Celebrating CRPD: Relevance for persons with psychosocial disabilities
By: Violeta Krasnic
Posted: May 21 08
Witnessed: 836 times
Global
Discrimination, Mental disability rights, Physical disability
disability, discrimination, Global
Can the new UN Disability Rights Convention address stigma and fear that isolate people with psychosocial disabilities and keep them from realizing their fundamental rights? Tina Minkowitz, Co-Chair of World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, asserts that governments will now have to find "new way of looking at madness and supporting people who are mad."
This interview was conducted on May 12, 2008 at the UN event celebrating entry into force of the CRPD - Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In the words of a Hungarian delegate, this “ground-breaking treaty is the most extensively debated international convention ever, created with maximum involvement of the civil society,” and the one with extremely strong control mechanism to secure implementation.
According to the Convention’s Secretariat, this treaty defines a paradigm shift: from an approach where persons with disabilities were considered "objects" of charity, social protection and medical treatment to "subjects" with human rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent, as well as being active members of the society.
The Convention and its Optional Protocol give universal recognition to the dignity of persons with disabilities. By ratifying these instruments, states commit to enact laws and measures to improve disability rights, and also to abolish discriminatory legislation, customs, and practices.
See the "Related Media" tab to watch more interviews conducted at the event.
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