Back to: Second Session of the Ad Hoc Committee
Documents of the Second Session
A/AC.265/2003/CRP/12
Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral
International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and
Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
New York, 16-27 June 2003
Beirut Declaration and Recommendations on the elaboration of a
comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and
protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities
Outcome of the Arab Regional Conference on Norms and Standards
Related to Development and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
held in Beirut from 27-29 May 2003*
* This document has also been issued by the Economic and Social
Commission for Western Asia as E/ESCWA/SDD/2003/WG.4/9
Beirut Declaration and Recommendations on the elaboration of a
comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect
the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities
BEIRUT DECLARATION
THE DRAFT INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON DISABILITY
We the representatives of the Arab Governments and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), meeting in Beirut from 27 to 29 May 2003 at the
Arab Regional Conference on Norms and Standards Related to Development and
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and gathered here today to
exchange views and address a unified Arab position on the draft
comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect
the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities,
Taking the opportunity offered by the Conference,
Declare that disabled persons, particularly in the Arab
countries, face major challenges, which prevent them from assuming normal
roles on an equal footing with other citizens in their societies and state
that the primary factors that give rise to discrimination, marginalization
and which affect the right to development are based on structural,
institutional, legislative, procedural and cultural obstacles.
Drawing attention to the fact that number of difficulties
continue to escalate within world societies and more specifically within
Arab societies, including, continuous wars, increasing poverty, economic
regression, absence of laws and legislation and lack of public awareness
concerning the issue and causes of disability,
Taking note of The Arab Human Development Report 2002:
Creating Opportunities for Future Generations, which examines the
deterioration of certain aspects of life in the Arab countries,
particularly in the areas of knowledge, freedom, economic growth and the
empowerment of women, thereby having a direct and negative impact on
persons with disabilities, in the domain of employment, health and social
security and which denies the fundamental human right to development and
social security,
Noting also that the United Nations has published a series of
documents and resolutions based on rights and equality, and has carried
out a number of activities aimed at alleviating discrimination, including
the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons 1983-1992, the World
Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and the Standard Rules on
the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities,
Noting further that despite these efforts and related
initiatives, recommended measures have not been implemented, which entails
a responsibility to ensure that future endeavours are more binding and
intrinsically linked to supportive policies that enable the concerned
parties to achieve their objectives,
Acknowledging that much progress has been made to highlight
the issue of disability at the Arab and international levels, including in
particular, the recognition of disability as an aspect of human rights,
Appreciating the role of disabled persons in addressing their
cause and the increase in societal support for this issue, which has
resulted in the launching of the Arab Decade of Disabled Persons,
2003-2012 and the issuing of the Arab Document, by the General Assembly
Meeting of Rehabilitation International for the Arab Region, the
Interlocutory Session on the Rights of People with Disabilities in the
Arab World and the International Conference on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (Manama, 8-9 March 2002),
Noting that the Ad Hoc Committee is designated to consider the
proposals related to a comprehensive and integral international convention
to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with
disabilities,
1. Call upon all Arab States, while endeavouring to
secure every possible support for this convention, to support the draft
international convention on disability and to actively participate in its
development at the national, regional and international levels, in order
to put it into effect;
2. Realize the importance of all parties concerned, including
disabled persons, in the formulation of the convention, which will also
cover issues related to mental disability, disabled women, disabled
children, and the disabled elderly;
3. Desirous of ensuring the support of the convention, request
the provision of technical and financial assistance to the developing
countries, in order to secure its implementation;
4. Endeavour to secure the instruments of execution and of
effective monitoring with the aim of attaining full implementation of the
convention;
5. Request that follow-up actions to support the convention at
the Arab regional level are undertaken and that the newly elected Special
Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development for the
period 2003-2005, Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar,
is designated to assume a leading role in such actions.
Beirut, 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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