On June 12, IFES and UN Women co-sponsored an event at the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). During the “High-Level Meeting of Women with Disabilities in Political and Public Leadership: Toward Beijing+25,” more than 20 women leaders with disabilities signed a declaration on leadership in elections, parliaments and political life. The signed declaration is available in full below.
We, as women with disabilities with extensive public and political experience,
Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which enshrines principles of non-discrimination and equal enjoyment of political rights, including the full, equal and effective participation of women in all levels of decision making in the government of their country;
Reaffirming, too the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Article 25 which stipulates the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, to vote and to be elected and to have Access to public service.
Guided by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which affirms human rights and fundamental freedoms and equality for women around the world, legally binds all States Parties to fulfill, protect and respect women's human rights, and which requires, inter alia, that States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country;
Recalling General Recommendation 18 (1991) of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), "Disabled Women'', which recommends that States parties provide information on disabled women in their periodic reports, and on measures taken to deal with their particular situation, including special measures to ensure that they have equal access to education and employment, health services and social security, and to ensure that they can participate in all areas of social and cultural life;
Recognizing the UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security and UN General Assembly Resolution 66/130 (2011) on Women and Political Participation, which calls on Member States to all States to enhance the political participation of women, to accelerate the achievement of equality between men and women and, in all situations, including in situations of political transition, to promote and protect the human rights of women with respect to engaging in political activities, taking part in the conduct of public affairs, associating freely, assembling peacefully, expressing their opinions and seeking, receiving and imparting information and ideas freely;
Guided, too by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol adopted on December 13, 2006, which aims to promote, protect and ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities, promoting respect for their inherent dignity, as well as General Comment 3 (2016) on "Women and Girls with Disabilities" of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
Noting that the CRPD enshrines the human rights model for persons with disabilities, establishes equality between men and women as one of its principles, placing responsibility with States to eliminate barriers by urging States to adopt the necessary measures against discrimination against women and girls with disabilities and all possible measures for the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities;
Emphasizing too that the CRPD is guided by the following principles: respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy, freedom to make one's own choices, and independence of persons with disabilities; non-discrimination; full and effective participation and inclusion in society; respect for the difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity; equality of opportunity; accessibility ; respect for the evolving capacities of girls and boys with disabilities and respect for their right to preserve their identities;
Affirming the inclusion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as a standalone goal, signaling its importance to meeting all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets;
Recalling that according to the 2011World Report on Disability of the World Health Organization (WHO), 19.2 percent of the female population has a disability under the age of 40;
Reaffirming the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in various areas of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", which commit States Parties to accelerate and take strategic action in 12 areas of critical concern, which are matters of fundamental importance;
Recognizing, however, that measures put in place by States parties have been insufficient to achieve the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms for women and girls with disabilities, or their enjoyment or full participation in the gains of sustainable development;
Acknowledging that women and girls with disabilities are diverse, because of their physical, sensory, · intellectual, mental or psychosocial conditions, in addition to their intersecting identities and experiences based on ethnic or racial origin, income levels, religious and political beliefs, cultural identity, sexual orientation and gender identity, geographic origins and location, or migrant status, among others;
Stressing the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by women and girls with disabilities, particularly older women with disabilities, women and girls who live in institutions, and women and girls with intellectual disabilities that are especially vulnerable;
Highlighting that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action must be consistent with the CRPD and its Optional Protocol, incorporating them in subsequent appraisals and documents to reinforce the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by women and girls with disabilities, as well as their inclusion and participation in society;
Emphasizing that the general principles and various provisions of the CRPD can inform the 25th review and appraisal of the implementation of Beijing to be held in the year 2020, particularly on its critical areas of concern on the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women - understood as not only lack of income and resources but also hunger and malnutrition, limited; access to education, health care, and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion 11 - as well as inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels;
The co-signers of this Declaration:
1. Reaffirm the critical importance of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the CRPD, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and CEDAW as a legally binding instrument create and promote enabling conditions for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;
2. Urge all Member States of the United Nations to fully comply with their obligations of CEDAW, the CRPD and Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and as a general guideline, to apply the General Comment No. 3 on women with disabilities issued by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of United Nations in 2016;
3. Call upon Member States, the United Nations System, including its Agencies and Committees, National Human Rights Institutions, the Private Sector, organizations of persons with disabilities, women's rights organizations and all other stakeholders involved in the 25th year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+25) that will take place in the year 2020 to:
a. Guarantee the presence of women and girls with disabilities in national, regional and global review processes, including in formal spaces for discussion and by ensuring that final documents include commitments to women and girls with disabilities; and
b. Use inclusive and sensitive terminology in all documentation and final texts in the revision of Beijing +25, using the expressions "women with disabilities" or "girls with disabilities," according to the CRPD, and abandoning outdated terms such as "disabled" or any others that are not included in the CRPD when referencing women and girls with disabilities;
4. Encourage Member States, based on General Assembly Resolution on Situation of Women and Girls with Disabilities and the Implementation of CRPD (2017), to:
a. Consider signing and ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto as a matter of priority if the State has not yet done so;
b. Regularly review the implementation and evaluate impact of the CRPD (where ratified), including any reservations, and consider withdrawing reservations that are no longer relevant;
c. Take note of the report of the Secretary-General on the situation of women and girls with disabilities and the status of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto and the report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities;
d. Take measures to mainstream disability issues as an integral part of relevant sustainable development strategies, and apply a human rights-based approach to intensify their efforts to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, consistent with international obligations;
e. Take urgent steps to eliminate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities by repealing discriminatory laws, policies and practices and taking all effective measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all rights stipulated in the CRPD; and
f. Adopt effective measures to provide women and girls with disabilities with access to legal and other support required for exercising freedom over choices on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life;
5. Call upon all Member States to strengthen efforts to empower women and girls with disabilities and enhance their participation and promote leadership in society, particularly to:
a. Ensure the full and equal participation of women and girls with disabilities in decision-making, through the formulation of national laws and policies, consistent with their exercise of legal capacity, equal protection under the law and prohibition of discrimination;
b. Promote and protect the human rights of women and girls with disabilities with respect to power and decision-making from early childhood, recognizing that decision-making is a process that develops throughout life and is reflected in everyday life, beginning from the family, where opinions of women and girls with disabilities must be considered in individual, family and collective decisions;
c. Take measures to address the multiple barriers faced by women with disabilities that prevent them from exercising their political rights, including as voters and candidates;
d. Adopt zero tolerance policies for violence against women with disabilities in politics,15 including psychological violence perpetuated by prejudices and stereotypes that women with disabilities are incapable of having independent opinions about public affairs and policies or the knowledge of their equal political rights;
e. Strengthen institutional and environmental support for women with disabilities, most of whom lack the necessary supportive and enabling conditions for developing a political career, even when they are interested and qualified;
f. Promote political participation of women with disabilities in all policy matters, including by demonstrating and valuing how their experiences, perspectives and expertise enrich whole societies when they are reflected in policy outcomes;
g. Promote the visibility of various women with disabilities who currently occupy high-level leadership positions and whose leadership positively impacts on the lives of women, girls, men and boys as a result of their merits, abilities and skills, who can serve as role models for millions of women and girls with disabilities in the world; and
h. Provide equal opportunities for civic education and political leadership training to encourage women with disabilities to pursue decision-making positions;
6. Call upon all Member States to recognize that the rights women and girls with disabilities are often breached and not reflected in legislation and public policies, which has harmed as well as hindered their full enjoyment of those rights and to adopt necessary reforms to with respect to:
a. Implementation of the human rights model established by the CRPD, which provides key elements for the enjoyment of those rights by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others and which, consequently, applies to all women and girls with disabilities;
b. Provide training and awareness-raising about the rights of women and girls with disabilities within a human rights framework;
c. Consider legal reforms that guarantee equal recognition before the law, prohibition of all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds;
d. Ensure awareness raising programs to eliminate erroneous stereotyping and stigma against women and girls with disabilities;
e. Full legal capacity on an equal bases with others to live independently and be included in the community, have the right to home and family, including the right.to have a family, with safeguards in place for exercising these rights;
f. Grant universal access to public spaces, transport, information, communications, technologies, products, services, processes and procedures to ensure women and girls with disabilities can fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and facilitate their access to employment, services, education and political and other activities; and
g. Guarantee equal rights to Access to Justice for women with disabilities, who have specific needs and are more prone to discrimination and gender-based and sexual violence, including through institutional and procedural arrangements that meet needs based on disability and age. It is important to note that women and girls with disabilities
7. Call upon all Member States to consider the particular needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls with disabilities in their efforts to comply with General Assembly resolution (A / RES/71/170), which promotes the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, reaffirming the obligation of States in this matter and the 2018 resolution (A I RES I 73 I 148) that recognizes that violence against women and girls constitutes an important impediment to their full, equitable and effective participation in society, as well as in economic, social and political and cultural life, article 16 of the CRPD and SDG Targets 5.2 to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual exploitation and other types of exploitation, and 16.2 to stop the mistreatment, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children", and to specifically accelerate efforts to:
a. Identify the forms of violence and abuse experienced by women and girls with disabilities, who are at greater risk of violence, and who experience violence in various forms including deceit and abandonment, inability to exercise their legal capacity on an equal basis with others or not having support and safeguards to do so, sexual exploitation and abuse, denial of medication, forced sterilization or performed under coercion, forced abortion, taking babies from mothers with disabilities, procedures or medical interventions performed without free and informed consent such as invasive and irreversible surgeries, including psychosurgeries, female genital mutilation (FGM), involuntary hospitalization .in psychiatric institutions without periodic review, among others, and exacerbated by conditions of vulnerability, such as poverty;
b. Address structural violence such as the lack of accessibility to physical spaces, transportation, information and communications;
c. Adopt measures to protect women and girls with disabilities, both within the home and outside of it, against all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse (including sexual exploitation and abuse), providing support for those affected and their families, information and education to prevent unlawful acts and independent supervision of services that provide care to women and girls with disabilities
d. Promote the physical, cognitive, mental, psychological recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration of women and girls with disabilities who are victims of violence, carrying out these necessary actions in favorable environments for those purposes, including protection services which must be fully accessible;
e. Adopt effective legislation and policies to ensure that cases of exploitation, violence and abuse against women and girls with disabilities are detected, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted and sanctioned if applicable, and consider increasing criminal penalties for violence crimes perpetrated against women or girls with disabilities; and
f. Implement programs of data collection regarding the rates and types of gender-based and sexual violence against women and girls with disabilities, and ensure that such data is disaggregated by disability, gender, age and other identities to provide a basis for understanding the nature, scope and extent of the problem;
8. Calls on Member States to consider article 24 of the CRPD and SDG 4 to "Guarantee an inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all" and Target 4.5, by 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and training for vulnerable persons, including persons with disabilities, indigenous persons and children in situations of vulnerability and SDG Indicator 4a, build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all" when promoting education and training of women and girls with disabilities and stepping up efforts to:
a. Guarantee the right of women and girls with disabilities to universal access to quality education, ensuring inclusive, equal and non-discriminatory quality education throughout their life cycles by promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all;
b. Adopt measures that promote, respect and guarantee the safety of women and girls in the school environment;
c. Encourage completion of primary and secondary education and eliminate gender disparities in access to secondary and tertiary education;
d. Promote financial and digital literacy, ensuring that women and girls with disabilities have equal access to career development, higher education, training, scholarships and fellowships and adopting temporary special measures to build leadership, skills and influence of women and girls with disabilities;
e. Provide reasonable accommodations, personalized supports, peer-supports or tutoring, curricular adaptations, use of appropriate educational materials and techniques, including sign language learning and sign language environment, Braille and other modes of augmentative or alternative communication, as appropriate;
f. Implement accessible educational facilities, and promote training and availability of specialized teachers, including teachers with disabilities;
g. Include issues around safety and protection, lack of appropriate sanitation and comprehensive sex education in school curricula and policy, ·which have critical impacts on adolescent girls with disabilities;
9. Call on Member States to promote economic opportunities for women with disabilities and consider actions for implementing article 27 of the CRPD and SDG 8 "... promote full and productive employment and decent work for all" and Target 8.5, by 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including youth and persons with disabilities, as well as equal pay for work of equal value" through efforts to:
a. Provide protection for women with disabilities who face multiple barriers to earn a living through work freely chosen, paid or accepted in a market and work environment that are open, inclusive and accessible;
b. Take measures to ensure that women with disabilities have access to decent work on an equal basis with others in the public and private sectors, that labour markets and work environments are open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities, and take positive measures to increase employment of women with disabilities and eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including recruitment, retention and promotion, and the provision of safe, secure, healthy working conditions, in consultation with relevant national mechanisms and organizations of persons with disabilities;
c. Develop and promote access to technical and vocational training, placement services and professional and continuing education to enable women with disabilities to obtain and retain employment, and ensure access to education and training at all proper levels, in accordance with the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities;
d. Encourage employment opportunities and professional promotion of women with disabilities in the labor market, and support them in the search for and retention of employment;
e. Adjust working conditions, to the extent possible, to suit the needs of women with disabilities, who should be assured legal protection against unfunded job loss on account of their disabilities, and require employers to have accessible work facilities and provide reasonable accommodations and personalized support to women with disabilities;
f. Promote business opportunities, self-employment, establishment of cooperatives and start-up of self-owned companies by women with disabilities;
g. Employ women with disabilities in the public sector and promote their employment in the private sector through relevant policies, measures and legislative reforms, which may include affirmative action programs and incentives, including social protection among others; and
h. Optimize fiscal expenditures for gender and disability-responsive social protection and care infrastructure, bearing in mind that these policies also play a critical role in reducing poverty and inequality and supporting inclusive growth and gender equality;
10. Call on Member States to promote equal access to health care in line with Article 25 of the CRPD and SDG 3 "Guarantee a healthy life and promote the welfare of everyone at all ages," Targets 3.7, "by 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs" and 3.8, "Achieve universal health coverage, including protection against financial risks, access to quality essential health services, as well as access to safe, effective, affordable and quality medicines and vaccines for all" and to increase efforts to:
a. Address the multiple barriers faced by women and girls with disabilities in enjoying their right to health, including prejudices, stereotypes and harmful practices, particularly for older women with disabilities, medical practices such as forced sterilization, forced abortion or psycho-surgeries without free and informed consent and which also constitute a form of sexual violence, as well as forced internment and without periodic review of them in psychiatric centers or other institutions;
b. Ensure access for women and girls with disabilities to quality health-care services, for free or at affordable prices, including gender-responsive sexual and reproductive health, in addition to health-related rehabilitation programmes, in both urban and rural areas, as close as possible to the home of the woman or girl with a disability;
c. Safeguard free and informed consent as a legal norm applicable to the health care of women and girls with disabilities, with .reasonable accommodation, support and safeguards for the expression of their will, when necessary, a matter that together with the human rights model of CRPD, should be included in the training of medical, paramedical and administrative personnel of the services, both in the public sector and in the private sector;
d. Ensure that equipment and health care facilities; including mammography and other health protection devices and services, and exam tables for gynecological examinations, are accessible to women and girls with disabilities;
e. Provide technical training to health personnel in relation to the reproductive health and rights of all women with disabilities, which are based on the recognition of the basic right of all women and individuals to decide freely and responsibly themselves the number of children, the spacing of births and to have the information and the means to do so, as well as the right of every woman and adolescent with disabilities to reach the highest attainable standard of sexual and reproductive health, including by exercising their right to adopt decisions regarding reproduction without suffering discrimination, coercion or violence, in accordance with the provisions of international human rights instruments; and
f. Take measures in national plans, programmes, policies and legislation on health to prioritize reducing maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality for the health sector so that women and adolescents with disabilities have easy and affordable access to essential obstetric care, well-equipped obstetric services with sufficient staff, assisted delivery by qualified personnel, emergency obstetric care, effective delivery and transport to higher-level care centers, if necessary, after care childbirth and family planning to promote, among other things, safe motherhood for women with disabilities;
11. Call on Member States to strengthen institutional mechanisms for gender equality to deliver for women and girls with disabilitie51, recognizing that they require special programmes and approaches to promote their advancement, and in particular to:
a. Incorporate the perspective of gender and disability with a human rights approach based on the CRPD to enhance the effective role of institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, "leaving no one behind". This means that the policies of these organizations, programs and actions must always consider women and girls with disabilities for their participation and full inclusion in these mechanisms, with impact on the different public instruments, human rights mechanisms, disability focal points and coordination mechanisms that promote the rights of women and girls with disabilities;
12. Call on Member States recognize that the situation of women and girls with disabilities has not been a topic of journalistic analysis in the media, which renders their needs invisible in the formulation of public policies and opinions and to intensify efforts to:
a. Facilitate greater access to information and communication means for women and girls with disabilities including by disabilities-responsive modes and formats of communication;
b. Adopt zero tolerance policies for media that misrepresents persons with disabilities through inappropriate images, particularly those of women and girls with disabilities which are based on prejudices and negative stereotypes;
c. Promote the media's role as agents for societal information and education by addressing the situation of women and girls with disabilities from a human rights perspective, thus promoting collective awareness towards inclusive public policies;
d. Promote media broadcasts in accessible formats, considering the invaluable role of new technologies;
13. Call on the Private Sector to:
a. Provide services to the public or produce goods and services to the public, for example in the areas of education, work, health or social communication, among others;
b. Continue to as a key player for the accessibility of its benefits, so that they can be used by women and girls with disabilities in the safest and most comfortable way possible;
c. Employ women with disabilities, and include in their job offer a recognition of their innate abilities and skills, providing reasonable accommodation and personalized support as necessary, in order to considerably reduce the unemployment of women with disabilities
d. Follow the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights of the United Nations Human Rights Council (2011);
14. Encourage National Human Rights Institutions (NHRls) to:
a. Consider their fundamental role in promoting the full enjoyment and visibility of the rights of women and girls with disabilities, and monitoring implementation and compliance with national and international law and agreements, including visits to public health institutions, prisons, long-stay facilities and shelters for women and other institutions;
b. Allocate specific resources for protecting women's and girls' rights within NHRls;
c. Raise community awareness to encourage cultural and attitudinal change by highlighting the merits, competencies and skills of women and girls with disabilities, and work to eliminate prejudices, stereotypes and harmful practices;
15. Call on organizations of persons with disabilities and to the women's and girl's organizations to:
a. Leverage their essential role in advocating for a vision of women and girls with disabilities and their rights according to the different considerations and recommendations contained in this Declaration, from the human rights model of persons with disabilities, with a gender-disability based approach;
b. Recognize that organizations of women with disabilities should be consulted in all matters that are of interest to them in the same way as any other citizen and that their opinions should be considered for improving legislation, public policies and other actions, validating and assessing their irreplaceable role in society;
c. Increase the participation of women with disabilities in the disability movements, developing leaderships also in Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (DPOs);
16. Call on and request the United Nations System, including Agencies and Committees to:
a. Consider that the role of the United Nations System is of great relevance to collaborate with the States in the adoption of measures for the development; advancement and empowerment of women and girls with disabilities, for which this system is asked to give priority attention to the rights of women with disabilities;
b. Develop capacity building programmes and technical assistance to elaborate public policies and adopt measures based on the model of human rights contained in the CRPD, and strengthen the gender and disability-based approach in UN programming;
c. Disseminate this Declaration and recommendations to all States and other interested parties, also using accessible formats.
Signatories
H.E. Ms. Alexia Manombe-Ncube, Deputy Minister at Office of the President Namibia
Ms. Catalina Devandas**, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Ms. Charlotte McClain-Nhalpo, Global Disability Advisor, World Bank
Ms. Eeva Tupi, Executive Director of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), and Human Rights Advisor at The Finnish League for Human Rights (virtual participation)
Ms. Geitrude Fefoame, Global Advocacy Advisor - Social lnclusion, Sightsavers and Member of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of United Nations
Ms. Liisa Kauppinen, World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) Honorary President and Former President and United Nations Human Rights Prize Awardee (2013)
Ms. Miyeon Kim, Advisor to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Korea and Member of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of United Nations
Ms. Montserrat Vilarrasa, Secretary of the Assembly of Human Rights Montserrat Trueta and Member for Intellectual Disability at the City Council of Barcelona
Ms. Rosangela Berman, Chief, Disability Section, UNICEF
Ms. Rosy Morales, Founder of the Association “Andar y Rodar" and Deputy in Mexico
Ms. Stephanie Ortolova, Faun ng President and Executive Director of Women Enabled International (WEI)
Ms. Yetnersh Nigussie, Senior Inclusion Advisor to Light of the World, and Alternative Novel Prize (2017)
H.E. Emma Harriet Nicholson, United Kingdom Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (granted consent to sign)
Ana Peláez Narváez, Executive Councilor for International Relations of the ONCE, Spain. Member of the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of United Nations (granted consent to sign)
Ms. Judith Heumann, International Disability Rights Advocate, and Former Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State (granted consent to sign)
Ms. Marfa Soledad Cisternas Reyes, United Nations Secretary General's Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility. Initiator of the Declaration.