Abstract
Important progress has been made since the adoption of the UN Standard Rules in December 1993. As a result of the implementation pay, the surveys that we send to the different governments and NGO;s, monitoring exercise and the different visits of the Special Rapporteur, Bengt Lindqvist, and the panel of experts to different countries, many things happened throughout the world.
But still many people in the beginning of this 21st century are suffering on account of their disabilities, excluded and marginalized without taking the needs of all citizens into account in the development of the society… One society for everyone.
The international efforts to improve the living conditions for persons with disabilities have started the every day we are progressing. Without any kind of doubt, all over the world the Standard Rules produced changes. They are the guide and support of activities. In rich or poor countries rules they developed a common vision and the beginning of a culture of human rights, as part of the democracy.
The Congress in Manchester is going to be a good opportunity to analyse the situation of the people with disabilities and their families in different parts of the world and to talk about some strategies to include the excluded in the society all over the world.
" In all the societies of the world there are still obstacles preventing persons with disabilities from exercising their rights and freedoms and making it difficult for them to participate fully in the activities of their societies . It is the responsability of the States to take appropriate action to remove such obstacles" Standard Rules Introduction , parag. 15
Throughout the centuries we have designed our societies considering persons with disabilities as not existing , and taking for granted that all human beings can see, hear, walk , understand and react quickly to signals from the world around them. . This lack of emphaty allowed our society an open channel to proceed with the exclusion of millions of people with disabilities ( Bengt Lindqvist ) .
Disability is a Social global concern . It is a social problem . The United Nations estimates that 500 million people or maybe more , around 7% to 10 % of the world´s population , live with one or more disabling conditions . ONE OUT OF EVERY FOUR FAMILIES has an immediate member with a significant disability . It is a fact that persons with disabilities are among the poorest and most marginalized of all the world´s inhabitants . As members of these families , we lived suffering constant discriminations against our sons and daughters , brothers and parents , specially in developing countries were 70% of the people are living . The product of social prejudice ,injustice , denial of resources and lack of equal opportunities , lead to a lack of democracy and human rights . However international and national efforts improve their living conditions and progress is being made specially in the last years .
No matter what we need to be in a day to day struggle , fighting for the human rights movement to achieve a better quality of life for the people with disabilities . Quality that need to be reflected in the education for everyone , working for the individual success of every person in order to learn . We need to work to obtain health with better conditions for the handicapped people, with human attitudes of solidarity , with technology that can be applied in the same way to help the people with physical disabilities or to the children with multiple disabilities " without any kind of discrimination " . With our conmitment to have emphaty with a full sense of ethics in every moment.
We need to work harder to make a world that can offer work for the
handicapped people with the same salary , conditions and opportunities in the
labor market . And looking for " DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR DIFFERENT COUNTRIES "
strategies suited to the diversity of the nations and geographic places
,specially in the developing countries ,where we suffer so much poverty and
lack of employment .
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TO CHANGE THE LIVES OF 500
MILLIONS PEOPLE , 70% LIVING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES . THE ANSWER IS WORKING
TOGETHER WITH PASSION AND A COMMON VISION . "TO ACHIEVE THIS COMMON VISION WE
NEED TO HAVE AS A GUIDE THE STANDARD RULES ON THE EQUALIZATION OF
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES FROM THE UNITED NATIONS ".
To fully understand the importance of the Standard Rules, it is necessary to know the history of some relevant events in the UN , who started with the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights and the proclamation of the International Year of the disabled persons in I981. the UN adopted as theme of the year" full participation and equality " , in recognition on the highest possible political level in all the world: the right of the disabled people to belong to the society .
Latter , with the World Programm of Action concerning disabled persons from the UN, (I982-I992) giving policies , programms and suggesting the necessary measures to undertake and achieve this goal . In these years in some countries, a significant development was made , in the developing countries ,we did not know about the efforts of the UN in thise ten years, it was quite sad for million of people with disabitilities .
Now , two regions in the world are replying this : The Asian and Pacific Decade for Disabled Persons ( 1993-2002) and the African Decade of Disabled People ( 2000 - 2009) .
In the evaluation of the results of the Decade from the United Nations ( 1982- 1992) , the international disability community requested a strong leaderhip role from the UN with more participation of the people with disabilities in order to give a guideline for development to all the countries .In response to this request ,the UN elaborated the maximum and most important document on human rights for the people with disabilities " THE STANDARD RULES ON THE EQUALIZATION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES" that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its 48th session on the 20 th of december in 1993 . It was elaborated by representants of the UN agencies , the State members and representants with disability from the 6 biggest international ONG´s of people with disabilities .
THE STANDARD RULES ON THE EQUALIZATION OF
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
This document has 22 rules
divided in 4 steps :
- I Preconditions :Awareness -raising , medical care, rehabilitation and support services .
- II Target areas for equal participation Accesibility, education, employment , income maintenance and social security , familiy life and personal integrity, culture , recreation sports and religion .
- III. Implementation measures: Information and research, policy making and planning , legislation , economic policies , coordination of work, organization of persons with disabilities , personnel training in the national monitoring and evaluation of disability programmes in the implementation of the rules , as well as technical and econonomic cooperation
- IV. MONITORING MECHANISM
One of the most significant features of the Standard Rules was the participation of the people with disabilities ,working with the governments and the UN agencies .
I.- The entire program needed to be coordinated by a Special Rapporteur , a person who needed to have a recognized international leadership in the disability field . Mr Bengt Lindqvist from Sweden elected by the UN General Secretary , was recognized by these characteristics .He was a member of the Sweden Parlament and Secretary in the Social development Secretariat in Sweden also. Mr Lindqvist is a blind person and an excellent leader .
2.- He needed to work closely related to " the Panel of experts in disability ", five men and five women , coming from different parts of the world ; all with international leadership and personal experience of different disabilities . This panel was stablished with representants from the six biggest international organizations : Disabled Peoples´s International , Inclusion International , Rehabilitation International , World Blind Union , World Federation of the Deaf and World Federation of Psychiatric Users .
3.- The monitoring should take place on the Sessions of the UN Comission of Social Development
There are some differences between the World Plan of Action from the UN and the Standard Rules for the equalization of opportunities for the people with disabilities . However there are some important additions made as a result of experience gained during the Decade .
The responsability of Governments of Member States in the implementation process is more clearly outlined in the Rules . The most obvious new element in the Standard Rules , however, is the establishment of an active and separate monitoring Mechanism .
The activities during the first monitoring period were reported to the Comission for Social Development at its thirty- fifth session ( A /52/56, annex)
At its session of 1997 , the Economnic and Social Council , following the recomendations by the Commission for Social Development , decided to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for a further period of three years , from 1997 to 2000 ( Council resolution I997/19 ) . The activities of the Special Rapporteur were also endorsed by the General Assembly in resolution 52/82 of the 12th of December 1997 . Because the results in these 3 years were magnificent
This year, in the mont of February the Special Rapporteur gave his Report to the Comission of Social Development,for the second time ,they renewed the mandate for a 3th period ( 2001-2004 ) So as to make it possible to continue the monitoring of the implementation of the Standard Rules .
Since the beginning we had some strategic points in our work :
to
implement facilities in order to give diffusion to the Standard Rules in all
over the world :
A. IMPLEMENTATION :
I. Empowering the relations beetween the UN agencies and the work of the Standard Rules ( WHO , UNESCO , COMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS , COMISSION OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT , UNICEF , ILO , etc ) with great results on this work wich was developed together for 6 years .
2. Growing a strong social movement of NGO´s in all over the world , as " one strong voice " fighting for their rights in a common vision using the Standard Rules as a guide .
3.Teamwork : with the six international NGO´S and their affiliates in every country or region , organizing many activities to support the implementation of the Rules .
4. Promoting the International Difussion In the media , newspapers , magazines , books . Or in Social Forums, Seminars or Congresses at international or national level .
5. Active participation in all the UN Congresses , like the Social Summit , Beijing Conference , El Cairo ,etc in issues related with disability.
6. Active participation with the Secretariat and other organizations of the UN System .
The magnificent work of the promotion of the standard rules was done specially by Mr .Lindqvist ,the Special Rapporteur to further the effective implementation of the rules . He was invited by many Governments who had been interested in discussing different aspects of the implementation . Every time Mr Lindqvist went to a different Congress , he suggested that the Governments should have a meeting. Some times the Governments presented their new initiatives in the disability field to discuss them with him . The " Panel of experts " complemented his work at national and international level too .
7. Stablishing relations with the National organizations of disabled people in every country . Promoting a revitalization of their work , strenghtening their compromise , responsability and struggle . This was specially important in the developing countries , were the people needed the change.
8. Working with the State Members
Many Governments indicated that they "acted in the spirit of the Rules or that they were drafting new policies in accordance of the rules , some times they translated the rules into the native languages . Many countries began already for the first time ,stablishing National Plans for the people with disabilities and National Coordinating Committees . In many others countries , such a body was being created taking as a model the SR. In every Committee, they have the active participation of the NGO´S and government working together, stablishing policies and programmes in the disability field , studying the legislation and drafting new legislations , working in National Plans or other documents ,using always the principles of the rules .
We assisted to many international conferences ,seminars , workshops always talking about the standard rules
I tried to promote the Standard Rules at international levels and in many places in México , in big and small cities or even in the rural media and I always obtained the same results : the people wanted to know more about this document , about their rights , about the way they can change their reality .
In México for example , we developed a National Plan for the handicapped people using the SR as a model . We are working since those days and for the first time together, integrated as one team .
Several new bodies or institutions were created to support the
implementation of the SR ,some examples were: A High Commisioner on Disability
( Morocco) , A Disability Ombudsman
( Sweden), an Equal oppportunities
Center ( Denmark), a Special Committee of State Secretaries ( Norway ) and a
Foundation to promote the development in the disablity field, etc
B. WORKING FOR THE THE MONITORING MECHANISM to obtain a diagnosis about the situation in every country . It should identify obstacles and suggest suitable measures that would contribute to the successful implementation of the Rules , in the global effort to achieve " full participation and equality " for the people with disabilities ; one of the most important task for the implementation of the mentioned Rules .
The monitoring of the Standard Rules should be carried out in the spirit of solidarity , cooperation , understanding of the diferences beetween countries and cultures . The work is been done beetween the UN Secretariat , UN agencies, the international NGO´S and the Special Rapporteur at international level and at the national level between Governments , the national NGO´S and the UN.
I. Sending the Questionnaires
We sent a first questionnaire to the governments and NGO´s with 4 general questions to know about essential policy areas . The result was very poor and disappointing for us . Only 38 State Members responded the letter and 4 ONG´s .
I. Disability policy . An officialy recognized disability policy is essential for the attainment of the equality of opportunities . The existence of a disability policy can be measured by the extent to which each relevant disability legislation has been enacted.
- 70/82 countries have an official disability policy
- 11/82 reported that they do not have one
- IO/82. are developing countries .
- IO/82 are not expressed in the law but in guidelines or different policy documents .
In the way that they focus the National disability policies ,we can know that some countries are oriented to individual support as traditional welfare oriented type . Since others are oriented in accesibility and antidiscriminatory laws as a human rights oriented policy .
As our survey indicates , the highest ranking among countries , was on rehabilitation and prevention ( welfare approach ) while less emphasis was on accesibility measures and antidiscriminatory laws. . This could be considered as an indication that many countries have not yet implemented the SR. It could also be explained by the way of living of 70% of the people with disabilities in developing countries, fighting some times to survive, food and shelter , elemental health or education services, in places were the posibilities to find work are not usual .
We decided to send a second questionnaire .We moved towards a more accurate assesment of the level of implementation " world wide" identifying the main changes and acomplishments in the field of disability and the major problems and obstacles during the implementation process . In this monitoring exercise we selected 6 rules considered to be the most important to achieve the inclution of the people with disabilities in the society .
1_ Legislation ( R 15)
2_ Coordination of work (R 17)
3_ Organizations of persons with disabilities (R 18)
4_ Accesibility ( R 5)
5- Education (R 6 )
6- Employment (R 7 ) .
The questionnaire was delivered to all Governments and to 600 National member organizations of the six international ONG´s .The objetive was to identify the official policy of the country , with " focus specifically on the nature and scope of the implementation of the Rules " .
The results where very successfull , because I26 countries and 163 ONG´s answered the second survey . Because of the lack of time I am going to mention only some remarkable aspects of the results with enphasis in education :
2. Legislation Concerning the rights of people with disabilities ,to protect individuals and groups from discrimination on the basis of disability .
-The provision in general was to apply legislation principles equally to all persons , regardless of disability or special legislation to the attention to the particular needs creating specific protections . Special legislation is often advocated , when general legislation fail to provide sufficient protection ,it is a stronger piece of legislation , since it specifically refers to the needs and rights of them .
The results show that the most common type is using special and general legislation or a combination of these two types .
-81 / 82 governments provided information of mechanisms having been adopted to protect the rights of persons with disabilities . The most common judicial mechanism is through the court . while the most non judicial mechanism is a governmental body . -
6 Governments reported they do not have any judicial mechanism . This is a serious infringement of their human rights .
In 27 / 80 countries THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ARE NOT CONSIDERED AS FULL CITIZENS IN A NUMBER OF AREAS WITHIN THE GENERAL LEGISLATION SCOPE ( RIGHT TO VOTE, TO PROPERTY, TO PRIVACY ETC)
3. Accesibility : two major aspects were considered : access to the physical environment and access to information and communication . Without an accesible physical environment and access to information , it becomes difficult to exercise both political and social rights . It is a prerequisite for achieving the goal of a full participation for the people with disabilities Some countries reported that there are no standards which requiry accesibility to build in their countries . Some countries have many facilities in their cities , schools, houses .
The information and communication vary considerably in different groups of persons with disabilities . Services to the blind and visually impaired or the physically handicapped get the most attention , while the services to deaf and persons with mental disabilities are more limited .
4. Organizations of people with disabilities . It is an important principle of democracy that individuals should be involved in decision making concerning themselves . The NGO´s represent the experiencies and aspirations of their members because they are the experts knowing the problems , needs and requirements for them .
One of the most noticeable aspects in the results of this survey is the growing social movement of NGOs in all over the world . Some remarkable aspects are:
- 63/85 countries reported that a National umbrella organization exists with the representation of all kind of ONG´S of people with disabilities
- In 31/80 countries there are no legal provisions
- In 49/ 80 there are such legal provisions
- 8 reported there is no umbrella organization .
- 65/80 countries received financial support from their governments
- 9/80 only logistic support
- 5/80 countries do not receive any support at all
- In the majority of the countries the people with disabilities are being taked in account and some times consulted
- 37/80 in preparing laws regulations and guidelines - 24/80 only in some ocassions
- 1 country was never taken into account .
-62/84 countries ,there is a national coordinating committee were the NGO´S are represented there
-51/16 countries the government expected to participate in policy development
- II/59 countries are not expected to perform other tasks
- 50/59 countries (85% reported that the adoption of the Standard Rules had lead to rethinking disability policies .
The results showed that persons with disabilities in developing countries participate to a very limited extent in government , legislatures and judicial authorities , but in a great extent in NGO´S activities in their countries
Disability is a multidisciplinary and multidimensional issue , which concerns all spheres of society . There is therefore a constant need for coordination between all parties concerned in the developing disability policy and programmes .The coordinating committees had great effects : improving coordination of measures / programmes and an improving dialogue .
5. Employment . The essence is that persons with disabilities should be empowered to exercise their rights to gain full employment and that it is the responsability of the States to remove all remaining obstacles to employment . As far as possible persons with disabilities should have jobs in regular labour markets . When this , despite all efforts , does not seem to be possible , jobs should be offered in more protected forms .
Law considers that the regulations in the employment field must not discriminate against persons with disabilities and must not raise obstacles to their employment .
Equal opportunities and the integration in the labor market of disabled people into the community is also an objective of the Convention 159 adopted by ILO in I983. This Convention provides for vocational rehabilitation measures for all categories of disabled persons and for the promotion for employment opportunities and equal treatment of disabled men and women . Until now 56 countries around the world have ratified the Convention .
The measures which are less implemented are vocational rehabilitation in rural areas , cooperation with NGO´s of people with disabilities and availability of qualified staff . This implies that a great number of disabled people do not receive appropiate training . The role of NGO´s of people with disabilities to represent their groups in an advisory capacity has not yet been recognized in many countries .
One may conclude ,that the fact that the lack of training staff in vocational rehabilitation is a serious short-coming in many countries and that this leads to less quality in training programmes
6. Education The exclusion of the society to the people with disabilities , began in the moment where the governments gave school and education to the normal children and denied the access to the children with disabilities and it was not only a matter of this division , it was related with the priority of the different countries and the society . In every society ,the economical funds for the education were asigned in a very different way : the majority of the money was for the normal children and a very little amount for the children with disabilities . Only 1% or less of the budget of education has the destiny for the special education in developing countries .
The fact that persons with disabilities live a more or less segregated life depends to a major extent on the shortcomings of social systems, one of the most importat of these is the education system . There is a close relation between the level of education and integration in society . The lack of education allows various forms of social injustice , marginalization , segregation or opens the door towards better living conditions . Education of people with disabilities is consequently one of the most essential target areas of the Standard Rules .
To understand the context of the Rule on education it is necessary to consider three importat documents wich preceed the SR and the one wich followed after the adoption of the Rules . These documents are: The UN Convention of the rights of the Child ( I989) , The World Programme of action concerning disabled persons ( 1982), World declaration on education for all ( 1990), and the Salamanca Statement and Framework for action on special needs education ( 1994).
In 1993-1994 , the latest UNESCO review was presented . This review covers issues on policies , legislation , administration , organization , teacher training , financing and provisions for special needs education .
The right to education is denied every day to millions of children with special educational needs, who either are receiving inadequate and inappropiate public education , or are being excluded from the public and private school systems . The children with more necessity to progress , because they have multiple disabilities , are always lacking any kind of possibility in developing countries , and some disabilities and some children suffer more the lack of services than others . Although many developing countries have recognized the right to education , it has in many cases not been applied to persons with special educational needs .
Some remarkable reports are :
- 65 countries provided information on legislation
- 44 countries reported that children with severe disabilities were excluded from education
- 18/34 countries reported exclusion , these children were by law excluded from the public education system
- 16 countries reported the exclusion as the result of other non legal factors .
The most common reason given for excluding some children from the public
system was the severity of the disability , lack of facilities , incomplete
formation of the teacher and the lack of knowledge about a pedagogy in support
of the necessities of the people with severe disabilities , lack of creativity
of the teachers , lack of humanity and knowledge about the rights of every
child .
-10 countries reported that no legislation on special education
exist
Parent´s role
- 22/53 countries providing information pointed that the parents´role is fully recognized in decision making concerning placement .
- In 7 countries ,parents only have the right to appeal against decisions concerning their child´s placement
- In 24 countries , parents´involvement in decision making and their right to choose placement in special education is severely limited .
In the majority of developing countries , they did not consider the opinion of the parents .
Schooling for the children with special educational needs is still predominantly provided in a segregated educational system and the rates of attendance in schools of persons with special educational needs is very low in a great number of countries . (I997). From this year on , many things are happening , more children are in integrated education systems , some have obtained success and some have not . The special education system is working in many places , some times as the only possibility , some times only as an advisory way , the attitudes of the teachers are changing , specially in rich countries . We are learning how to do it better , the society is more open everywhere , but the global problem of education is still there , specially in the developing countries .
Integration represents an aspiration for the future, but we are working to achieve this future .The UNESCO Review indicates , when compared to the last reviews , that progress toward the goal of integration into regular education has been achieved every day in all over the world .
But there are many questions, still to be answered :
- How is the education for all the children with disabilities in regular schools or in special schools in your country ?.
- How is the initial evaluation of the children done , to know if they can see, hear , understand, or communicate in your country . In order to have better conditions and to have sucess in the integration. How is this done in the developing countries ?
- How many children are in schools and how many are without any kind of services ?.
- How many children have schools with quality for them to achieve success , not only to be included in regular or special schools.
- How is the attitude, knowledge and the training of the teachers - Which are the supports that the government give to all the children with disabilitites , including the technical support and equipment for them, in the developing countries ?
- How many teachers have knowledge and support in the regular classroom to have an interpreter for the deaf children , or the knowledge about augmentative or alternative communication for the children with severe problems of communication and absence of language that are asisting to a regular classroom with only one teacher assigned for 50 or 60 children ,without having another teacher helping them ?
- What do we need to do in developing countries to promote a better quality of education for the teachers and for the children with disabilities ?.
- What are the rights of the children with disabilities in developing countries ? .
- How can we help and understand that the strategies are so different in a country with many economical and technical resources ,compared with the developing countries and even between them .
a) Third questionnaire
A GLOBAL SURVEY IN COLLABORATION WITH
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
-WHO in coordination with us , sent a third questionnaire about the Rules:
RULE 2 .- Medical care
RULE 3.- Rehabilitation
RULE 4.- Support services
RULE19.- Personnel training
related with health to promote the standard rules and give a monitoring exercise very important for al over the world .
The first four Rules in the Standard Rules document are gathered under the heading " Preconditions for Equal participation " . The message conveyed is that measures in these areas must be taken because they constitute necessary measures to enable the individual to participate actively in community . Three of these rules , medical care, rehabilitation and support services( including the provision of devices and equipment ) are areas of responsability for the World Health Organization .
In 1998 , in discussion between Mr Lindqvist , the panel of experts and representatives of the WHO it was agreed that a survey on the implementation of the Rules in these areas should be conducted . WHO offered to make the survey .
Information was gathered in 1999 through a questionnaire sent to all 191 government of States Members of WHO and to more than 600 national NGO´S in the disability field. The information collected covers issues related to the following four Rules : Rules 2 , medical care , rehabilitation , rule 4 support services and personnel training . The questionnaire , consisting of 35 questions , was distributed in April 1999 .
The objectives of the study was twofold : to identify government policies regarding medical care , rehabilitation , support services and personnel training and to identify strategies and problems encountered when working in the field of medical care and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities .
Replies were : 104 governments and 115 NGO´S . The full report of the survey will be published by WHO in 2000.
Some remarkable points are:
-The majority of the States have medical care , included within the general medical care system . They have prevention and rehabilitation and other programes . Less common programs were for early intervention and counselling parents .
- 15 countries do not have Programme=s
- In some countries there are National Rehabilitation Programmes , rehabilitations Institutes .
- In some countries the people with disabilities are involved through CBR
- In the majority the NGIO´S are involved in services and formulation and evaluation of Rehabilitation programmes , but a great number of countries do not have this , is the same in support services , and personal trainning
B) COMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS .
They were one of the most important areas of development in the second period .
- As a result of the work and coopperation the Comission on human rights in 1998 decided to discuss at its 54th session issues relating Human rights of persons with disabilties . Giving a resolution with a series of statements and recomendations for the future development of this Area . This document recognized the Standard Rules as an instrument to be used to asses the degree of compliance with the Human rights standards. We need to talk and consider education for everyone ,no matter the physical or mental disabilities that they can have . We are going to talk also about our own education as parents , professionals , and society to obtain a "culture of the diversity '.To have the tools to be more active in order to obtain better results .
WE MUST SHARE OUR SUCCESSES AND OUR FAILURES , BE ONE VOICE ALL OVER THE WORLD , FIGHTING FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE EXCLUDED , TO SEE OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS INCLUDED IN EVERY ASPECT OF OUR SOCIETIES .
THE TIME IS HERE , THE HOUR IS NOW. GENERATION AFTER GENERATION , THE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED FROM THE MAINSTREAM . MY SON WAS EXCLUDED DURING MANY YEARS FROM ANY POSSIBILITY OF EDUCATION ,AND YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER WAS PROBABLY ALSO EXCLUDED .
It is time to act , to share hands and efforts , to give information to everyone , to promote the right of education with quality for everyone .
I would like to dream in a future where the children could be part of the society in better conditions , specially in the developing countries . Where the parents could be in better emotional conditions being part of the team with the teachers , where the professionals and the government could empower these families and their children with disabilities
The purpose of the UN SR is to provide guidance to Member States concerning policies and measures to achieve the goals of " full participation and equality " . That goals most bring a new dimension into disability policies ,spreading towards the surrounding society and the human rights .
The recomendations in the SR are very progressive and yet there is no country , not even among the most advanced , which has fully implemented the Rules . In a short time the Rules have been accepted and are being used as the main policy guidelines in the disability field , both by governments and NGO´s .
In conclusion , this indicates that measures to make the Rules known must continue and be strenghtened , and every person present here can help to achieve this
" Any violation of the fundamental principle of equality or any discrimination or other negative differential treatment for persons with disabilities inconsistent with the United Nations "STANDARD RULES ON THE EQUALIZATION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ' is an infringement of the human rights of persons with disabilities "
Commision on Human Rights
Resolution 1998/31
Dra. Garé Fabila de Zaldo
Personal adress:
Guadalupe 42 Lomas de San AngelInn
México City CP 01060
Phone: ( 525) 683-03-09
Office: Rehabilitacion Center Comunidad Crecer
Calle 6 No 3
Ampliación Tepepan
Mexico City
Phone: ( 525) 675-08-88
Fax:
( 525) 675-08-88
e mail: garemex@prodigy.net.mx
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