Marcia Rioux Professor & Graduate Program Director, M.A., PhD (Critical Disability Studies) York University, Toront

1. Marcia Rioux Professor & Graduate Program Director, M.A., PhD (Critical Disability Studies) York University, Toronto Canada mrioux@yorku.ca drpi@yorku.ca D.R.P.I. Session Rehabilitation International World CongressAugust, 2008Disability Rights Promotion International: A Holistic Approach to Monitoring the Human Rights of People with Disabilities in the Global World

2. RAISING AWARENESS THAT DISABILITY IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE IS AN IMPORTANT FIRST STEP “ In all societies of the world there are obstacles preventing persons with disabilities from exercising their rights and freedoms, and making it difficult for them to participate fully in the activities of their societies.” BengtLindqvist (U.N. Special Rapporteur on Disability (1994-2002) EU Conference on Disability, November 2006

3. Government policies, programs and constitutional guarantees and… The realities for people with disabilities who continue to live without their human rights. Holistic Monitoring Builds in a way to measure the Gap

4. U.N. Special Rapporteur Recommends Twin-Track Approach “ Mainstreaming and a convention should be seen as complementary approaches and a ‘twin-track’ approach should be applied in the field of human rights and disabled persons.” Bengt Lindqvist U.N. Special Rapporteur on Disability (1994-2002)

5. “Almåsa Seminar”November 2000: International Seminar “Let the World Know” recommends establishing an international disability rights monitoring system

6. DRPI is a collaborative project working to establish a comprehensive, sustainable international system to monitor human rights of people with disabilities. Disability Rights Promotion International

7. Human Rights Principles • Dignity • Autonomy • Non-discrimination & Equality • Participation, Inclusion & Accessibility • Respect for difference

8. Cameroon

9. Addressing Disability Discrimination Worldwide

10. Cameroon Kenya

11. What is monitoring? • The collection, verification and use of information to address human rights problems; • Involves researching, gathering, analysing, and reporting information; • With the purpose of identifying human rights abuses and violations and support efforts to remedy them; • Monitoring is intended to bring about social change: recommendations for law and policy development

12. Monitoring is an Empowering Activity • Provides a voice to marginalized people; • Enhances public awareness by documenting abuses and violations; • Reinforces a collective identity among persons with disabilities; • Supports efforts to achieve social justice

13. Monitoring is …… measuring progress toward justice for people with disabilities.

14. DRPI Monitors Disability Discrimination Worldwide • Africa • South America • Asia • North America • North America • Asia South America Africa

15. DRPI Guiding Principles • Leading role of People with Disabilities & their Organizations • Sustainability and Capacity Building • Cross-Disability Involvement • Holistic Monitoring: Integrating 3 monitoring information from 3 areas • Engagement with Multi-Sectoral Organizations

16. Holistic Approach to Disability Rights Monitoring Holistic approach examines 3 monitoring areas providing a broad picture of human rights situation of people with disabilities.

17. 1. Monitoring Systems • Fact finding about government laws, policies, programs and legal cases • Legal Education & Research • National Human Rights Cases • Strategic Disability Rights Litigation • On-going systemic monitoring in Australia, Bolivia, Canada, India, Kenya, U.S.A.

18. Monitoring Systems • Places individual stories in context; • Involves the investigation of the laws, policies and programs affecting people with disabilities in a particular jurisdiction; • Serves to determine whether legislative frameworks in place fail to respect and protect the human rights of disabled people, or even violate them by containing discriminatory dispositions

19. Monitoring Systems

20. DRPI Law and Policy Monitoring Template • Principles and Concepts • Right to Access to Justice • Rights to Information and Communication • Rights to Privacy and Family Life • Rights to Independent Living and Participation • Right to Education • Rights to Income Security and Support Services • Rights to Health, Habilitation and Rehabilitation • Right to Work Monitoring Systems

21. DRPI Law and Policy Monitoring Template Monitoring Systems

22. Partners in Monitoring Systems Human Rights Organizations: • Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva) • International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) (Geneva) • Interights (England) • Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights & Humanitarian Law (Sweden) National Human Rights Institutions: • Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions • Canadian Human Rights Commission

23. Partners in Monitoring Systems: Canada Government Departments & Agencies: • ARCH – Legal Resource Centre for People withDisabilities (Canada) • Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitationand Social Integration (Canada) • Office des personnes handicapées du Québec –Government of Quebec (Canada) • Office for Disability Issues – Government of Canada • Statistics Canada

24. 2. Monitoring Individual Experiences Fact-finding about peoples’ actual situations in their communities.

25. Disability and Human Rights Seminar, Nairobi, Kenya Involving representatives from 78Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Switzerland

26. Monitoring Individual Experiences: • To document individual experiences of exercise and denial of human rights; • The aggregate outcome of individual monitoring can reveal broader patterns of discrimination; • Individual interviews; • Monitors are persons with disabilities.

27. Monitoring Individual Experiences • The Interview Guide covers: • Socio-demographic variables (e.g. age, sex, type of disability, type of household, proximity of infrastructures in the community,..) • Experiences of access to, or denial of, human rights basic principles, and how interviewees dealt with them • Qualitative analysis of data on the basis of the DRPI coding scheme and supported by DRPI technical manuals

28. Monitoring Individual Experiences Excerpt from the D.R.P.I. Interview Guide [ Dignity ] HOW did this situation make you feel and WHY? (For example, did you feel respected/not respected, ignored/cared for, worthy/unworthy?) WHAT made you feel that way? WHY do you think people treated you that way?

29. Monitoring Individual Experiences • Reporting: an excerpt from State of Disabled Peoples Rights in Kenya, 2007: “[the research] clearly indicates that experiences of oppression, discrimination and violation of basic human rights pervade the lives of many disabled people in Kenya. As it emerged from the stories gathered, most people with disabilities, regardless of their age, gender, where they live or their disability type, are prevented from making decisions on issues that affect their lives. (…) They face prejudice and negative stereotypes, and are excluded in a multitude of ways from their communities and mainstream society. Viewed as a burden and a curse to their families, they are regarded as second class citizens. Their dignity, as members of the human family, is seriously affected.”

30. Disability and Human Rights Seminar Nairobi, Kenya

31. Technical Skills Learning How to Monitor: • Obtaining consent • Interviewing techniques • Getting all the facts • Snowball sampling • Taking notes & recording • Maintaining confidentiality Monitoring Individual Experiences

32. Essential Principles • All reporting documents and practices must be user-friendly. • Involvement of people with disabilities is necessary and essential. Monitoring Individual Experiences

33. Monitoring in Teams of People with Disabilities • Builds solidarity • Builds capacity • Fosters sustainability Monitoring Individual Experiences

34. Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya

35. DRPI – KENYAIndividual Disability Rights Monitor Training February, 2006 Monitoring Sites: • Nairobi (urban) • Rift Valley (urban & rural) • Nyanza (urban & rural) Monitoring Individual Experiences

36. DRPI - KENYA Partners: • African Union of the Blind (AFUB) • Kenya Union of the Blind (KUB) • Kenya Centre for Disability Rights Education & Advocacy (CREAD) • University of Nairobi, Faculty of Law • Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired (SRF) Monitoring Individual Experiences

37. Kenya

38. Kenya

39. DRPI – CAMEROONIndividual Disability Rights Monitor Training October, 2006 Monitoring Sites: • Yaoundé (urban) • Menoua Division (rural) • Bamenda (urban) Monitoring Individual Experiences

40. DRPI – CAMEROON Partners: • African Union of the Blind • Cameroon National Association of the Blind • Cameroon National Association of Disabled Cameroon • National Association of the Deaf • Cameroon National Association of Lepers • Cameroon National Association of the Physically Disabled • Cameroon National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms Monitoring Individual Experiences

41. Kenya Countryside near Nairobi

42. Cameroon

43. Cameroon

44. Cameroon

45. Cameroon

46. Cameroon

47. Workshop on Understanding Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities India September, 2006 Monitoring Individual Experiences

48. India

49. DRPI - INDIAIndividual Disability Rights Monitor Training May, 2007 Monitoring Sites: • Hyderabad (urban) • Kurnool (town) • Villages in Visakhapatnam District (rural) • Thokuru Village (Ananthagiri Mandal) • Konapuram (Ananthagiri Mandal) • Kondiva (Ananthagiri Mandal) • Malchingaram (Araku Mandal) Monitoring Individual Experiences

50. India