Credit: DH Illustration
December 3 is observed as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. For 750 million persons with disabilities (PwDs) who live in the Asia-Pacific region, it is a significant day to assess the impact of the Jakarta Declaration endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) member-states on May 19 2023 to empower PwDs in the region and to ensure their meaningful participation in the society. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), along with the Incheon Strategy to make the “rights real” for PwDs in the Asia-Pacific region, and the 2030 Agenda continue to act as a normative human rights framework for making development inclusive for PwDs. Despite the rhetoric to make these rights real and observing 2013-2022 as the decade of PwDs in the region, ESCAP’s final review in October 2022 has indicated that amidst progress recorded in realising disability rights, there are glaring gaps in creating sustainable and inclusive societies for PwDs.
There are certain quintessential conditions necessary to make development inclusive for PwDs in the region. The foremost is the political will to promote disability inclusion. Inclusive development continues to remain a ‘political wish’ for low- and middle-income countries. That only 29 countries have participated in the voluntary reporting during the review reflects a lack of commitment on the part of the regional governments to implement the Incheon Strategy effectively. There is no evidence of parliamentary oversight on the executive to monitor the implementation of disability policies and legislations in the region. The Indian disability law has ensured legislature oversight over the executive through a provision under which the annual report of the Chief Commissioner and the State Commissioners for PwDs on the implementation of the disability law has to be laid before each house of the parliament and the state legislature, as the case may be. This is an enabling provision that should reflect in the disability legislations of the countries in the region.
As indicated in ESCAP’s final review report, only 41.4% of the countries in the region have ratified the CRPD and have harmonised their policies and laws with the CRPD. The governments that have ratified the convention need to submit a national report periodically to the CRPD Committee on the implementation of the convention and develop an action plan for implementing the recommendations of the CRPD committee after the concluding observations by the committee. Most of the countries have failed to submit their national reports periodically and have been requested to submit combined reports which has not been complied with by many governments.
There is a strong correlation between rule of law and disability inclusion. Countries in the region that have stronger adherence to rule of law have generally fared better in making development inclusive. According to the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2024 Report, the global ranking (from 0 to 141 with 01 indicating strongest adherence to rule of law) of countries in the Asia-Pacific region varies between 06 (New Zealand) and 141 (Cambodia) depicting a wide spectrum of variation in adherence.
Improving social protection
There is a bi-directional link between poverty and disability. One out of five persons living in poverty is a PwD – deprivation in health, education, and livelihoods impacts a large percentage of PwDs. Social health protection is inadequate in low- and middle-income countries in the region and few countries are providing support to meet additional disability-related costs, as a result of which ‘Out of Pocket Expenditure’ in the case of PwDs is comparatively high in comparison to those without disabilities. The governments need to rethink on making social protection inclusive and support PwDs and their families to meet additional disability-related costs that are pushing them further into poverty.
Reservation in public sector employment in some countries has enabled PwDs – as in the case of India – to be gainfully employed and be part of the decision-making process within the government. Indian disability legislation has provided 4% reservation in civil service which has provided the much-needed impetus for aspiring candidates with disabilities to join civil service and become role models for the youth with disabilities.
The UN has a critical role to play in making development inclusive for PwDs and as mandated in the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS). As technical partners of governments in developing countries, it should ensure that relevant development plans, strategies, and projects supported by them are disability-inclusive. The key objective of the UNDIS is to bring a transformational change across the UN system in terms of disability inclusion so that the organisation is ‘fit for purpose’ and is in a position to support governments in achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and implementation of the CRPD, among other human rights treaties, as well as humanitarian and development commitments such as the Incheon Strategy.
It is important to note that after four years of implementation of UNDIS, the latest report of the UN Secretary General states that as on December 31 2022, 67% of the requirements of the strategy have not been met. According to the accountability framework of the strategy, 66% of the UN entities and 72% of the UN Country Teams are yet to meet the requirements of disability inclusion. UN entities in the Asia-Pacific region need to enhance their knowledge and capacity on disability inclusion and senior management as envisaged in the UNDIS to proactively advocate for disability inclusion.
Efforts to make the rights real for PwDs will fructify if governments take on the ownership of bringing a transformational and sustainable change, by taking a whole-of-government and all-of-society approach in implementing the CRPD, disability-inclusive SDGs and national disability laws that are CRPD-compliant.
(The writer is a former UNDP Chief Technical Advisor on Inclusive Governance, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of Lao PDR)