UNICEF - Voices of Youth: Take action

UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman met with Voices of Youth Delegates with Disabilities Ani Hovhannisyan (left) and Mauricio Gutierrez (right) in New York, USA.

by Nij Suri

We live in one world, with many people, with diverse cultures, and many dreams. Imagine a world where everyone is accepted the way they are. There is no discrimination due to color, creed, caste, or disabilities. A world where people with disabilities have access to similar opportunities as anyone else. Only a dream! The reality is that children with disabilities are often abandoned by their families, friends, school, and do not receive the basic necessities such as medical care and education. This damages their sense of pride, demoralizes them, and eventually outcasts them from the society. Is it the fault of those who are born disabled or the ones who treat them differently? It is time that people step up and change this attitude. If we don't then these children will be neglected for the rest of their lives. They can bring just as much as everyone else would to this world.

There were many goals that the United Nations (UN) wanted to achieve at the Convention for People with Disabilities in New York City on 30th March, 2007. One such goal of this Convention was to introduce equal rights for disabled people and have the governments of various countries implement them. An estimated 120-150 million children are disabled around the world. These children are at a disadvantage because they do not have access to education, health, and family life and therefore are typically shunned, rejected, and avoided. To bring about a change many people and children from around the world participated in promoting equal rights for disabled people at this Convention.

The UN Convention on Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities is needed. UN's Declaration of Human Rights is not enough for disabled people around the world. In today’s world the rights of people with disabilities are violated, they are discriminated or neglected by their families, work, school, and society at large. Discrimination leads to poor health, neglected education, and low self esteem and denial of fundamental human rights. The involvement of the United Nations is imperative as it gives visibility to the rights of children with disabilities; imposes obligations on government to implement these rights and it promotes international disability movement.

This Convention will help the situation of over 600 million disable people around the world. According to Mauricio Gutierrez a delegate from Nicaragua who attended the Convention in New York, “This Convention will contribute to alleviate the situation because once ratified it will be binding for different countries and they will have to formulate and carry out plans to improve the quality of life of persons with disability”.

Disabled children have suffered in a variety of ways. Mauricio has suffered discrimination because of his disability as he was denied access to some schools and he also suffered bad treatment from classmates. Mauricio believes that to be able to eliminate discrimination it is necessary for society to be re-educated.

Many organizations are involved in bringing these rights to the disabled people. According to Mauricio Gutierrez in Nicaragua, NGO’s such as Los Pipitos (Association of Parents with Children with Disabilities), OCN (National Blind Association) as well as some donor countries and agencies have been the ones that have given support to the disability sector. In Armenia, international organizations such as UNICEF, MISSION EAST, OXFAM, UNAID, and NGO's and governments are engaged in problems of people with disabilities.

Countries must enact laws and change customs and practices to eliminate misunderstanding and marginalization of disabled people. Once these rights are ratified by countries and go into affect, measures will have to be taken to implement and enforce these worldwide. Ani Hovhannisyan, a delegate from Armenia has suggested the following measures to be adopted to universally implement these rights. She believes that “Disability NGOs and youth organizations will be the watch-dogs to enforce these rights worldwide through advocacy and awareness raising; public debates, round tables and conferences; media publications; and UN offices in each country”.

However, it is the vision and foresight of not only our leaders but every individual that will be required to bring about this change.

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Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Call to action