The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Ak Keme Hotel Conference Hall, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, June 17 and 18, 2008.

The United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006 adopted the text of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol. Within two years 20 states ratified the Convention which was put into force on 3 May 2008. This made it the Convention which has been the fastest to be set into force so far. Up to today 129 states have signed the Convention, and 27 states have ratified it.


The Convention signals a global commitment to improve the opportunities for people with disabilities so that they enjoy all rights on the same basis as other people without being discriminated. The Optional Protocol establishes two procedures aimed at strengthening the implementation and monitoring of the Convention. The first is an individual communications procedure allowing individuals to submit complaints to the Committee claiming breaches of their rights; the second is an inquiry procedure giving the Committee authority to undertake inquiry visits to the State Party to investigate grave or systematic violations of the Convention.


Below are some of the rights covered by the Convention:

• equality before the law without discrimination
• right to life, liberty and security of the person
• equal recognition before the law and legal capacity
• right to respect physical and mental integrity
• right to live in the community

The Mental Health Initiative is a sub-program of the Open Society Institute’s Public Health Program that is based in Budapest and that works in the countries of the former communist bloc to promote the social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

Kyrgyzstan constitutes one of the fifteen former Soviet Republics. It has gained its independence in1991.


According to figures cited by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development there are 111 thousand people with disabilities in the country. This number constitutes 2.1% of the total population of Kyrgyzstan. Based on accounts and experience of the persons with disabilities, many of them do not enjoy de facto the rights which are stipulated in the national legislation. For instance, physical accessibility to various facilities, transport, buildings is a huge problem in Kyrgyzstan. In practical terms it means that persons with locomotor sytem impairment who use wheelchairs cannot access public buildings or transport without someone’s help as there are no special ramps.


Mental Health and Society in Kyrgyzstan has been a long-term partner of The Mental Health Initiative both as a service provider and as an advocate for reform in mental health care. Mental Health and Society focuses on deinstitutionalization; on creating sustainable alternatives in the community to the current system of segregated care in large size institutions.

On 3rd June 2008, Mental Health and Society, along with other NGOs that work for people with disabilities, had a meeting with representatives of the UN OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) and the UN Development Program to prepare for the June 17th and 18th conference.


UN Agencies decided to convene this event to increase awareness about newly adopted Convention and its Optional Protocol among a wide range of national stakeholders including persons with disabilities, NGOs, ministries and members of the Parliament.

Along with Dr. Burul Makenbaeva, executive director of Mental Health and Society and Aigul Kyzalakova, social worker with Mental Health and Society, I attended the conferences that were held in Ak Keme Hotel’s Conference Hall in Bishkek between 9 am and 4 pm.


Present were:
United Nations Human Rights Advisor, Dr. Oskar Lehner.
National Programme Officer of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Saltanat Sadykova.
Minister of Labor and Social Development, Ms. Oktomhan Abdullaeva.
Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Social Policy Committee, Mr. Nikolay Bailo.
Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Mr. Kasymbek Mambetov.

Moreover, there were around 30 people with disabilities and representatives of NGOs that work in the disabilities rehabilitation/protection/advocacy areas.

Member of Parliament, Nikolay Bailo said that it’s important that Kyrgyzstan ratifies the convention, but that it is a process and it will have to happen eventually.

When the topic of education was being discussed, Mr Bailo mentioned that the government is short of money to provide education for normal people, how can it possibly provide money for the disabled? This comment received huge criticism precisely from Dr. Burul Makenbaeva who argued that the mere reference to ‘normal’ and ‘disabled’ implies discrimination. Dr. Makenbaeva added that the real implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities starts with a change in attitude towards the disabled; a transformation from pity and charity to equality.

Above:
Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Social Policy Committee, Mr. Nikolay Bailo.

From left to Right:
* National Programme Officer of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Saltanat Sadykova.
* Executive director of Mental Health and Society, Dr. Burul Makenbaeva.
* United Nations Human Rights Advisor, Dr. Oskar Lehner.
* Myself.