جدول المحتويات:
Main Focus Areas and Activities
Arab DPOs engage in advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns; capacity-building; joint efforts with Governments on policy and legislation; and research and monitoring. Awareness-raising campaigns make up a major slice of DPO activities, relate to different groups of persons with disabilities and are often linked to the Convention. Examples include the efforts of DPOs in Jordan and Tunisia to promote the participation of persons with disabilities in public life (box 1). Training and capacity-building are other key activities but information on target audiences and impact is lacking. Although 11 of the 12 ESCWA member States with national coordination mechanisms in 2013 reported that persons with disabilities were directly involved in their mechanisms (half the members of the Sudan’s mechanism are by law supposed to be persons with disabilities), information on the role played by DPOs in them or other Government structures is scant.[1] Research and monitoring carried out by DPOs helps them to “become more successful at influencing positive policy and programmatic changes and use their time, energy and resources more effectively”.[2]
Box 1. DPOs and participation by persons with disabilities in political life in Jordan and Tunisia
Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities sets forth the right of persons with disabilities to participate in political and public life, including through the provision of appropriate and accessible voting procedures, facilities and materials.
In 2010, DPOs in Jordan launched a project to promote the participation of persons with disabilities in national parliamentary elections. The project, led by a coalition called TAKAFO, involved researching existing legislation, working with policymakers and training volunteers to monitor the elections. The coalition succeeded in having accessibility improved and awareness raised among persons with disabilities of their voting rights. In spite of shortcomings, such as the failure to provide sign language interpretation at polling stations or to ensure that persons with disabilities can be accompanied by personal assistants when voting, the initiative was a practical demonstration of how DPOs can promote implementation of the Convention.
The activity of DPOs surged in Tunisia in the wake of the 2011 uprising. The Organisation tunisienne de défense des droits des personnes handicapées (Tunisian Organization for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) campaigned for the right of persons with disabilities to vote in elections to the National Constituent Assembly. It worked with the electoral authority to make polling booths accessible and provide sign language interpretation for television election programming. It also ran awareness-raising activities and provided observers on election day. Those efforts set an important precedent for reducing barriers and increasing the participation of voters with disabilities in Tunisia.
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Sources: United States Agency for International Development (USAID), n.d.; International Disability Alliance, 2013.
Many Arab DPOs also provide services in such areas as education, rehabilitation and vocational training to persons with disabilities. Combining the roles of advocacy and service provision brings its own challenges. Focus on services and care can distract DPOs from the matter of rights, as has been the case with some DPOs in Egypt,[3] and lead to a shift in responsibility for service provision from the State to civil society, as has occurred in Yemen, where DPOs and NGOs are the main service providers for persons with disabilities.[4] Although cooperation between DPOs and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been limited, they have on occasion participated in the preparation of States parties’ periodic reports to the Committee, attended Committee meetings and side events and contributed to written submissions on thematic issues.