The Daily Star - Activists urge Parliament to ratify U.N. convention on women’s disability rights, December 20th 2011

BEIRUT: Disability rights activists Monday urged parliament to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, saying that this is one way to improve the situation of disabled women in the country.

The activists spoke at a conference on disabled women, part of an ongoing equality initiative by the Arab Association of Disabled People, the European Disability Forum, and Handicapped International.

Noel Tayyan, who read a statement on behalf of disabled women from a text in Braille, said that the issues of disabled women have not been prioritized in the Lebanese women’s movement, but “we hope that will be at the gates of a new tomorrow in light of [the U.N. convention] ... which is still stuck in Parliament.”

Nawaf Kabbara, head of the Lebanese Council of Disabled People, also called for the convention’s ratification, as did Randa Berri, who said that “the relevant authorities now have the opportunity to actually ratify [it].”

The U.N. convention requires parties to ensure people with disabilities full legal equality and human rights. Lebanon signed the treaty in 2007, but has not ratified it.

Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour said the resolution is “not stuck in Parliament.” Rather, he said “it is stuck in political dispute,” adding it is one of 69 laws paralyzed for this reason.

Much mentioned were the challenges specific to disabled women, which Jahda Abu Khalil, director general of the Arab Association of Disabled People, called “double discrimination.”

Abu Khalil said disabled women are often taken advantage of and alienated within their own families. Tayyan also listed an increased risk of sexual harassment and abuse, a lack of independence, and lower opportunities for marriage and having children as issues disabled women face.

“The tragedy [of disability] is multiplied when women’s organizations, who have established themselves as staunch defenders of women’s rights, forget ours. Their speeches lack any nods toward the rights of disabled women. We have come here today,” said Tayyan, “to confirm that we are angry ... because women’s organizations have not taken positions on issues regarding disability, and the role of disabled women in these movements is nonexistent.”

Also discussed was a law that is meant to help Lebanese with disabilities secure housing loans.

The law exempts people with disability cards from the usual requirement of holding a life insurance policy to secure a housing loan, as these policies are often denied to people with disabilities.

Berri and Kabbara said the government should take steps to implement this law.  

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