Introduction

Inclusive development that leaves no one behind is the basis of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This aspiration resounds profoundly with persons with disabilities across the world, as they are one of the most marginalized and excluded population groups.
In terms of employment, educational attainment, access to adequate services as well as participation and individual autonomy, persons with disabilities are disadvantaged. Progress towards the inclusion of persons with disabilities into mainstream society may thus by itself be seen as a gauge for achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Arab governments are increasingly committed to improving the situation and ensuring the social inclusion of persons with disabilities. This is demonstrated by the fact that most Arab countries refer to the rights of persons with disabilities in their constitutions, which is the highest possible commitment and underlines that the inclusion of persons with disabilities is an aspiration of the country. As shown by table 2, 21 out of 22 Arab countries have signed, ratified or acceded to the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Several are also party to the optional protocol, which opens the way for individual or collective complaints against perceived violations of the Convention to the UNCRPD Committee. Furthermore, all have adopted overarching disability laws, and several have developed disability strategies and action plans.[1]

However, progress on translating ambitions, commitments and legislation into practical change is often slow. This is partly due to the complexity of disability policy, which cuts across policy domains and sectoral responsibilities, thus going beyond the sphere of any single ministry. It is also due to prejudice and stigma, which are still deeply embedded in social attitudes, and which lead to a vicious circle: the less persons with disabilities are visible in everyday social, economic and political life, the less their needs and preferences are understood and met. The continuing exclusion of persons with disabilities is also in large part a consequence of the linkage between disability and poverty: persons who are poor are more likely to have disabilities, and persons with disabilities are more likely to become or remain poor.

Social protection is one of the main vehicles that can serve to break the exclusion of persons with disabilities. However, social protection cannot function in isolation, but needs to be integrated into a wider framework of policies. Such other policies, in turn, require the existence of social protection in order to work. Positioning social protection in the wider framework of the CRPD and the 2030 Agenda underlines its complexity, and confirms the need for a comprehensive approach.

This report focuses on social protection in the Arab region, taking its basis in the understanding of social protection as an integral part of the CRPD and the 2030 Agenda. The objective is to provide an overview of the social protection systems in several Arab countries, and to set these in relation to the specific situation and needs of persons with disabilities in light of the provisions of the CRPD and the Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It aims to enrich and expand the current discussion about ongoing reforms of social protection systems in several Arab countries.

Source: United Nations Treaty Collection.

The report is based on desk research conducted by the ESCWA Social Development Division and on individual discussions and communication with policy focal points from ESCWA member countries in the ESCWA Committee on Social Development Inter-Sessional Group of Experts on Disability (IGED). The report was discussed at an Expert Group Meeting in April 2017 in Beirut as well as in a meeting of the IGED in Amman in July 2017. Drafts versions have been reviewed by IGED focal points as well as by international experts in the fields of disability and social protection. In order to provide as complete a picture as possible, the report is based on a broad spectrum of sources, including information coming directly from national governments, civil society organizations, international organizations, as well as media, academia and foreign development agencies as available.

The statistics and data tables in the report partly result from a recent data collection by the ESCWA Statistical Division (sourced ESCWA 2017). The data will be presented and analyzed in more detail in a second edition of the ESCWA publication “Disability in the Arab Region” in 2018.

Some specificities and limitations should be taken into account. With more attention to the situation of persons with disabilities, the concept of disability as well as its reflection in official government statistics is evolving rapidly. This can be observed in changing definitions of disability. In line with the stipulations of the CRPD, policy makers prefer an open definition of disability to emphasize the dependence of functional limitations on a more or less enabling environment and the existence of barriers and obstacles to participation. Statisticians on the other hand depend on precise definitions for measurement purposes. In order to adopt a uniform approach to statistical measurement, countries increasingly adopt the recommendations of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG), which does not address conditions in the person’s environment.[3] The WG short set of questions (WG-SS) is meant to explore restrictions in six core functional domains (walking, seeing, hearing, cognition, self-care and communication). Respondents are asked to assess their level of functioning according to four categories, ranging from “no, no difficulty”, “yes, some difficulty”, “yes, a lot of difficulty” to “cannot do at all”. For measurement purposes, the Washington Group recommends defining the last two categories as persons with disabilities.

It has to be noted that this report does not discuss the specific challenges currently facing persons with disabilities who are part of the regrettably large population of refugees and internally displaced persons in several Arab countries. Relevant data was not readily available, and its collection would have involved a larger data mining effort than was feasible for the current report. This topic will thus be treated in detail in an upcoming separate ESCWA publication on disability in conflict and crisis.

Another knowledge gap regards the social protection of children with disabilities, especially early detection and intervention. The report discusses early childhood intervention for children with disabilities to the extent that information is available. However, ongoing wars and conflicts with their profound impact on children, including malnutrition and trauma, require a more specialized discussion, which will be taken up in the framework of the above mentioned upcoming publication.