Sri Lanka to Ratify UNCRPD

International Campaign Coordinator Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD) UK, Gopal Mitra wants the Government to ratify the United Nation Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to protect rights and give due recognition to disabled people in society .

He said that Sri Lanka became a signatory to the Convention in 2007 but has not ratified it by incorporating it in the local legal system. If Sri Lanka ratifies the convention it will help to build the image of the country internationally.

Mitra speaking to the media said that the ratification of the Convention will help to protect the rights of disabled people, they are a force to be reckoned with as they consist 10 percent of the global population.

He said that LCD is playing an important role in urging the Government to ratify this convention in the SAARC region. India and Bangladesh are the only two countries that have ratified the Convention from among 66 other countries. At present 140 countries are signatories to the Convention, he said.

LCD Resource Center (LCDRC) Legal Consultant M.H.P Gunaratne said the UN Convention was set up to protect the rights of the disabled and their inherent dignity. "Its ratification will help us to obtain foreign assistance," he said.

He said that though Sri Lanka signed the Convention in 2007 it has not approved the incorporation of this Convention into its legal system. They also conducted several campaigns under the leadership of young persons with disabilities in Sri Lanka to ratify the UNCRPD including the Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake.

Gunaratne said that Sri Lanka accounts for 5-6 percent of its population with impairment and disabilities. Majority of them live in rural areas and constitute one of the most excluded and poor sections of the society.

Attitudinal,institutional and environmental barriers have prevented them from accessing, basic human rights such as education, health care livelihoods, social security, participation and rehabilitation services.

First Disability Survey in Pakistan by end of August

After negotiating for a period of six months, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education and World Bank have entered into a final phase to conduct the First National Disability Survey, TheNation has learnt on Monday.

As the project was supposed to be implemented by the end of March but due to some impediments it was delayed. And now it is being expected to execute the plan by end of August.

In this connection, a high level meeting is being held today (Tuesday) between the high–ups of Ministry and the World Bank to give final touch to the proposed plan.

A delegation of the World Bank would meet the Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Samina Khalid Ghurki to brief her on the said project and after getting a nod from her the survey would be conducted.

The proposed survey project is a brainchild of the Ministry while the World Bank is the donor agency.

According to an official of the Ministry, Federal Bureau of Statistics would conduct the survey and initially, the survey would be carried out in selected cities of the four provinces, including AJK. In first phase, the survey would be executed on pilot basis, later a full fledge survey would be conducted across the country.

The official opined that the findings of survey would help the Ministry in policy–making and strategising plans and projects to address the grievances of marginalised segment of the society.

"The first ever survey has been planed with an aim to acquire exact data of disability prevalence in Pakistan as currently authorities are without any authentic statistics regarding disability ratio in Pakistan," the official noted.

He was of the view that the project would help getting first hand information about the social, economical and political situation of the special persons in Pakistan and their access to the basic necessities of life, including health and education.

"During the 1998 census disability related questions appeared for the first time. It is anticipated that during the next census, scheduled for 2009, questions of disability will also be included," he added.

However, the official said, "It would not help to get comprehensive information regarding all types of disability prevalence and its causes in the country". "Whereas this survey is one of its kind and never before in the history of Pakistan such initiative was taken in this regard," he added.

India passes free education bill

The Indian parliament has approved a landmark education bill which seeks to guarantee free and compulsory education for children aged between six and 14.

The bill, passed by the lower house of parliament, will set up new state-run neighbourhood schools.

It will also force private ones to reserve at least a quarter of their places for poor children.

Currently about 70 million children receive no schooling, and more than a third of the population is illiterate.

The bill was passed by the upper house last month.

It now needs presidential assent - a mere formality, correspondents say - to become law.

'New era'

India's Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal described the passage of the bill as "harbinger of a new era" for children to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

"We as a nation cannot afford our children not going to schools," he said.

The minister said the bill covers children with disabilities and that the government is planning to set up special schools for them.

"This bill provides for the inclusion of children who are disadvantaged because of disability. The government is not only setting up special schools for them but doing all it can to provide education to them in all types of schools," Mr Sibal said.

The bill also ends widespread practices by which schools impose admission fees on parents to guarantee their children a place and bureaucrats enjoy discretionary powers on deciding who to let in.

Achieving universal education is one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals to be met by the year 2015.

Critics of the bill, however, say it is not clear how the government plans to pay for this.

Also, they say it does not cover children below the age of six and therefore fails to recognise the importance of the early years of a child's development.

They say it also does little to address India's inequitable school system under which there are vast discrepancies between well-funded private schools and state-run schools with poor quality teaching staff and infrastructure.

At the moment India spends a little over 3% of its GDP on education.