Perú: An example not to be followed
By Julio Wilfredo Guzmán Jara (confenadip@hotmail.com)
The Peruvian State signed the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, it ratified this Convention by Legislative Decree No. 27484 of June 7, 2001. Also, Peru, by Legislative Decree No. 24509 (1986) ratified the Covenant 159 and the Covenant 168 of the International Labor Organization regarding persons with disabilities.
Peru, thanks to the permanent pressure from disability groups, has committed itself, ethically and morally, by signing international instruments and national legislation. We can say, therefore, that since 1970 ours is one of the most advanced countries in the planet, but there is a gap, from the official words to the government actions.
Dark figures
Reliable studies conducted during the last decade provide evidence that our country has a population of 26 million inhabitants, of which 54% live under poverty and 24% under extreme poverty conditions. Extreme poverty means that we have Peruvians surviving on about US$ 0.80 per day.
In Peru, 26% of the children under 5 years of age present chronic malnutrition, we have the second highest rate of tuberculosis in Latin America. We have entire communities and cities with endemic diseases like malaria, hepatitis B, and related conditions.
In Latin America we occupy the last place in language and the next to the last place in mathematics. The Peruvian health administration has been rated as one of the worse in the world. This situation only increases the number of persons with disabilities, as reported by the Pan-American Health Organization (1993)
Even our Minister of Health and the National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática, INEI) have determined the following: 45% of the national population presents some form of impairment, 31.18% some form of handicap and 13.08% present a disability
Those of us working in the area of disability for long time know that, there are at least 3 and a half million people with disabilities who need public policies and programs, with equal opportunities, including those living at remote geographical areas.
There is no doubt in our minds that disability issues must be resolved by a stronger joint participation of the government sector and the civil society. There is a great need to recognize that disability is part of human rights, and here we share the same problem of all the countries in the region: elected officials, constituted governments, are not assuming their legal, social, and political responsibilities at changing this reality.
Education and disability
There are 800 thousand school age persons with disabilities. According to official data, only 71 thousand are receiving some type of education at the almost 400 special schools or integrated programs in Peru. This means that less than 9% of school age persons with disabilities have access to school and this is a violation of human rights against persons with disabilities, because they are being denied schooling, knowledge, and training.
During this year of 2003, the Peruvian State has invested US$ 675 million in general education, but only US$ 7.3 million on special education, little more than 1% of the national budget for education. This is discrimination on the part of the authorities that prepare the National Budget.
Health and disability
During the year of 2001, the Peruvian State invested US$ 523 million on health and only US$ 2 million on services for persons with disabilities, less than 1%.
We all know that there is an implicit relationship between health and disability. The lack of adequate health and rehabilitation services increase the hardships of living with a disability.
We are facing a situation of accumulated neglect from this and previous governmental administrations. Education and health conditions have been deplorable and largely unattended to in Peru.
Work, employment, and disability
There are 2 million working age persons with disabilities in Peru, but reliable studies demonstrate that only 11% of them perform some type of productive activity and that the rest, 89%, rely on public assistance, dependency, and begging.
Of this 11% of persons with disabilities having some type of productive activity, a large part are underemployed and very few do have a satisfactory job at a meaningful work environment. This contradicts the Constitution of Peru, which contains many and very sound articles establishing the right to productive work for persons with disabilities, including credit opportunities and 10% quotas to be reserved for this sector of the population.
One of the problems we have detected, is that the Ministry of Labor, is not complying with its obligation of creating work positions for persons with disabilities. And this is not surprising, because the government has not complied.
Bad Path
Peru is an example of the bad path not to take in terms of disability. On closer inspection of this South American country, a huge gap between the existing norms and the everyday reality of people with disabilities emerges.
Therefore, we can conclude that with respect to human rights of disabled Peruvians, this is not the dominating reality but just an expectation, a situation that still needs to be built.
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