UNDP presentation conducted by UNDP Bratislava Regional centre jointly with UNDP Uzbekistan on 23 May 2012.

1. Addressing the rights of persons with
special abilities, including women
Monjurul Kabir, Komila Rakhimova, Louise Sperl
23 May, 2012
Bratislava

2. Persons with Special Abilities…
The world’s largest disadvantaged group….
• 650 million in the world (10% of the population)
• 80% live in developing countries
• 20% of the poor are persons with disabilities
• Several times higher poverty & unemployment
rates
• Segregated and incomplete education
• Increased risk of abuse, especially among women
2

3. Persons with Special Abilities face Marginalization…
Due to….
• Attitudinal barriers/prejudices
• Barriers in the physical environment
• Inaccessibility of information
• Institutional and systemic barriers
• Invisibility
3

4. Overall Challenges of
Persons with Special Abilities in ECIS
Challenges related to:
• Education
• Employment
• Lack of Engagement Danijela Jovanovic at the peak of Mt.
Elbrus (Photo: UNDP)
& Inclusion
• Violence
• Access to justice

5. Women with Special Abilities in ECIS
• Reproductive rights
• Vulnerability to
violence and sexual
exploitation
• Access to education
• Employment
opportunities
Social exclusion focus group discussion with women with
disabilities in Uzbekistan. (Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan)

6. The CRPD Convention
• Adoption by the United Nations General
Assembly - 13 December 2006
• Opened for signature - 30 March 2007
• Entry into force – 3 May 2008
• First session of the Committee on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities – 23-27 February 2008
• 112 ratifications worldwide
• 14 ratifications in countries covered by RBEC

8. Ratification of the CRPD in ECIS
RBEC

9. The CRPD Convention
• Response to an overlooked development challenge
• Potential to promote & protect rights of PWD
through other human rights conventions was not
being tapped.
CRPD does not create new rights!
• Promotes, protects and ensures full & equal
enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms of all persons with disabilities, and
promotes respect for their inherent dignity.

10. The CRPD Convention
• Convention marks a
‘paradigm shift’ in attitudes
and approaches to
persons with disabilities.
• Persons with disabilities
- not viewed as objects" of
charity;
- but as "subjects" with
rights - essence of the Natalya Plotnikova, head of self-starter
women’s DPO in Uzbekistan (photo:
HRBA UNDP Uzbekistan

11. The CRPD Convention
• The Convention does not explicitly define disability
– Disability as an evolving concept
– Results from the interaction between a non-inclusive society
and individuals.
• Article 1 of the Convention states:
– ‘Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term
physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in
interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and
effective participation in society on an equal basis with others’.

12. Rights in the Convention
The Rights in the CRPD
• Equality before the law without • Freedom of expression and
discrimination (article 5) opinion (article 21)
• Right to life, liberty and security • Respect for privacy (article 22)
of the person (articles 10 & 14)
• Equal recognition before the law • Respect for home and the family
and legal capacity (article 12) (article 23)
• Freedom from torture (article 15) • Right to education (article 24)
• Freedom from exploitation, • Right to health (article 25)
violence and abuse (article 16) • Right to work (article 27)
• Right to respect physical and • Right to adequate standard of
mental integrity (article 17) living (article 28)
• Freedom of movement and
nationality (article 18) • Right to participate in political
• Right to live in the community and public life (article 29)
(article 19) • Right to participation in cultural
life (article 30)

13. The Rights of Women with Special Abilities
in the CRPD
• The CRPD recognizes that women and girls with
disabilities are subject to multiple forms of
discrimination.
• Art. 6: State parties obliged to take measures to
ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms by all women and girls with
special abilities.
• General principles (Art. 3) of
- Non-discrimination
- Equality between men and women

14. CRPD Convention & Other UN Mechanism
• Conference of States
Parties
• Committee on the
Rights of Persons with
Disabilities
• Other Treaty Bodies
• UPR –
recommendations
specific to disability
• Special Procedures
Media campaign on rights of PwD
(Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan

15. Mainstreaming Disability in Existing Processes
• Article 4.1.(c): ‘States Parties undertake to take into account the protection
and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies
and programmes’
• Mainstreaming of disability issues according to the int standards in:
– Work of existing human rights treaty bodies
– Human Rights Council-UPR
– Millennium Development Goals (MDG) - national and international
strategies
– Common Country Assessment (CCA)/United Nations Development
Assistance Framework (UNDAF)
– Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP)
– The development activities of international donors and NGOs
– Census data: disaggregated
– Sectoral and cross-sectoral policies
– Programmes and policies for women (article 6) and children (article 7)
– and others...

16. National Monitoring and Implementation
National Monitoring and Implementation
• National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) play
important role
• National focal points & coordination mechanisms
within governments
– Multi-sectoral involvement of all government ministries
– Outreach to other national stakeholders (civil society
organizations, academic/scientific institutions, private sector
• All activities must include participation of
persons with special abilities:
‘Nothing about us without us.’

17. UNDP Responses - Addressing Rights of Persons with
Special Abilities in ECIS
• Currently at least 21 active projects in RBEC
with nexus to persons with special abilities
• Projects in 14 countries in the region &
3 regional projects
Training for architects on physical accessibility standards
(Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan)

18. UNDP Responses - Addressing Rights of Persons with
Special Abilities in ECIS
UNDP Projects in ECIS – Main areas of intervention
Source: http://europeandcis.undp.org/governance/hrj/show/20E0D735-F203-1EE9-B76FB09D3679E9EE

19. Country examples - Uzbekistan
• 780,000 PwD (2-3% of total
population), 5% of working age
employed. In 2010, 18,555 quota
jobs advertised to PwD, 7,559
people were employed. Number of
PwD employed in
factories/branches of DPO - 2,365
or 7% of all working PwD
• Average monthly wage - 265,800
soums, half of nation’s average
• Perception of population (2008)
– Philanthropic approach - 80 %
– Medical approach - 40 %
– HRBA and inclusion - 25 %
• Lack of disaggr.statistics and An employee in one of the social enterprises supported
by UNDP (Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan)
research on women’s issues, PwD
perceived as homogenous group

20. Country example - Uzbekistan
ACCESS project (2008-2011)
Inclusive Employment and Social
Partnership project (2011-2013) with
Ministry of Labour&Social Protection:
- Accessibility
- Changing perceptions
- Participatory decision-making
- Employment
- Social services
Women’s empowerment component
- disaggregated statistics collection for
state employment programme
- leadership and empowerment training
for women DPOs Club for persons with disabilities looking for a job
- catering training (UN caterers) (Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan)
- sewing/design workshop (folders/gifts)
- participation in UN events (sale/bazar)

21. Uzbekistan – lessons learned/recommendations
• Avoiding paternalistic
approach to DPOs (e.g. UNDP
supported catering/sewing). Instead
focus on capacity building & coaching
• Walking the talk by ourselves –
– mandatory accessible buildings,
renovation & event venues,
– braille business cards,
– clear commitment in recruitment
VAs,
– passing mandatory courses.
• Intervention niches/needs:
– Continue current activities
– Statistics disagr. by sex &
Ramp to UNDP Uzbekistan canteen – the only accessible
research on women’s issues meetings venue in office (Photo: UNDP Uzbekistan)
– Reproductive health, right to
family
– Access to education

22. Regional examples
The PHASE Project (2011-14) – National HR
System, International HR Mechanisms, Access to
Justice and Legal Empowerment-mainstreaming
special ability
• Ongoing work: Sub regional (CA) strategy for NHRIs –
inclusive of elements for gender mainstreaming (eg
indicators, targets etc);
• Regional Policy Study and Programming Guide;
• A2J & Disability Study –challenges & Innovative Solutions
• Forthcoming Regional CoP Meeting in Tashkent (2012);
• Supporting Multi-donor Trust Fund on Disability: Global-
Regional-Country synergy

23. Future areas of interventions?
• Need for targeted training, capacity building of duty
bearers, policy awareness raising, good practices
collection and validation, knowledge management
• Need to mainstream disability in all development
activities and to give more attention to specific
challenges faced by women
• Need to include persons with disabilities in all stages
of implementation, and build capacity of organizations
of persons with disabilities to do so
• Analyzing disaggregated statistics and research on
women’s needs and institutionalizing with National
Statistics Office
• Access to education to women with disabilities, and
reproductive health issues (currently not covered by
UNDP)

24. Thank you!
Alexandra Plotnikova, member of the “Lik” theater of persons with
disabilities (Photo: Tatyana Style)