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Summary: Muhannad Alazzeh talks to CRIN about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the context of the Middle East and North Africa. Muhannad is the Regional Coordinator for Research and Training for Handicap International’s MENA regional office based in Jordan.
What made you want to work on rights issues? What do you think are some of the gaps/ problems in the region in addressing the rights of persons with disabilities? In fact, many things which are needed to ensure inclusion are not costly, for example, ramps in schools are cheap to install. Many people argue that all human rights Conventions also apply to persons with disabilities, what do you feel is the value of the new Convention? The Convention has had an impact at the national level in some States even before they have ratified this. Jordan, for example, has developed a national strategy for persons with disabilities, but there is still a lack of deep understanding about human rights and rights based approaches. However, it was the first time in Jordan that people with disabilities were invited to participate at all stages of the drafting of a national strategy. Some aspects of the strategy are controversial though, for example, the definition of disability. There is also no specific article on children, although their rights are mentioned in the general principles. Does the Convention miss out anything that you feel should be included or that disability rights organisations had lobbied for but is not in the Convention? Article 12 on legal capacity is problematic. It grants people with disabilities full legal capacity to act, conduct their legal affairs, etc. If a person with disabilities needs specific support, this doesn’t mean they should be considered incapable. The Russian and Chinese government initially made a various dangerous proposed reservation on this article which said they understand and interpret legal capacity to have the right to legal capacity, but not to act themselves. This could be resolved through supported decision making to ensure that he or she can take own decisions. Children are some of the most affected by this. The reservation was eventually removed after a lot of lobbying, but the governments said they would still understand the article in this way. Article 26 is insufficient to reflect the concept and vision of rehabilitation to support and adopt policies and programmes, the UN Standard Rules provide more comprehensive guidance on this. What would you say is the next stage for civil society organisations working on disability rights?   Â
I have a legal background, I have a PhD in law, but it was when I returned to Jordan after having studied abroad that I decided to work in human rights. It was primarily because of the different types of discrimination I experienced in universities which gave me the motivation to do this.
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa need to work to ensure inclusive education. Many of these countries argue that this requires huge expenses and economic laws which means they do not have the capacity to make this happen. But they should read the article of the Convention which provides for inclusive education in relation to other articles, for example, the article on international cooperation. There should be studies and efforts to clarify this issue so the States cannot misuse the Convention in this way. For these gaps, we can refer back to the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.
Its importance comes from its legal nature, it is the first binding instrument specifically for people with disabilities. The drafting process was very fruitful because of the participation of civil society and the fact that people with disabilities had the right to make statements to governments on this. It also created strong networks and alliances.
We must organise lobbying for those governments which have not signed the Convention to sign, and for those countries which have not ratified, to ratify. In those countries which have ratified, there needs to be some capacity building to disseminate awareness about the legal implications of the Convention. Some think that ratification is enough, but in some countries it can take 30-35 years for Conventions to come into force in national legislation, for example, I know of two countries which ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the 1970s, but they did come into force until the 21st century.