关于非歧视和平等的3分钟演讲－in－dgd
**10th Anniversary of the UNCRPD, Celebrating Article 5, **
Note by Bhargavi Davar
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured and happy to be here this morning, to share my personal testimony on Article 5, on Equality and Non-Discrimination. It is a historical moment, when together, we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of an instrument that surpasses all others, in ‘making the right real’, for all persons with disabilities. I consider the UNCRPD, like the North Star, to really shine on brightly and incessantly, to lead the world towards transformation for all persons with disabilities. Article 5 is the foundational pillar to which such a transformation can be tied to.
Article 5 obligates that, States Parties to the CRPD Convention recognize that all persons are equal before and under the law; shall prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds; shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided; and finally, take specific and necessary measures to achieve de facto equality.
For me, Article 5 has expanded the frontiers of pedagogy on Equality and Non-Discrimination. These days, in policy context, I hear very often, words like ‘reasonable accommodation’ and ‘on equal basis with others’ being mentioned. The celebration is about hearing these concepts in the context of diversity and evolving capacity, where it is more difficult to apply. Article 5 has also come to mean, Inclusion. When civil society organizations and DPOs hold consultations, or make policy papers, they have a broader view of ‘disability’, and provide for inclusion in substantive ways, for example, by providing for a ‘reasonable accommodation’ cost in their project budgets. More questions are asked to each other about reasonable accommodation for the person, there is exchange, mutuality of understanding and shared experiences among people. Article 5, for me, has led to better understanding of the disability experience, and a shared worldview of ‘we-ness’, who we are as the community of persons with disabilities. I believe that Article 5 has brought us together to recognize each other’s humanity and personhood in its diversity. We are also learning better, how to support each other, crossing over our initial doubts and reservations about the other’s disability, and advocate together for our voices to be heard. However, the spirit of the UNCRPD has to reach far and wide within the larger world of Development and business.
With respect to states obligations, Asian countries have made strong commitments to the CRPD as well as the SDGs, have designated roles within governance, to right the balance. They are also more open to engage civil society and DPOs on policy matters. With more and more Asian countries ratifying the CRPD, within the context of SDGs, there is a collective ‘buy in’ and a commitment to the UNCRPD vision, and more groups such as health professionals and social workers are coming into the larger public spaces to debate, as stakeholders.
However, states parties face challenges to making sweeping shifts to really embody the paradigm shift towards equality and non-discrimination. Particularly, it has been difficult to imagine a different legal system for ensuring Article 5 for the more marginalized groups of persons with disabilities. For example, in several Asian countries though not all, legacies of law inherited from colonial times traditionally exclude persons with hearing impairment, mental and psycho-social disabilities, from citizenship and in the exercise of autonomy and legal capacity. Because law is enshrined within the highest normative realm of state polity, these will probably be the last and most difficult barrier to cross. Another trick question for states parties, is how to interpret ‘on equal basis with others’, within the larger frames of public budgets and governance. For example, in one Asian country, there is a public debate whether people with psychosocial disabilities can work and should be included at all within employment policy. Diversity is another topic which fails to fit into traditional policy and legal frames, and states parties need capacity building in those areas to be able to imagine more equitable systems of justice and governance, so as to ‘not leave anyone behind’. I do hope that the inspiring but also practical COs coming from the Monitoring Committee, along with implementation of the SDGs, will continue to fuel far reaching changes on the realization of Article 5 for the Asian region.
Finally, it is appropriate that the 10th Anniversary of the UNCRPD is being celebrated on the same day as the DGD on Article 19. For me, Article 19 is a human right that will embody the full realization of Article 5. I am so happy to partake of this discussion today, and to be a part of a global process of collectively piecing together the UNCRPD for a better world. Congratulations to the Committee, and to all of us!