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MARK May 3 on your calendar because it is the day a groundbreaking
new international treaty, the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities, comes into force. The
Philippines, India and Bangladesh are the three countries in Asia
Pacific that have ratified the convention.
The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention
and its Optional Protocol in December 2006. The Philippines became a
signatory on September 25, 2007, and ratified it on April 15, 2008,
becoming the 23rd country to acknowledge the obligation to be bound
by the provisions of the pact.
The convention is a major advance towards
changing perceptions of disability and ensures that societies
recognize that all persons must be provided with the opportunities
to live life to its fullest.
The United Nations reports that about 10 percent
of the world’s population—around 650 million people—are
estimated to be living with various forms of disabilities. The
estimate for the Philippines is about eight million.
“People with disabilities are mostly
marginalized and among the poorest of the poor, with limited access
to education, employment, housing, transportation and health
services,” the UN Population and Social Integration Section said.
“They represent a significant but generally overlooked development
challenge.”
In the Philippines, sectoral representatives of
persons with disabilities, along with government agencies, are
organizing a celebration to mark the entry into force of the
landmark convention.
The National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA),
led by its chairperson, Mrs. Rosie Lovely T. Romulo, along with
NGOs, has planned out activities to commemorate the event.
The activities include a big “unity walk”
and a program to demonstrate the strong support for the pact by the
community of the impaired. The walk seeks to draw attention to the
lives of persons with physical, mental, intellectual, sensory and
developmental impairments, who have the same rights enjoyed by the
non-impaired.
The UN document spells out the rights of persons
with disabilities to jobs, health, education, humane living
conditions, freedom of movement, freedom from exploitation and equal
recognition before the law.
Said Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights: “I cannot stress enough the importance of this
ground-breaking convention, which fills an important gap in
international human rights legislation affecting millions of people
around the world.
“Persons with disabilities across the world
have faced discriminatory treatment and egregious human rights
violations on a daily basis. Now, finally, we have a solid
international legal framework in place that should allow them to
cast off restrictions that have been placed on them by the rest of
society.”
Protection from ridicule
AS the United Nations worked on the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Philippine Congress
quietly debated and passed a law providing privileges and incentives
to Filipinos with disabilities and prohibiting verbal, nonverbal
ridicule and vilification against them.
Republic Act 9442, an act amending RA 7227,
quietly cleared the bicameral conference committee in late 2007. The
implementing rules were published in the major dailies on Jan. 21,
2008, paving the way for enforcement.
RA 9442 grants additional privileges and
incentives to citizens with disabilities. Under the law, they are
entitled to at least 20 percent discount from services enjoyed in
hotels, restaurants, sports and recreation centers. Entitlement to
discount is also granted for education, medical and dental services,
and air and sea transportation.
Those and related establishments (including
government facilities) shall provide express lanes and, in their
absence, priority shall be given to persons with disabilities in all
transactions.
The law borrows from the spirit of the Expanded
Senior Citizens’ Act of 2003. But it goes one step further by
prohibiting verbal and nonverbal ridicule and vilification against
persons with disabilities.
Public ridicule is defined as “an act of
making fun or contemptuous imitating or making mockery of persons
with disabilities whether in writing or in words, or in action due
to their impairments.”
What constitutes acts of public ridicule? Making
fun of a person on account of his disability “even through jokes
in a manner that is degrading resulting to (sic) the embarrassment
of the person in front of two or more persons.”
Imitating a person with disability in public
gatherings, carnivals and TV and stage shows is an offense. The law
draws the line on any activity in public that incites hatred,
ridicule and contempt towards a PWD.
Filipino humor in TV and movies gets easy laughs
from the exploitation of physical impairment. The depiction of
verbal and physical disabilities is considered funny by movie
producers and directors. Some comedians have prospered by portraying
characters with disabilities.
In the barangay, a person with disability often
gets his handicap attached to his name, courtesy of friends and
neighbors.
Together, RA 9442 and the UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities will expand the full enjoyment
of human rights and the basic freedoms of persons with disabilities.
The two instruments will strengthen respect for their inherent
dignity.
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