| “We definitely hope that something will be done urgently,” said Administrative Manager of the National Commission on Disability, Ms Beverly Pile, when she commented on the need for passage of the Disability Bill.Pile said yesterday that the Commission which is located at 49 Croal Street, Georgetown, has been the nerve centre to which all concerns of disabled persons are brought. And according to the Administrative Manager “they keep asking about the Bill. All we can say is yes we are working on it and that the Minister is doing everything possible.”However, such an advisory only serves to make Persons with Disabilities and those within the Disabled People’s Organisations to become more despondent and frustrated, Pile noted.Currently, there is nothing that can be done on their behalf, as there is nothing documented to give disabled persons any special rights.Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, under whose purview the Commission falls, emphasised recently, that although Guyana has made tremendous progress over the years there is still much more to be done in the area of disability prevention and rehabilitation.He said, “I am disappointed that we have not been able to pass the Disability Bill,” an area he noted that requires continued focus.As part of its Disability Week observance last year, the Guyana Council for the Blind emphasised urgency of such a Bill in the society.During the 2007 observance, the Minister had suggested that the Bill would have been laid before the National Assembly during last year. Guyana had in fact signed unto the United Nations Convention on Disability in March 2007.Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asks that State parties take steps to safeguard and promote that realisation of the right to an adequate standard of living and social protection, including ensuring “access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability-related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care.”These instruments mark a clear reaffirmation that persons with disabilities have the right to full and equal enjoyment of their human rights. They also mark a clear reaffirmation of the principles of ‘dignity and justice for all of us.It has also been established that dignity and justice for all persons are universal principles. Since its inception, the United Nations has recognised that the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family are the foundations of freedom, justice and peace in the world.These principles, along with equality and non-discrimination, have guided the work of the United Nations for the past 60 years and are enshrined in various instruments such as the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,Wholesale Jerseys, as well as in treaties such as the International Covenants on Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.These instruments are among those that make up the international human rights framework, are complementary and reaffirm that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interrelated, interdependent and mutually reinforcing. |
