Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities, UNICEF

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EditorialThe rights of all disabled people, including thoseof children, have been reiterated and given a newimpetus with the Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities, which was signed onopening day, 30 March 2007, by the representativesof an unprecedented 81 countries. This follows anunequivocal statement made by Heads of Stateand Government, adopted by the United NationsGeneral Assembly following the May 2002 SpecialSession on Children:Each girl and boy is born free and equal in dignityand rights; therefore, all forms of discriminationaffecting children must end.... We will take allmeasures to ensure the full and equal enjoymentof all human rights and fundamental freedoms,including equal access to health, education andrecreational services, by children with disabilitiesand children with special needs, to ensure therecognition of their dignity, to promote their selfreliance,and to facilitate their active participationin the community. 1The daily reality for most children with a disabilityis that they are often condemned to a ’poor start inlife’ and deprived of opportunities to develop to theirfull potential and to participate in society. They areroutinely denied access to the same opportunitiesfor early, primary and secondary education, orlife-skills and vocational training, or both, that areavailable to other children. They either have no voiceor their views are discounted. Although they areinvariably more vulnerable to abuse and violence,their testi-mony is often ignored or dismissed.In this way, their isolation is perpetuated as theyprepare for adult life.Yet there are changes for the better. Much hasbeen accomplished by governments and theirpartners working at all levels of society. Increasingnumbers of children who would have previouslybeen sent to segregated schools or even beendenied an education altogether now attend regularclasses at their local school and are accepted asmembers of their local community. Achievingthe full participation in society of children withdisabilities is an objective of the global disabilityrights movement, a powerful initiative by personswith disabilities to claim their basic human rights.This movement is gaining momentum and hasrecorded impressive achievements. Disabledpersons’ organizations have successfully promotededucation reforms in many countries, and theyhave been recognized as a major force behind theprocess leading to the Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities.vi Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities Innocenti Digest No. 13
While there are grounds for optimism, we are still farfrom seeing all the world’s 200 million children withdisabilities enjoying effective and equitable access tobasic social services and meaningful participation insociety. For example, around 90 per cent of childrenwith disabilities in developing countries do notattend school.Society must adapt its structures to ensure that allchildren, irrespective of age, gender and disability,can enjoy the human rights that are inherent to theirhuman dignity without discrimination of any kind. Internationalhuman rights standards, including the Conventionon the Rights of the Child, the UN StandardRules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Personswith Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities, all point the way towardsovercoming discrimination and recognizing the rightto full participation of children with disabilities – in thehome and community, in school, health services, recreationactivities and in all other aspects of life.This Innocenti Digest addresses inclusion in the widestsocietal sense and gives particular attention toinclusive strategies for all levels of education. Earlychildhood development interventions and informaleducation play a critical role in promoting children’sdevelopment and in preparing them for adult life asactive participants in the local community and society.It is a means for raising children’s awareness of theirrights and overcoming prejudice and discrimination.Through education children acquire the skills necessaryto reach their full potential, both as individualsand citizens. Education offers one of the most effectivemeans to break the cycle of poverty that all toooften overtakes children with disabilities and theirfamilies. Education can also prepare other childrenand the surrounding community to promote inclusionand to be more receptive to and supportive of childrenwith disabilities.Disability cannot be considered in isolation. It cutsacross all aspects of a child’s life and can have verydifferent implications at different stages in a child’slife cycle. Many of the initiatives to promote therights of children with disabilities overlap with thosefor other excluded groups. This Innocenti Digestaims, therefore, to encourage actors at all levels −from the local to the international − to include childrenwith disabilities in all their programmes andprojects and to ensure that no child is left out.The information presented here makes it abundantlyclear that real progress is possible in all countries,including the poorest, and that obstacles seeming tobe insurmountable can be overcome.Marta Santos PaisDirectorUNICEF Innocenti Research CentreInnocenti Digest No. 13Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilitiesvii
Page 1 and 2: Innocenti Digest No. 13Promoting th
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Page 5 and 6: CONTENTSExecutive Summary . . . . .
Page 7: of all legislation in order to ensu
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Page 47 and 48: 8 CONCLUSIONSThe inclusion of child
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Page 53 and 54: LINKS 1UNITED NATIONS SYSTEMOffice
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCESChild Rights In
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(p) Concerned about the difficult c
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egulation or custom on the pretext
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indirect participants, including as
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(a) The right of all persons with d
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(b) Protect the rights of persons w
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(a) Ensuring that international coo
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Article 38Relationship of the Commi
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Optional Protocol to the Convention
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2. An amendment adopted and approve
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Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities, UNICEF

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