We hope you’ll join us!

The United States is the last of the NATO countries to ratify the treaty, which came into force in 2006. Burkina Faso and Haiti ratified earlier in the week.

This marks the first international treaty the US has signed in over a decade.

Many human rights activists have been waiting for the US to sign the treaty so that the US can once again take a lead in the promotion of human rights around the world.

The United States Senate will have to ratify the treaty.

Ten percent of the world’s population has some kind of disability.

"Africa Fit for Children: Call for Accelerated Action towards their Survival"

A key part of survivial for many children in Africa is access to health and education services. This access can be particularly limited for children with disabilities. Whether because of stigma or physical barriers, children with disabilities are much less likely to receive assistance from government or civil society programs.

Progress is being made. To date 34 African countries have signed the International Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and all but Somalia have signed the Convention of the Rights of the Child. These documents mark an important first step in improving the lives of children with disabilities. But they can only go so far. Much more is needed to make sure these laws are implemented and the the children who need them the most are reached.

Check in your local community for events commemorating this day. If you are in the Washington, DC area, a special celebration of Poetry and Activism in Southern Africa will be held at Busboys and Poets. Check their website here for more information.

Let us know about any celebrations going on in your community!

February 2009 was a month of some good news for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Cameroon.  On February 6 a ceremony was held at the African Synergy against AIDs and Suffering headquarters, to present food gifts from an Italian NGO to 150 vulnerable children.  (Cameroon Tribune – http://allafrica.com/stories/200902091189).  

The Italian NGO, L’Association Senzaconfini Onlus, has worked with African Synergy since September 2007.  This recent event involved the Junior Farmer Field and Life School project and four other organisations that take care of orphans and other vulnerable children.    The ceremony also praised the involvement of the First Lady of Cameroon, Mrs Chantal Biya, who is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Education and Social Inclusion.

The Minister of Social Affairs, Catherine Bakang Mbock, spoke at the ceremony about the Cameroon government’s policies in assisting PWDs, including the National Solidarity Day which aims to combat discrimination and segregation of disabled people. 

Christelle, aged 24, came second out of 25 candidates who were admitted into ‘Masters 1’.  An official ceremony was held to honour the student on February 16, presided over by the Minister of Higher Education, Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo, and Christelle was offered an encouragement payment of FCFA 1 million.

Christelle started developing signs of blindness aged six, and by 12 years old she was completely blind.  Her journey has not been easy, and she told the audience at the ceremony how:

‘I started attending the Blind School of Promhandicam where I began to learn the brail.  The tablets became my new companions and replaced my pen and my books…’.  Christelle has overcome many barriers to education (such as expense) through her own achievement – her performances have earned her scholarships to pay for five years of study at the Catholic University of Central Africa.

Christelle Tchuendem herself has highlighted that more opportunities need to be given to disabled people in Cameroon; but these stories show a promising start to 2009.

The recent escalation in violence in the region has displaced as many as 2.5 million people, including widows, orphans and those disabled by the violence.  Simisi understands the important role churches play in helping those affected:

‘The churches are doing what they can to minister, but they don’t have the resources’.  He hopes to lead mission groups from the US to assist their Congolese partners in helping the refugees.

The plight of disabled Congolese refugees resurfaces with each new outbreak of violence, and violence from the latest episode continues.  This continues to impact on disabled refugees, as noted by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes.  Mr Holmes visited the Heal Africa hospital in Goma (North Kivu) at the beginning of February, and saw those being treated there, included disabled children and female victims of sexual violence.

The displacement of civilians continues, against a background of a  joint military operation by the DRC and Rwanda against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed Hutu group that has been in eastern DRC since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.  This ongoing displacement not only creates new refugees, but also deepens the hardship of those already uprooted.   John Holmes acknowledges the possible danger in the future:

"We also have to work to ensure that the military operation itself does not have dreadful consequences for the civilian population”

Disabled refugees, among the most vulnerable in refugee populations, will unfortunately be most at risk until violence subsides.

At the 8th general meeting of the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda in Kampala, a ministry official read the minister’s statement which reminded the audience that aid to PWDs (Persons with Disabilities) had reduced, and so more needed to be done to empower them though skills and hard work. 

At the same event, the National Council for Disability programme officer, Samuel Mari, called for ‘unity, networking and collaboration’ among PWDs.  Alex Ndeezi, the PWD central region MP, praised the laws enacted to improve the situation for PWDs, but said they still faced the obstacles of illiteracy, disease and poverty.

One organisation that has played a vital role in reducing these barriers for the 3.5% of Uganda’s population with disabilities is the National Union of Disabled Persons in Uganda (NUDIPU), formed in 1987.  With the slogan, “Nothing for us without us”, they have fought to change perceptions and obtain better treatment for over 900,000 Ugandans.  This has been achieved through press conferences and TV talk shows, attracting high numbers of callers, and resulting in an increased number of media organisations reporting on disability.  The Ugandan Constitution now formally recognises that all people have a right to education; and schools are becoming more accessible and teachers better trained.  Sign language has been accepted as an official language, and has been incorporated in some schools as a teaching language.  NUDIPU have also fought to allow disabled people to access loans and other financial services, so they are not seen as just objects of charity.

Margaret Gune, a politician from Eastern Uganda says:
“I was determined as a child to succeed in spite of my disability.  I am now a community leader and politician defending the rights of both the disabled and able-bodies.  Disability to me is a state of mind that can be overcome.”
Margaret is not the only person to feel this way: there are councillors representing PWDs at all local government councils across the country, and five member of parliament now represent people with disabilities in the National Legislative Assembly.

Disability events have a high profile in Uganda.  As part of the International Day of Persons with Disability (IDD), general assemblies of Uganda National Association of the Deaf (UNAD) and NUDIPU.  These were attended by Hisayo Katsui, a disability researcher.  The reports of the events in the town of Mbarara in the West were encouraging – a march through the town with banners, performances by groups of disabled adults and children, and the attendance of the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Protection.  This positive picture was somewhat undermined, however, when Katsui visited villages to meet deaf women in their homes.  The three women she met did not even known about the international, national and locals events to celebrate IDD; and one of the women related how her mother called her ‘kasiru’ (stupid) all the time.

This story serves as a useful reminder that, despite great advances made by organisations and legislature, there is a lot more still to be done.

Dennis Alexander, CEO of Botswana Medical Aid Society (BOMAID), whose mission is to “provide competitive and diverse health care funding through innovation and service excellence” spoke recently at the National Disability Awareness Day commemorated in Francistown stadium in Botswana. 

"People with disabilities are among the poorest and most marginalised of all the world’s people", he said.  "People with disabilities face similar challenges, but the difference between the looks of desperation, optimism and hope is made possible by respect, social integration in the community and access to health and rehabilitation services; services that provide tools to overcome challenges they are facing in the society," he said.

Alexander urged the audience to include those with disabilities in decisions so that they can contribute to their country’s economic progress, as well as recognizing the democratic values of full participation of all citizens.  Until now those with disabilities in Botswana have been segregated from society and marginalized economically, hindering their ability to contribute to decision making.  Alexander is contributing  to improving this situation via awareness-raising events such as these .

From the country with one of the highest rates of landmine injuries per capita in the world, a good news story emerged last month.

The Social Solidarity Fund "Fundo Lwini"  released a collection of stamps showing the activities carried out by the Fund, such as awareness-raising and demining.  The Fund also released a book, “In defence of disabled people, landmine victims” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the creation of the fund.  The launch was witnessed by the fund’s founder and chairwoman, Ana Paula dos Santos, who is the first lady of Angola. 

This is not the first time Angola has lead the way in positive treatment of landmine victims.  In April this year, a “Miss Landline Survivor” beauty contest was held in the capital Luanda, featuring eighteen women, with one from each province in Angola.  The co-ordinator of the country’s de-mining commission, Madalena Neto, described the competition as a way of restoring self-esteem in women injured by landlines, and of showing the beauty in all people.

Sadly, however, this ground-breaking project does not reflect the norm of landmine victims experiences. In a survey of 275 landmine survivors, only 4 reported receiving any rehabilitation.  It is thought that 30-50% of landmine survivors die because of distances to or lack of resources of medical centres. 

The third most heavily mined country in the world, Angola endured twenty years of conflict after it gained independence in 1975.  During this time, millions of landmines were placed and remain today in farmland and under roads across the country.

These landmines have a long-lasting legacy, both economic and social.  As well as the cost of caring for those with landmine-inflicted injuries, they restrict Angola’s recovery from a war-torn economy.   The Coffeelands Landmine Victims Trust estimates that Angolan coffee exports are 1.5% of 1974 levels, because of the war and landmines.  Furthermore, two-thirds of coffee grown cannot reach the market because of mined roads, impeding the success of projects encouraging demobilised soldiers to begin small coffee farms.  Huge numbers of refugees have fled to the cities, because they cannot return to their now dangerous farmland, with 85% of IDPs in Angola citing landmines as the reason why they cannot return home (UNICEF).

The social legacy is hugely costly.  The Mine Advisory Group have found that in some areas of Angola, up to 98% of landmine victims are civilian.  Most victims do not die: landlines are intended to maim, not kill, with the heavier consequences on cost of medical care and morale (less than 7% of landmine victims in Angola die immediately).  Physicians Against Land Mines estimate that 1 in every 334 Angolans has lost an arm or a leg to landmine injury.  The number of amputees in Angola is 70,000 – 8,000 of these are children under fifteen.  These children’s prostheses have to be replaced every six months.

Hopefully the work of the Fundo Lwini Fund, the Miss Landmine Survivor contest and other efforts will focus the world’s attention on the needs of landmine survivors, and this neglect could become a thing of the past.

Thank you for a great 2008!