Aust Govt: support disabled to fight world poverty

MEDIA RELEASE February 26, 2006

Australian Government must support disabled to really fight global poverty

“Australia needs to be at the vanguard of supporting those with disabilities by signing the UN Convention on the Rights and Dignities of Person’s with Disabilities”, says Jack de Groot CEO of Caritas Australia”.

“The UN Convention supporting people with a disability, due to be signed on March 30, 2007, is a crucial mechanism to truly challenge discrimination,” said Mr de Groot on the eve of the launch of the Access for all: Disability and Development, exhibition held by the Australia Disability and Development Consortium.

“The Australian Government has dropped the ball on the link between disabilities and development’ said Mr de Groot, “70% of the people with disabilities live in the developing world, and 82% of them live below the poverty line. The statistics are staggering and yet the recent aid white paper failed to include any mention at all of how we support the disabled”

“We are calling on the Australian Government to show some leadership on this issue and be one of the first countries to sign onto this groundbreaking convention supporting the rights of those with disabilities, said Mr de Groot.

“Disability is both a cause and a consequence of poverty. Eliminating world poverty will not be achieved unless the rights and needs of people with disabilities is taken into account”

“We can really make a difference to people’s lives and meaningfully challenge poverty by focusing more of our aid program on supporting those with disabilities. Recent research suggests that up to 50 per cent of disabilities are preventable. If we can be proactive and stop many of these disabilities from occurring, the saving to health budgets and the increases in productivity will likely go a long way to effectively tackling poverty” said Mr de Groot.

Mr de Groot’s call to sign the UN Convention for Person’s with Disabilities comes as the Australian Disability and Development Consortium, of which Caritas Australia is a member, is launching an exhibition Access for all: Disability and Development at 10.30am, Presiding Officer’s exhibition area. East Side Australian Parliament House in Canberra, on 26th February, 2007

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Brief on Disability and Development

February 25, 2006.

Basic stats on Disability

- 650 million people worldwide suffer disability –

- at least 70% of these live in developing countries (455 million people )

- and 82% of these live below the poverty line (373 million people )

- it is estimated that 50% of disabilities are preventable (ie they result from diseases such as polio, which are easily prevented – or unsafe work practices and motor vehicle accidents)

Disability is both a cause and a consequence of poverty. Eliminating world poverty will not be achieved unless the rights and needs of people with disabilities is taken into account.

UN Convention on the Rights and Dignity of Person's with Disabilities
The 1st Human Rights treaty of the 21st century was formally adopted on December 13th 2006. The new Convention is particularly important because of the emphasis on the full participation of disabled people in all areas of life.

Why do we need a special convention for persons with disabilities?
In a perfect world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would be enough to protect everyone. But in practice 650 million disabled people in the world lack the opportunities of the mainstream population and encounter physical and social obstacles that:
· Prevent disabled people from receiving an education;
· Prevent disabled people from getting jobs, even when they are well qualified;
· Prevent disabled people from accessing information;
· Prevent disabled people from obtaining proper health care;
· Prevent disabled people from getting around;
· Prevent disabled people from “fitting in” and being accepted.

Does this convention create new rights?
No, what the convention does, however, is express existing rights in a manner that addresses the needs and situation of persons with disabilities.

How does it become law?
Of the 192 member states, only 20 need to sign and ratify the Convention for it to become law in that country.

What about existing legislation? Is it not working?
Some countries have existing legislation, but because of discriminatory practices, disabled peoples rights are overlooked. A universal, legally binding standard is needed to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are guaranteed everywhere.
In Australia the recent aid policy white paper did not mention disabled or disability at all and we see this as a major area where we can improve our aid effectiveness

What exactly would this convention do?
By ratifying the convention, a country accepts its legal obligations under the treaty by adopting implementing legislation once the convention enters into force.

Is it realistic to think that a convention will improve the lives of disabled people?
The Convention is a major step toward changing the perception of disability and ensure that societies recognize that all people must be provided with the opportunities to live life to their fullest potential, whatever that may be.

How will this convention be monitored?
Once the convention enters into force, participating countries (called “States Parties” at the UN) are required to report on their progress in implementing their treaty obligations.

What happens now?
The Convention will be open for signing at a ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York on 30th March 2007.

Why should Australia sign? Australia should sign to ensure the rights of disabled people in our country are met but also to reinforce the need for the Australian Government to focus more of its aid program on supporting those with disabilities.

What is Australia doing now? The Government do not keep these figures but what we do know is that the Australian Govenrment has put a lot of money into landmines clearing, this is a great start and clear recognition that the Australian Government recognizes the impact of disability that can result from these mines. It is worryiong though that the recent aid white paper the government released failed to even mention disability or the disabled.
Hence signing the UN convention is a good first step for our government to get back on the path to challenging international poverty

The costs of disability
It’s very difficult to get accurate figures on this, but we do know that the costs are enormous. In India alone it is estimated at billions of dollars a year in productivity. Think about the money that is spent on health care, the millions of volunteer hours that are put into care by family and friends – if we can really tackle disability through international development, we do have a chance to make poverty history.

ALSO
There is a great DFID backgrounder on the links between disability, poverty and development here: partic worth a read the introduction, costs of disability and the role of development cooperation

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/disability.pdf. - I cant cut and paste from it but it is easy to read and good info

ENDS

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