Sri lanka ratify the united nations convention on rights of persons with disabilities (uncrpd)
It was a really happy moment for all persons with disabilities in Sri Lanka when the good news of ratification of the United Nations Convention on rights of Persons with Disabilities was heard.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an instrument that assists Governments of member states to bring about the change required in society and within the country to accept persons with disabilities as citizens with equal rights.
Sri Lanka signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities in March 2007. After a period of 8 years Cabinet approval was sought for and obtained last year.
The purpose of this comprehensive and integral international convention is to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or CRPD[i]. The then Minister of Social Services was at the UN Headquarters in New York on 30th March 2007, the day it was open for signature. With its signature Sri Lanka agreed “to refrain in good faith from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty”.
The delay has kept Sri Lankans with disabilities waiting too long on the fringes of Society. Ratification and implementation of the CRPD will pave the way for the upliftment of their quality of life; it will move them away from vulnerability and marginalization to the mainstream of development and to a better life with a brighter future.
After 9 long years of great work of advocacy and lobbying by persons with disabilities, disable people’s organisations, civil society and all parties concerned, on 8th February 2016 Sri Lanka ratified the UNCRPD.
ManiqueGunaratne
Executive Committee Member – Asian blind Union
[i] UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150
