Good news to our PWDs! The Philippines was the latest country that signed last Wednesday, September 25 the United Nations (UN) agreement on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said it only shows the country’s respect for the rights of persons with disabilities.
Romulo said the signatories engage themselves to develop and carry out policies, laws and administrative measures for securing the rights recognized in the convention, and abolish laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination.
He stressed that the convention is not asking for any new rights for the disabled, nor asking for anything that they don’t already enjoy, but only that “persons with disabilities enjoy the same opportunities in society that everybody else already enjoys.”
The convention is one of the fastest negotiated treaties in the history of the United Nations, what with its adoption last December after only three years of negotiation.
Our congratulations to NCWDP through Ma’am Kate Fermin and Ma’am Nel De Jesus together with Mr. Lauro Purcil and other PWD groups for pushing for this to be ratified. Special congratulations too is very much due for our tatay, Sir Leo Valdes, for providing the inputs in Article 9 – Accessibility which are;
(g) To promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communication technologies and systems, including the
Internet; and (h) To promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.
We are proud that the Manila Declaration on Accessible ICT is the major reason for Paragraphs 2(g) and 2(h) above.
References:
- UN List of Countries that Ratified the Treaty – http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/convbycountry.htm
- UN Enable (Promoting the Rights and Dignities of Persons with Disabilities) – http://www.un.org/disabilities/
- UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Content – http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=259
