "disability" and
"handicap";
- Governments are urged to continue to devote every attention and the necessary resources
to action aimed at raising awareness amongst persons with disabilities and their families
of the various types of disability and, in particular, mental disability, and to exert
additional endeavours in the interests of those who live in remote and impoverished areas.
Innovative approaches to awareness raising should be encouraged, including such practices
as the "polarization of needs".
(b) Recommendations to non-governmental organizations
- Civil society institutions and NGOs are urged to form coalitions and national umbrella
organizations that bring together the various parties involved in issues relating to
disability, persons with disabilities and their families, and to form local and national
networks that operate at regional and international levels in order to support the
situation of persons with disabilities and assist them in realizing their goals;
- Civil society institutions are urged to form pressure groups in order to strengthen the
partnership between Governments, civil society and the private sector, with a view to
facilitating the flow of information by electronic means and making information available
to persons with disabilities and their families. National and local sites should be
established on the Internet in order to facilitate the swift interchange of information;
- Civil society institutions are urged to establish partnerships with local authorities
and the private sector with a view to providing training centres that will offer persons
with disabilities access to information technology and the Internet.
(c) Recommendations to United Nations organizations and all other international and
regional bodies
- Issues relating to disability, persons with disabilities and their families should be
championed by every means at regional and international level;
- Observations should be made of the impact in the Arab region of armed conflicts, wars
and the use of internationally outlawed weapons, all of which cause disability, and those
responsible should be held accountable before the International Criminal Court; (iii)
Emphasis should be placed on the fundamental role of the family in achieving development
and carrying out full participation programmes;
- The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is urged to devote a page of
its Internet site to the situation of persons with disabilities in general and, in
particular, to issues relating to persons with disabilities and their families and
organizations working in the field of disability in Iraq, Palestine and the occupied Arab
territories;
- The Commission is further urged to include the disabled population in its statistical
studies, while ESCWA member countries are urged to include persons with disabilities in
general population censuses and to take action to standardize the terms
"disability" and "persons with disabilities" throughout the Arab
region.
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