The Third Attempt at an International Convention on Disability

by Nagase Osamu,Institute on Disability & Communication, Yokohama, Japan
(AXV4450@biglobe.ne.jp and website http://ehrlich.shinshu-u.ac.jp/tateiwa/1.htm)
 

Currently there are moves to propose a convention on the rights of disabled persons at the United Nations.  This short article tries to give readers some brief background and insights.

At the international level, a convention on disability was first proposed at the "Global Meeting of Experts to Review the Implementation of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons at the Mid-Point of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons", Stockholm 17-22 August 1987.  This meeting was historic.  It was the first U.N expert meeting in which the majority of experts were disabled people.  And the meeting recommended an international convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against disabled persons.

First attempt in 1987, followed by 1989 attempt

The Italian Government, represented by Prof. Maria Rita Saulle, who attended the Stockholm Meeting as an expert,  brought the proposal straight to the UN General Assembly that same year.  This "Italian proposal" did not get enough support from other Member States.  Some governments, including Australia, Japan, and U.K.,  voiced concerns about "financial implications".

Others, including Nordic countries,  were concerned about seeming duplications, stating that human rights of disabled persons were already protected by existing universal human rights documents including the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Yet others did not support the convention on the grounds that the creation of a new instrument would lead to marginalization of disabled persons.

So, as we know well, the Italian proposal was defeated in 1987 and so was the Swedish proposal for a convention subsequently in 1989.

Standard Rules adopted

But the direct result of the Swedish Initiative was the establishment of "the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities" by the U.N. General Assembly in 1993.  And despite the hard work of Mr. Bengt Lindqvist, the Special Rapporteur, and the organizations participating in the UN Panel of Experts, there were calls for the establishment of a legally binding international convention throughout the 1990's.

The "mystery of 1987 and 1989", as I call it, was the absence of  NGO activity and lobbying for the convention at the regional and national levels during these years.  As a programme officer of DPI Asia-Pacific Regional Office in Tokyo, under Mr. Eita Yashiro, then the Asia-Pacific Regional Chair, I recall that  there was no communication from DPI Headquarters asking national members of DPI to approach their governments to support the convention.  Perhaps this was unavoidable.  DPI was young and did not yet know what and how to lobby on such high levels.  Driedger noted that DPI lobbying efforts at the UN in 1987 "was a training opportunity for DPI representatives who had not lobbied at the UN level before - which happened to be most of the members" ("Last Civil Rights Movement", 1989, Hurst, p. 102).  In Driedger's book, there is no reference to the convention.

More active NGO efforts recently

This was quite different from the process which resulted in the declaration of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (1993 to 2002) in 1992.  DPI Asia-Pacific Regional Office did its best to keep the national members in the region informed, and asked them to lobby their governments to support the declaration at the ESCAP meeting.

The major difference between 1987/1989 and 2000 is and should be the active involvement of NGO's in the efforts.  Of the five principal organizations which issued "Beijing Declaration on the Rights of People with Disabilities in the New Century", which are Inclusion International, Disabled Peoples' International, Rehabilitation International, World Blind
Union, and World Federation of the Deaf. As examples,Inclusion International has already circulated the information on the Declaration among its national assemblies, prompting them to start lobbying, and several RI promotional efforts are reported on their website: www.Rehab-International.org

If the current effort is to be remembered as NGO/Chinese Proposal of 2000, then the chance of a convention on the rights of disabled person is to be much greater.  So, the great challenge is with members of NGO's.

Current appeals for Japanese government and public support

And those of us, whose governments have been opposing the convention, this is the time to talk to the governments and ask for public support.  As for Japan,  Mr. Deng Pufang, Chair of  China Disabled Persons Federation, which hosted the Disability NGO Summit in Beijing in March, paid a visit to Japan from 12 to 21 July 2000.  During his visit, Mr. Deng met Mr. Asano, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who not indicate the official position of the Japanese Government on the convention.

Against this inaction, and as an appeal to the Japanese public,  my opinion piece, entitled, "Let us support the convention on the rights of disabled people, "was published by Asahi Newspaper, one of the most influential newspapers in Japan, with more than eight million circulation on 26 July 2000.  This is another exciting time to be a part of a global movement.  Let us all do our share to make this "third" attempt at the convention the last and final one, with a great success.