Children's Rights Alliance
for England
DRAFT INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF THE RIGHTS AND DIGNITY
OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
AUGUST 2004
The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) is a children’s human rights organisation. With our 180+ member organisations, we promote the fullest implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UK Government ratified in 1991. This paper is based on a meeting we held with member organisations specialising in disability rights advocacy, in July 2004. It does not necessarily represent the views of all our member organisations.
CONTACT:
Carolyne Willow
National co-ordinator
Children’s Rights Alliance for England
Tel: 00 44 207 278 8222 ext. 22
;
We very much welcome the development of this new treaty. It must help all disabled people – babies and children too – access all the human rights to which they are already entitled. We especially hope the Convention will challenge the segregation of disabled people, in education and other settings. Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requires States Parties to prevent, prohibit and eradicate racial segregation. This Convention should be just as strong in tackling segregation on the basis of impairment. We believe:
- It is vital this new treaty does not in any way promote segregated education as a human right – inclusive education that meets the needs of each individual should be the international goal.
- Article 16 should only address those issues particular to disabled babies and children that cannot be integrated into the rest of the treaty – we do not want ‘children’s issues’ to be sidelined into one article.
- The whole text of the treaty should represent the full age spectrum.
Pages 3-4Why segregation should never be a human right – Micheline Mason, Director of Alliance for Inclusive Education
Pages 5-6Article 17 proposal from Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education
Pages 7-32Text changes proposed by Children’s Rights Alliance for England, to make treaty apply to disabled babies and children too
Page 33Article 16 proposal from Children’s Rights Alliance for England
WHY SEGREGATION SHOULD NEVER BE A RIGHT
Micheline Mason
Director – The Alliance for Inclusive Education
July 2004
The disability movement throughout the world has generally taken the position that all forms of segregation on the basis of impairment are an infringement of our human rights. This concept was made concrete in the medical/social model analysis of the oppression of disabled people, created by disabled people themselves. This analysis explains how impairment is a physical or intellectual condition belonging to an individual whereas disability is a social construct. Whilst time, medicine and rehabilitation may lessen the effects of an impairment on the individual, the disabling factors within their communities and society generally will still impact upon their lives unless they are addressed by social remedies. The greatest of all these are the attitudes of others towards disabled people. As with all oppressions, these attitudes are formed through misinformation, stereotyping and prejudice towards the target group. In the case of disabled people, the continued use of segregation has created a situation in which these false ideas are not challenged but reinforced within mainstream society. By the removal of disabled people from the mainstream, especially when young, neither group can learn who they really are or how to live together. One of the main purposes of inclusive education is to educate the whole community about impairment and disability and to create mutual empathy resulting from natural relationships within the family, school and community.
For deaf people, mainstreaming took an unfortunate turn in that it was based originally on the medical model, i.e. that deaf people should aspire to be like hearing people, learn to speak, lip-read and cope in an unchanged hearing world. Their language and culture was banned and deaf people were not allowed to become teachers. This had a devastating effect on the deaf community and on the educational attainment of deaf children. Not surprisingly they fought back, demanding the right to be taught in their first language (sign), by deaf educators, and to be raised with a community of deaf people who were proud of their language and culture. This they believed could only happen in segregated schools for the deaf.
Blind people around the world were also amongst the first groups of disabled people to become organised. They fought for the right to special employment and training, and to an education based on the use of Braille at a time when there was nothing for blind people except the bleakest of futures begging on the streets.
Members of both of these groups are still arguing for the right to segregated education despite our general call for the right to inclusive education. We believe this is a misplaced argument and should never become enshrined in any human rights legislation.
Inclusive education is based on the social model of disability. This means it focuses on the barriers within mainstream society, including educational settings, which prevent disabled people from participating on the basis of equality. If a barrier to deaf pupils is the use of a spoken language as the only means of instruction or communication then the use of interpreters, induction loops, radio-aids and a bi-lingual curriculum taught in sign and speech would constitute a social remedy, and this would be inclusion. Likewise, if a barrier to blind or visually impaired, or deaf/blind pupils is the use of written language, small print, dark rooms, unskilled teachers, then the use of Braille, large print, the deaf/blind sign system, closed circuit television, appropriate technology, and competent teachers of people with visual impairments would constitute social remedies and be inclusion.
Although relatively new, there are now examples of mainstream schools which have embraced such accommodations and in which all pupils get the ‘best of both worlds’. This includes adaptations for individual children in their local school, and resourced mainstream provision for groups of children within their locality. Children should have a choice between these, but not between mainstream and segregated education. The result is of benefit to the whole community and must lead eventually to a shift in the general perception of impairment and disability within society as young people grow up together, learning about one another. We believe the right to such an education is the right for which we should all be fighting.
The Alliance for Inclusive Education is a national network of individuals, families and groups who work together to help change our education system. The changes we wish to bring about are based on our conviction that all young people need to educated in a single mainstream education system which can support all young people to learn, play and live with each other.
Disabled people lead the Alliance.
The Alliance for Inclusive Education, Unit 2, 70 South Lambeth Road,
London SW8 1RL. Tel 00 44 207 735 5277; fax 00 44 207 735 3828;
Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE) proposal for Article 17 – July 2004
Article 17 (Education)
1. States Parties shall recognise the right of all persons with disabilities to education. With a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity for all, the education of persons with disabilities shall be directed to:
a) building a society that is inclusive to all;
b) the full development of the individual’s human potential and sense of dignity and self worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;
c) enabling all persons with disabilities to fully participate in a free and inclusive society;
d) the development of the individual’s personality, talents and abilities to his/her fullest potential;
e) recognising and supporting individual learning needs and preferences.
2. States Parties shall ensure:
a) that all persons with disabilities can access inclusive education in their own community including early childhood and pre-school education;
b) the full participation of persons with disabilities, including those with sensory disabilities, through the provision of required support, including the specialised training of teachers and other educational means and staff, an accessible curriculum, accessible teaching medium and materials, appropriate assistive devices, alternative and augmentative communication means, or other reasonable accommodations;
c) that no child with disabilities is excluded from free and compulsory primary education on account of his/her disability;
d) that no person with disability shall be required to undergo any medical treatment or intervention to correct, improve or alleviate any impairment, or any actual or perceived disability as a condition of inclusive and full quality education.
3. States Parties shall ensure that all persons with disabilities shall access secondary and higher education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning on an equal basis with others. To that end appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities needs to be provided.
4. States Parties should take all legislative, administrative and other measures to remove all forms of segregation in education.
5. States Parties should ensure that financial resources are allocated for and targeted towards the restructuring of mainstream settings to provide inclusive education, and encourage segregated special settings, where they exist, to transfer their material, financial and human resources to facilitate the inclusion of all learners in inclusive mainstream settings.
The Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE) was established in 1982 to promote the education of disabled and non-disabled children together in mainstream schools and to end the practice of educating disabled children separately in ‘special’ schools. In collaboration with organisations of disabled people it has developed expertise on inclusive education of disabled persons in mainstream settings, including the development and evaluation of practical tools for implementing inclusive education in schools and early years and pre-school settings, working closely with disabled and non-disabled practitioners and academics. CSIE has also closely monitored the development of inclusion at national and international levels, both in practice and in the interpretation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
CSIE, New Redland, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QU. Tel 00 44 117 328 4007; fax 00 44 117 328 4005; web
Draft comprehensive and integral international convention on the protection and promotion of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities[1]
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ALLIANCE FOR ENGLAND CHANGES IN BLUE BOLD
The States Parties to this Convention,
(a)Recalling the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations which recognize the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
(b)Recognizing that the United Nations, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, has proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind,
(c)Reaffirming the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and the need for persons with disabilities to be guaranteed their full enjoyment without discrimination,
(d)Reaffirming also the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,[2]
(e)Recognizing the importance of the principles and policy guidelines contained in the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in influencing the promotion, formulation and evaluation of the policies, plans, programmes and actions at the national, regional and international levels to further equalize opportunities for persons with disabilities,
(f)Recognizing also that discrimination against any person on the basis of disability is a violation of the inherent dignity of the human person,
(g)Recognizing further the diversity of persons with disabilities,
(h)Concerned that, despite the efforts and actions undertaken by Governments, bodies and relevant organizations, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers in their participation as equal members of society and violations to their human rights in all parts of the world,
(i)Emphasizing the importance of international cooperation[3] to promote the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities,[4]
(j)Emphasizing also the existing and potential contributions made by persons with disabilities to the overall well-being and diversity of their communities, and that the promotion of the full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of their human rights and fundamental freedoms and of full participation by persons with disabilities will result in significant advances in the human, social and economic development of their societies and the eradication of poverty,
(k)Recognizing the importance for persons with disabilities of their individual autonomy and independence, including the freedom to make their own choices, taking into account the evolving capacities of the child,
(l)Considering that persons with disabilities should have the opportunity to be actively involved in decision-making processes about policies and programmes, especially those directly concerning them,
(m)Concerned about the difficult conditions faced by persons with severe or multiple disabilities and of persons with disabilities who are subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,[5]
(n)Emphasizing the need to incorporate a gender perspective in all efforts to promote the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities,
(o)Mindful of the need to alleviate the negative impact of poverty on the conditions of persons with disabilities,[6]
(p)Concerned that situations of armed conflict have especially devastating consequences for the human rights of persons with disabilities,
(q)Recognizing the importance of accessibility to the physical, social and economic environment and to information and communication, including information and communication technologies, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
(r)Convinced that a convention dealing specifically with the human rights of persons with disabilities will make a significant contribution to redressing the profound social disadvantage of persons with disabilities and promote their participation in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural spheres with equal opportunities, in both developing and developed countries,
Hereby agree as follows:
Article 1
Purpose
The purpose[7] of this Convention shall be to ensure the full, effective and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities.[8]
Article 2
General principles
The fundamental principles of this Convention shall be:
(a)Dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices taking into account the evolving capacities of the child, and independence of persons;
(b)Non-discrimination;
(c)Full inclusion of persons with disabilities as equal citizens and participants in all aspects of life;
(d)Respect for difference and acceptance of disability as part of human diversity and humanity;
(e)Equality of opportunity.
Article 3
Definitions[9]
“Accessibility”[10]
“Communication” includes oral-aural communication, communication using sign language, tactile communication, Braille, large print, audio, accessible multimedia, human reader and other augmentative or alternative modes of communication, including accessible information and communication technology.[11]
“Disability”[12]
“Persons with disability”[13]
“Discrimination on the ground of disability”[14]
“Language” includes oral-aural language and sign language.[15]
“Reasonable accommodation”[16]
“Universal design” and “Inclusive design”.[17]
Article 4
General obligations[18],[19]
1.States Parties undertake to ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all individuals within their jurisdiction[20] without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability. To this end, States Parties undertake:
(a)To adopt legislative, administrative and other measures to give effect to this Convention, and to amend, repeal or nullify any laws and regulations and to discourage customs or practices that are inconsistent with this Convention;
(b)To embody the rights of equality and non-discrimination on the ground of disability in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation, if not yet incorporated therein, and to ensure, through law and other appropriate means, the practical realization of these rights;
(c)To mainstream disability issues into all economic and social development policies and programmes;
(d)To refrain from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with this Convention and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with this Convention;
(e)To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the ground of disability by any person, organization or private enterprise;
(f)To promote[21] the development, availability and use of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities. Such goods, services, equipment and facilities should require the minimum possible adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of a person with disabilities.[22]
2.In the development and implementation of policies and legislation to implement this Convention, States Parties shall do so in close consultation with, and include the active involvement of, persons with disabilities and their representative organizations.
Article 5
Promotion of positive attitudes to persons with disabilities